Involve (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"involve" |"involved" |"involvement" |"involvements" |"involves" |"involving"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 1.37-39 -- London, July 27, 1973:

Pradyumna (leads chanting, etc.):

kula-kṣaye praṇaśyanti

kula-dharmāḥ sanātanāḥ

dharme nāste kulaṁ kṛtsnam

adharmo 'bhibhavaty uta

(BG 1.39)

Translation: "With the destruction of dynasty, the eternal family tradition is vanquished, and thus the rest of the family becomes involved in irreligious practice."

Prabhupāda: So, so much responsibility is there, killing the family. Because they have no responsibility at the present moment, everyone irreligious. Two things are there: religion and irreligion. Kṛṣṇa also says, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati abhyutthānam adharmasya (BG 4.7). If we cannot keep on religious principles, then... We have to do something. Then we have to enhance our irreligious principle. So this family tradition, according to Vedic civilization, was very strictly observed so that the family may be kept in order in religious principles. Why? Now, because the human life is meant for reviving his eternal position, sanātana. This word is used here.

Lecture on BG 2.2-6 -- Ahmedabad, December 11, 1972:

Pradyumna: In college if they start to study biology or zoology, it involves killing animals, dissection. Is that a sin?

Prabhupāda: Yes, certainly. You cannot kill even an ant.

Indian lady: Then you could give up such study?

Prabhupāda: That is your business. What can I say? (laughter) But any kind of animal killing is sin, sinful. (break) Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ, tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the seed-giving father of all living entities in any form." Sarva-yoniṣu. Sarva means all, 8,400,000 species and forms. So Kṛṣṇa is the father, and all living entities are part and parcel of the Lord. They have different dresses according to different karma, but actually, every living entity is part and parcel of God, sons. So suppose a father has got ten sons and one of them or two of them are useless. So if the elder brother wants to make some experiment by killing the younger brother, would the father be pleased? No. Father will be sorry even the intelligent boy is killed or the dull boy is killed. For father, there is no such distinction. Similarly, you cannot kill animals without being sanctioned. That sanction is in the sacrifice.

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

Why you should eat animals? That is uncivilized life. When there is no food, when they are aborigines, they may eat animals, because they do not know how to grow food. But when the human society becomes civilized, he can grow so many nice foods, he can keep the cows, instead of eating the cows. He can get milk, sufficient milk. We can make so many preparation from milk and grains. So we should not desire unnecessarily to enjoy more.

Then it is said here, kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam. Kilbiṣam means resultant action of sinful life. Kilbiṣam. So if we don't desire more than our necessary, then we are not implicated, involved in sinful activity, kurvan api, even though he is engaged in working. While you are working, knowingly or unknowingly, you have to commit something which is not pious, even sinful, but if you simply desire for living properly, then kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam. Our life should be without any sinful reaction. Otherwise we will have to suffer. But they do not believe, although they are seeing so many abominable lives. Wherefrom they are coming, 8,400,000 species of life? There are so many lives living very abominable condition.

Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 22, 1976:

There are two ways. One destination is to go back to home, back to Godhead. Another destination is to be involved in the cycle of birth and death. So this human form of life is the junction to decide where you make your way. You are going to back to home, back to Godhead, or again you are going back to the cycle of birth and death, mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani? Vartmani means path. That you have to decide in this human form of life because you are not animal. Animal, they have no intelligence. Their first duty is where to get money, or not money, food. Money is required for purchasing food, but the animals, they do not know that food can be purchased. They are searching after food. But we are civilized; we are searching after money. Money is required for purchasing food. Why don't you produce food directly? That is intelligence. You are getting money, very good. What is that money? A paper. You are being cheated.

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

Devotee: If someone is doing some service which involves business, is he thinking of Kṛṣṇa when he's thinking of that service?

Prabhupāda: Yes, if he's doing for Kṛṣṇa, he must be thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Just like somebody works in business or factory for the wife and children, he always thinks of them. Although he's working in the factory or business, he's thinking of the welfare of his wife, children, family. Similarly, if you actually work for Kṛṣṇa, you'll think of Kṛṣṇa.

Bhūgarbha: How can a person with all material desires develop desire to love Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: Material means that you love more Kṛṣṇa, automatically material desires will be finished. Because you do not love Kṛṣṇa cent percent, therefore material desires. The balance is filled up by material desires. Just like in a glass there is some ink. And if you fill up with water, the full glass, the ink will vanish, there will be no more ink. It will all, all white. This is the way. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). To love Kṛṣṇa means you have no more material desire. The percentage you are lacking Kṛṣṇa love, the percentage material desires are there. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11).

Lecture on BG 13.26 -- Delhi, September 22, 1974:

So therefore, unless you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whatever you are acting in your daily life, it is sinful. And you are becoming complicated, involved. This is the... Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām (SB 10.14.58). This world is so made that in every step you are creating some dangerous position. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām. This material world is like that.

Bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt (BG 3.13). Generally, people, they cook for themselves nice, palatable foodstuffs for eating and enjoying. But they do not know that they are eating all sinful reactions. Bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt. What is the difference between this house and the next house? Here we cook for Kṛṣṇa, not for ourselves. Therefore we are being saved. Otherwise, if you don't cook for Kṛṣṇa, if you cook for yourself, then it is, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt.

Lecture on BG 16.10 -- Hawaii, February 6, 1975:

Therefore it is said, kāmam āśritya duṣpūram. Duṣpūram... Duḥ. Duḥ means very difficult, and pūram means satisfaction. Duṣpūram. We have taken shelter of lusty desires which will never be satisfied. This is our position. Kāmam āśritya duṣpūram. These materialistic person, demon, their desires are never fulfilled-increasing, increasing, increasing, more, more more. So that means, increasing means, we are becoming implicated more and more. The business of human life is how to become free from this material encagement, but the asuras or the demons, instead of becoming free from material entanglement, they become more and more involved. That is...

Just like that kite-flying. Kite-flying, there is that reel? What is called? No, you have no experience. So You can fly. The kite goes very high and high. In India kite-flying is very popular sport. So you can allow the kite go and go, very high, and at the same time you can bring it near and nearer by that wheel. So this wheel, this human form of body, is meant for not prolonging the unclean material life, but now stop it. Now stop it. It is meant for that purpose.

Lecture on BG 18.45 -- Durban, October 11, 1975:

Then what is to be done? Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is service. This is wanted. All other service... I have given you already the example. Who can give better service than Mahatma Gandhi? Who can become such honest man, ideal man. He was addressed as mahātmā. Still, his service was not recognized. He was killed. So that is the result of material service. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that, "This kind of service rendering will never satisfy you, neither the party will be satisfied. You give up all this wrong engagement; you give service to Me." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). "Then I will give up so many duties I have got?" "Yes, you can give up." "No, I will be involved in sinful activities because I am giving all, others service." "Yes." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi: "I shall give you protection. Don't bother. Don't worry." This is the sum and substance of the instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, and you have to learn it. Then our life will be successful.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 18, 1971:

"They are well-wishers to everyone, and they strive to establish a competitionless society with God in the center. The contemporary socialist conception of a competitionless society is artificial because in the socialist state there is competition for the post of dictator. From the point of view of the Vedas, or from the point of view of common human activity, sense gratification is the basis of material life. There are three paths mentioned in the Vedas. One involves fruitive activities to gain promotion to better planets, another involves worshiping different demigods for promotion to the planets of the demigods, and another involves realizing the Absolute Truth in His impersonal feature and becoming one with Him. The impersonal aspect of the Absolute Truth is not the highest. Above the impersonal feature is the Paramātmā feature, and above this, there is the personal feature of the Absolute Truth, or Bhagavān. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives information about the Absolute Truth in His personal feature. It is higher than impersonalist literatures and higher than the jñāna-kāṇḍa division of the Vedas.

Lecture on SB 1.1.3 -- London, August 20, 1971:

Prabhupāda: Just like in the Vedas there is direction how to prepare by chemical process gold. That is also there. Gold, there is a suggestion that you mix three metals, namely nickel, copper, and mercury, you'll get gold. This direction is there. And many persons, saintly persons, yogis, they know how to prepare it, and they do it. So in that way they meet their expenditures. They prepare gold. The chemical knowledge. Go on.

Pradyumna: "Above and beyond all this are specific directions for spiritual realization. Regulated knowledge involves a gradual raising of the living entity to the spiritual platform, and the highest spiritual realization is to know that the Personality of Godhead is the reservoir of all spiritual tastes, or rasas."

Prabhupāda: So this is called pravṛtti and nivṛtti. Pravṛtti means the living entity has come here to enjoy this material world. This is called pravṛtti. And the other side is nivṛtti. Nivṛtti means become detached to material life. So long he'll be attached to the materialistic way of life, there is no question of liberation.

Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Hyderabad, April 21, 1974:

Therefore we must have detachment from this materialistic way of life, changing one body to... But people are so ignorant, they do not take it very seriously. They think, "Let us go on. Eh, we don't mind. Whatever happens happens." That is not required. You must have knowledge. This knowledge is imparted from the very beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11). People are talking very, very big, big talks, but all around this body, all around this body. Aśocyān. Gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. About this body nobody is very serious if he is a paṇḍita. If he is a fool, rascal, then he is simply involved in the bodily problems. So that is called jñāna. But this jñāna can be achieved very easily. How? How it is easily?

Lecture on SB 1.2.18 -- Calcutta, September 26, 1974:

Therefore śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (SB 1.2.17). One has to hear about Kṛṣṇa, varieties of activities. Varieties of activities. Not nirākāra, without any activities. No. That activity is different from material activity. Janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). Therefore it is called divyam. They are not ordinary activities. They are all transcendental, spiritual activities. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they cannot understand.

So we have got enough matter for hearing about Kṛṣṇa. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa... If we simply sit down and hear, we become pious. And as soon as we become pious, then we can understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is God. If we are involved or implicated in sinful activities, there is no chance. Therefore anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. By sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83), by association with the sādhus, bhaktas, and by bhajana-kriyā, we'll be seen, a person will be seen that he's no more involved in unwanted things. He's simply interested in executing devotional service. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī (SB 1.2.18). When we are almost free from all this contamination, then we become fixed up in the devotional service.

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Los Angeles, August 22, 1972:

So voluntarily you have to try to give up these bad habits, and at the same time, to maintain yourself on the platform, you have to chant sixteen rounds: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. This is the process. Tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye (SB 1.2.19). Then the result will be this: ceta etair anāviddham. Because they are, māyā is attacking you with these... Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Guṇamayī. Guṇa means these qualities, the three modes of nature. The material nature is guṇamayī. Guṇamayī means involved or full of these three modes of material nature, guṇamayī. Maya means... Just like golden. It is smeared with gold or it is gold, you can..., you can say golden. Golden means it is made of gold or it is covered with gold glittering. Similarly, this māyā, this material nature, is made of these three modes of nature, sattva, rajas, tamas. Therefore it is called guṇamayī.

Lecture on SB 1.3.25 -- Los Angeles, September 30, 1972:

So there are so many difficulties. But these difficulties will increase. It will not decrease. They are making so many plans to minimize the difficulties. But actually, because they are fools and rogues, they cannot make anything improvement. They have become involved in more difficulties. That Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, sat-saṅga chāḍi' kainu asate vilāsa te-kāraṇe lāgila ye karma-bandha-phāṅsa. We do not consult the śāstra or the unmistakable way of improvement. We manufacture our own concoction. And therefore we are becoming more and more entangled. We do not take right direction. That is our folly in this age. We do not accept authority. We want to become authority ourself: "I am authority." Everyone wants to become authority. And that is being supported by so-called swamis, "Yes, you can manufacture your own religion."

Lecture on SB 1.3.25 -- Los Angeles, September 30, 1972:

We want to become authority ourself: "I am authority." Everyone wants to become authority. And that is being supported by so-called swamis, "Yes, you can manufacture your own religion."

But that is not the process. You cannot manufacture your own religion. Religion is given by God. Religion means the law of God. That's all. So how you can manufacture your law? That is not possible. Even if you do manufacture, what is the benefit? It will not be accepted. It will not work. Suppose if you manufacture some law at home, will it be accepted by the public? No. Nobody will accept. So similarly, this Kali-yuga is so dangerous that gradually we are becoming involved in more difficulties. That is the way of Kali-yuga. The symptom of Kali-yuga is disagreement, fight, quarrel. Kali means this quarreling, fighting, unnecessarily fighting. Just like recently in India we have seen. Formerly there was Hindu-Muslim riot, sporadic riot in some village. Say, some fifty men this side, some fifty men that side, they fought, say, for two hours, and it is finished. Again they are friendly.

Lecture on SB 1.7.7 -- Vrndavana, April 24, 1975:

In the previous verse we have discussed how to be free from the unwanted association, anartha. Anartha upaśamaṁ sākṣāt. Material life means to be involved with so many unwanted things. That is material life. At the present moment, especially in this Kali-yuga, we are very, very much fallen. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Prāyeṇa alpa āyuṣaḥ kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ. So this human life is especially meant for cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or spiritual understanding of life. Unfortunately, we are very, very slow, manda. Manda means bad, fallen, abominable. The whole population in this age, they are very, very fallen, manda. Why manda? They have advanced so much in material comforts. That is not required. Real requisition is how to develop our spiritual understanding. That is wanted. But they are not interested, manda. Manda means slow or very, very bad. They do not know.

Lecture on SB 1.16.4 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1974:

I asked one lady, she was meat-eater. So I asked her, "Do you eat cow's meat, cow's flesh?" "Yes, sometimes." So this is Kali-yuga. Now government is encouraging drinking and meat-eating. And illicit sex, that is, that has become now a common affair, anywhere you go. Why should you should have to go to brothel? Even big, big, other places. I don't wish to mention. You see.

So this is the age of Kali. So simply full of sinful activities, that's all. That is Kali-yuga. But sinful activities will not help us. That they have no brain to understand. You have to purify yourself. Sinful activities will involve you more and more in the cycle of birth and death. You will take sometimes birth as a king or as a demigod, and sometimes as the worm of the stool. Because according to your karma, you will get next body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). Therefore the process is at least don't act sinfully. Then you will get higher-class birth. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18). You will get chance of taking your birth in higher planetary system where the standard of living is many, many thousands better than this planet. Just like Svargaloka, Janaloka. From our śāstra we understand that the inhabitants of Candraloka, moon planet, they live for ten thousands of years, but these rascals are going there.

Lecture on SB 1.16.22 -- Los Angeles, July 12, 1974:

This is completely in the hands of the material nature. So therefore it is the duty of the human being how to get out of the control of the material nature. That is the greatest science. But they do not know it. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ. The rascals have become mad. Pramattaḥ means mad. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Simply acting sinfully. If they are advised that "Don't do this. This is very dangerous. You will be involved again in the birth and death cycle..." They have no knowledge what is birth, what is death, what is this body, what is the aim of... No. Simply blind animals. Simply blind animals. And still, they are going under the name of scientist, philosopher, politician. This is the misfortune of the present age. So nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti (SB 5.5.4). The same thing is explained here: vyavāyonmukha-jīva. Indriya-prītaye. Simply for sense gratification they are doing anything nonsense, as madman. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute yad indriya-prītaye. What is the aim? Aim is not self-realization. Aim is how to satisfy. "Never mind. Risk everything. Satisfy your senses." Therefore real civilization is to teach the children from the very beginning of life how to control senses. That is called brahmacārī. That is called brahmacārī life. To learn how to control the senses.

Lecture on SB 5.5.3-4 -- Bombay, March 29, 1977:

"When a person considers sense gratification the aim of life, he certainly becomes mad after materialistic living and engages in all kinds of sinful activity. He does not know that due to his past misdeeds he has already received a body which, although temporary, is the cause of his misery. Actually the living entity should not have taken a material body, but he has been awarded the material body for sense gratification. Therefore I think it not befitting an intelligent man to involve himself again in the activities of sense gratification, by which he perpetually gets material bodies one after another." (reads purport)

Lecture on SB 5.5.4 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1976:

"When a person considers sense gratification the aim of life, he certainly becomes mad after materialistic living and engages in all kinds of sinful activity. He does not know that due to his past misdeeds he has already received a body which, although temporary, is the cause of his misery. Actually the living entity should not have taken on a material body, but he has been awarded the material body for sense gratification. Therefore I think it not befitting an intelligent man to involve himself again in the activities of sense gratification, by which he perpetually gets material bodies one after another."

Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Bombay, November 6, 1970:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Nehru, yes. Nehru was such a rascal that he came... Ramakrishna Mission has a big hospital in Vṛndāvana. So on the opening day he came from Delhi by helicopter. He stayed there the whole day. He came in the morning, and the function took place in the evening. Or in daytime. He left the same day. But he did not visit a single temple. You see? Such an atheist he was.

Haṁsadūta: He was also involved in that Jagannātha... There were many carvings on the temple, and he had some of them destroyed, at the Jagannātha temple.

Prabhupāda: What it is? What he is destroyed?

Himāvatī: It was a sun temple. They worship the sun.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, yes.

Himāvatī: And there are many obscene statues, so he came to that temple and said, "What is this?" and he had them destroyed.

Prabhupāda: He was a great rascal. Change this water.

Lecture on SB 6.1.8-13 -- New York, July 24, 1971:

Nārāyaṇa: Prabhupāda..., question? (pause) Could you elaborate on the position of the person who comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and has committed all these sinful activities in this lifetime. For instance, let's say a person has been in the, involved in the Vietnam War due to his relation with the material world and has been drawn into this activity. And now he's in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. How is he then relieved of the law of karma for his activity?

Prabhupāda: You come and live with us. That's all. Is it very difficult? Our students, they are living with us. You simply come and live with us—you are free from all karma. Is it difficult? Then do that. We shall give you food, we shall give you shelter, we shall give you nice philosophy. If you want to marry, we shall give you good wife. What you want more? So come and live with us. That's all. That I've already explained: māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate (BG 14.26). We employ you immediately in the devotional service of Lord, and you become free. Kṛṣṇa says, not that we have concocted this idea. Kṛṣṇa says that "Anyone who's engaged in My devotional service, without any hypocrisy, avyabhicāreṇa, then immediately he's freed, immediately."

Lecture on SB 6.1.10 -- Honolulu, May 11, 1976:

So the guru, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, has examined Parīkṣit Mahārāja, and it appears that the king has passed one phase of examination by rejecting the process of atonement. This is intelligence. lmmediately said, "Guru, what is this?" He has rejected. Rejecting the process of atonement because it involves fruitive activities, karma. Karma. I have committed some sinful activity, then other, another karma to punish me. So here it is said by... One karma cannot be nullified by another karma. Karma means activity. They are going on, passing resolution after resolution and laws after laws, but things are in the same position. They are not changing. Therefore it cannot be checked in that way. Karmaṇā karma-nirhāra. Now Śukadeva Gosvāmī is suggesting the platform of speculative knowledge. When it has failed that a thief repeatedly committing criminal activities, repeatedly he is being punished but he is not corrected, then what is the remedy? That is vimarśanam, speculative knowledge. Progressing from karma-kāṇḍa to jñāna-kāṇḍa, he is proposing prāyaścittaṁ vimarśanam: real atonement is full knowledge. One should be given knowledge. Unless one comes to the knowledge...

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

This is a discussion between Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit. The question was that "Why people are suffering in different types of hellish condition of life, and how they can be delivered?" Parīkṣit Mahārāja heard from Śukadeva Gosvāmī that there (are) different kinds of hellish condition of life according to different types of sinful activities. So in this material world everyone is implicated or involved in some sort of sinful life. Just like in the prison house. One may be a first-class prisoner, just like sometimes big politicians, they are put into first-class prison arrangement. A second-class prisoner, a third-class prisoner, there are. But as soon as we understand this man is in the prison or prisoner, it should be understood that he's criminal. He has committed some criminal activity; therefore he is in prison. Now, you can compare between the first-class prisoner or third-class prisoner, that is another thing. But they're all prisoners. They're undergoing the duration of prison life. (break)

Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- New York, August 1, 1971:

There are Dhruva, Viśvāmitra Muni. He underwent all this tapasya. He was a kṣatriya. He wanted to become a brāhmaṇa. There was a quarrel between him and a ṛṣi. So he saw the extraordinary power of the ṛṣi, and he wanted to become a brāhmaṇa. So he began austerity. But he became also a victim of Menakā, the society girl of heavenly planet. And being entangled, he begot a child. In this way he became implicated, because he was not pure.

So here it is said that even if you perform austerity, penances, the worldly circumstances are so implicated that it will involve you some way or other again into the material modes of nature. There are many instances. Many sannyāsīs, they give up this world as mithyā, all false. "Let me take to Brahman." But again they become implicated to philanthropic work, welfare activities. If this world is false, why you are attracted to the welfare activities? If it is false in your opinion... We say it is not false.

Lecture on SB 6.1.20 -- Honolulu, May 20, 1976:

"In this regard, learned scholars and saintly persons describe a very old historical incident involving a discussion between the order carriers of Lord Viṣṇu and those of Yamarāja. Please hear of this from me."

So Yamarāja is the superintendent or the judge for considering what kind of punishment should be given to a certain sinful person. After death, those who are sinful, they are taken to Yamarāja for judgment, what kind of punishment one has to be given. And those who are pious devotees, they are taken charge by the Viṣṇudūta. I think the Christian doctrine, that in this life either you go to hell or go to heaven. Is it not?

Lecture on SB 6.1.55 -- Paris, August 11, 1975:

So we are under the control of the modes of material nature. Now, the next verse says, eṣa prakṛti-saṅgena. Eṣa means all these living entities. In this way, on account of association with this material nature... Prakṛti-saṅgena puruṣasya viparyayaḥ. Puruṣasya means the living entities; viparyayaḥ, entanglement. Āsīt: "In this way he is involved." Sa eva na cirād īśa-saṅgād vilīyate. So he is involved in this way, but if he associates with Īśa, the Supreme Lord, then na cirād, very soon, all these things, entanglement, can be finished. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). One who is entangled with these modes of material nature, it is very difficult to come out of it. But mām eva ye prapadyante: "Anyone who takes My shelter, he can get out." And practically you have got all experience that our regulative principle is very difficult to give it up, but those who have become devotee, they have easily given up. That is also confirmed in another place, vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yoga-prayojitaḥ.

Lecture on SB 6.1.55 -- London, August 13, 1975:

There are two classes of men. One class of men, they are trying to enjoy this material world. Another class of men, they are rejecting—brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā—Māyāvādī. They say, "We have no use for this material world." And the karmīs... Those who are rejecting, they are jñānis. And those who are karmīs, they want more material enjoyment, more money, more money, more assets. The two classes of men. But a devotee is neither this class or that class. A devotee is neither karmī nor jñāni. Therefore bhakti means jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). If one is involved in jñāna and karma he cannot become bhakta.

Bhakta means anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). The bhakta has nothing to do with this jñāna and karma. Jñāna means to understand. So you understand simply that "I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Then your jñāna is full. Your knowledge is full. These two words, that "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and I am Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel," if we realize these things only, then our jñāna, our knowledge, is perfect. And then, as soon as knowledge is perfect, then next is vairāgya. Jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā (SB 1.2.12).

Lecture on SB 6.3.16-17 -- Gorakhpur, February 10, 1971:

Tasmād..., tan-māyā-mohitatvād na jānanti ity uktam aviṣayatvāc ca tasya ity āha. So Śrīdhāra Swami give his comment that "Those who are," I mean to say, "involved with the material energy..." This material energy means the three modes of passion, ignorance, and goodness. Tan-māyā-mohita. This is the moha. Moha means illusion. Anyone who is contaminated by these three qualities of māyā, he is supposed to be involved in māyika, or material existence. Tan-māyā-mohitatvād na jānanti: "And anyone who is involved with the material qualities of this external energy, they cannot understand what is God." It is not possible. Aviṣayatvāc ca. This is not their subject matter at all. The subject matter for them different. Therefore we see. They are becoming educated, scientists, philosophers, but they do not understand what is God. Avisayatvāc ca. It is not their subject matter. That I repeatedly say, that one who is not a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, it is, Bhagavad-gītā is not a subject matter for their study, what to speak of commenting upon it?

Lecture on SB 7.6.11-13 -- New Vrindaban, June 27, 1976:

This is certainly an attraction. Then she prepares very palatable foods to satisfy the tongue, and when the tongue is satisfied one gains strength in the other sense organs, especially the genitals. Thus the wife gives pleasure in sexual intercourse. Household life means sex life (yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45)). This is encouraged by the tongue. Then there are children. A baby gives pleasure by speaking sweet words in broken language, and when the sons and daughters are grown up one becomes involved in their education and marriage. Then there are one's own father and mother to be taken care of, and one also becomes concerned with the social atmosphere and with pleasing his brothers and sisters. A man becomes increasingly entangled in household affairs, so much so that leaving them becomes almost impossible. Thus the household becomes gṛham andha-kūpam, a dark well into which the man has fallen. For such a man to get out is extremely difficult unless he is helped by a strong person, the spiritual master, who helps the fallen person with the strong rope of spiritual instructions. A fallen person should take advantage of this rope, and then the spiritual master, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, will take him out of the dark well.

Lecture on SB 7.6.11-13 -- New Vrindaban, June 27, 1976:

Forgetting means to be subjected to the waves of māyā. There are different phases of māyā. One is attached to the family or he's attached to the animals, one is attached to the country, society, so on, so on. The attachment of this material world, it may be in different names. But the Kṛṣṇa consciousness means detachment. Therefore they are so nicely described here by Prahlāda. The real business is detachment of this material world. So long we'll have a pinch of attachment with this material world enjoyment, there is no possibility of perfection. For that pinch of little attachment, and we have to accept a body. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). And as soon as we get body we become involved with so many things that we are preparing another next life.

Lecture on SB 7.6.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 28, 1976:

Therefore they then you have to struggle for it. But kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma. Kṛṣṇa-bhakta does not want anything. They simply want to be en-gaged in the service of the Lord. That is their satisfaction. That is the aim of life. Unfortunately we are not educated, we are not given training. Prahlāda Mahārāja's subject matter is kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). From the very beginning of life, the children should be educated in bhāgavata-dharma. That is the subject matter.

So he's explaining in different ways. Kuṭumba-poṣāya viyan nijāyur na budhyate 'rthaṁ vihataṁ pramattaḥ. So without fulfillment of our life's mission, generally we become involved in maintaining the family, and all of a sudden death appears, then finished all our attempts. According to karma, we have to accept another body, maybe human body or not human body. In this way we become entrapped, and sarvatra tāpa-traya-duḥkhitātmā. Tāpa-traya, traya means three and tāpa means tribulation, suffering.

Lecture on SB 7.6.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 28, 1976:

Then adhibhautika, troubles offered by other living entities, and adhidaivika, troubles offered by nature or the demigods. In this way, sarvatra. It is not that in India there is tāpa-traya and in America there is no tāpa-traya. No, in America there is tāpa-traya. "All right, I shall go to the heavenly planets." No, there is also tāpa-traya. Anywhere you go within this material world, as soon as you get this material body, then tāpa-traya will be there.

So therefore our mission of life is how to get out of this tāpa-traya, and Prahlāda Mahārāja is giving description how we remain involved in tāpa-traya. Sarvatra tāpa-traya-duḥkhitātmā. Repeatedly, tāpa-traya, na nirvidyate sva-kuṭumba-rāmaḥ. Especially those who are family men, it is very difficult. Therefore according to Vedic civilization, after fiftieth year, one should give up the family responsibility, vānaprastha. From vana, vana means forest. And from vana the word vana has come. Prastha means "who has gone." Pañcaśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. Vanaṁ vrajet means to free from all family responsibility and prepare for going back to home, back to Godhead.

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

This is the process of education. If one does not ask, "Who am I? What is the goal of my life?" but instead follows the same animal propensities as cats and dogs, what is the use of his education? As discussed in the previous verse, a living being is entrapped by his fruitive activities, exactly like a silkworm trapped in its own cocoon. Foolish persons are generally encaged by their fruitive actions (karma) because of a strong desire to enjoy this material world. Such attracted persons become involved in society, community and nation and waste their time, not having profited from having obtained human forms. Especially in this age, Kali-yuga, great leaders, politicians, philosophers and scientists are all engaged in foolish activities, thinking, "This is mine, and this is yours." The scientists invent nuclear weapons and collaborate with the big leaders to protect the interests of their own nation or society. In this verse, however, it is clearly stated that despite their so-called advanced knowledge, they actually have the same mentality as cats and dogs.

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

"This is mine, and this is yours." The scientists invent nuclear weapons and collaborate with the big leaders to protect the interests of their own nation or society. In this verse, however, it is clearly stated that despite their so-called advanced knowledge, they actually have the same mentality as cats and dogs. As cats, dogs and other animals, not knowing their true interest in life, become increasingly involved in ignorance, the so-called educated person who does not know his own self-interest or the true goal of life becomes increasingly involved in materialism. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja advises everyone to follow the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma. Specifically, at a certain point one must give up family life and take to the renounced order of life to cultivate spiritual knowledge and thus become liberated. This is further discussed in the following verses.

Lecture on SB 7.6.19 -- New Vrindaban, July 2, 1976:

Therefore pleasing one's society, family, community and nation is extremely difficult. Pleasing Nārāyaṇa, however, is not at all difficult; it is very easy.

One's duty is to revive one's relationship with Nārāyaṇa. A slight endeavor in this direction will make the attempt successful, whereas one will never be successful in pleasing his so-called family, society and nation, even if one endeavors to sacrifice his life. The simple endeavor involved in the devotional service of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23), hearing and chanting the holy name of the Lord, can make one successful in pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has therefore bestowed His blessings by saying, paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam: "All glories to Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana!" If one wants to derive the actual benefit from this human form, he must take to the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.

Lecture on SB 7.9.21 -- Mayapur, February 28, 1976:

"Why I am? What I am? Why I am put into this condition of suffering?" Just like one goes to the physician, a diseased man. He submits and inquires from the physician that "Why I am suffering from this pain? Some pain always in the heart, some pain in the belly, some pain in head. So what is the disease?" So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "The disease is that you are servant of Kṛṣṇa. You are, rascal, trying to be master of the world." This is the struggle. A servant is trying to become master. How it is possible? It is simply entanglement. Just like in an office, a menial servant, if he wants to imitate the master, he'll be involved in so many difficulties. So that is our position.

So it is possible. Because a living entity is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, so he has got the qualities of Kṛṣṇa in very, very minute, fragmental portion. I have several times explained this. Just like a small drop of sea water has got the same chemical composition as the vast sea water. Therefore, if you taste the vast sea water, it is salty, and the drop is also salty because the same chemical composition is there in minute quantity.

Lecture on SB 7.9.21 -- Mayapur, February 28, 1976:

Atheists, demons, they are predominating. And because they have got big, big skyscraper building and many motorcars, India has become victimized: "Oh, without this motorcar and without this skyscraper building, we are condemned." So they are trying to imitate. They have forgotten their own culture, the best culture, Vedic culture. So it is the first time that we are trying to conquer over the demonic culture with this Vedic culture. This is the first time. So it is very pleasing that you have joined this movement. If you want to make the human society happy, give them this culture of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is being described by Prahlāda Mahārāja, that saṁsāra-cakra. If you become involved in this demonic culture, then the saṁsāra-cakra, the wheel of repetition of birth and death, will go on. You cannot stop it. It is not possible. But if you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then there is possibility. This is the purport of this verse.

Lecture on SB 7.9.23 -- Mayapur, March 1, 1976:

So tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ (SB 7.9.45). Either illicit sex or legal sex, there are many, many sufferings. But those who are kṛpaṇa, miser... Miser means one who cannot use the benefit he has got, this human form of life. They know there are so many aftereffects. Na tṛpyanti. They are not satisfied. Tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ kaṇḍūtivan manasijaṁ viṣaheta-dhīraḥ.

So the whole Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is how to become dhīra, selflessness. Then life is successful. And anyway, don't be involved, entangled, with these material things. There are... This morning we were calculating that there are... As many atoms, so many living entities are also there. Sāṅkhya, saṅkhyatanam, the word. Sāṅkhya. Sāṅkhya means number. As many numbers of atoms are there, so many number of living entities are there, and there is struggle here. So in this human life the chance is how to get out of this material atomic combination and go back to home, back to Godhead. This is the chance. So we have to follow the examples of Prahlāda Mahārāja, and there are... He's mahājana. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Let us try to follow Prahlāda Mahārāja's instruction and make our life successful.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

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

Suppose one does not develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this human form of life. He will be thrown into the cycle of birth and death involving 8,400,000 species of life, and his spiritual identity will remain lost. One does not know whether he is going to be a plant or a beast or a bird or something like that, because there are so many species of life. The recommendation of Rūpa Gosvāmī for reviving our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness is that somehow or other we should apply our minds to Kṛṣṇa very seriously and thus become fearless of death. After death we do not know our destination because we are completely under the control of the laws of nature. Only Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is controller over the laws of nature. Therefore if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa seriously, there will be no fear of being thrown back into the cycle of so many species of life. A sincere devotee will surely be transferred to the abode of Kṛṣṇa, as affirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā."

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1972:

Pradyumna: "Suppose one does not develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this human form of life. He will be thrown into the cycle of birth and death involving 8,400,000 species of life, and his spiritual identity will remain lost. One does not know whether he is going to be a plant or a beast or a bird or something like that, because there are so many species of life. The recommendation of Rūpa Gosvāmī for reviving our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness is that somehow or other we should apply our minds to Kṛṣṇa very seriously, and thus also become fearless of death. After death, we do not know our destination, because we are completely under the control of the laws of nature. Only Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is controller over the laws of nature. Therefore, if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa seriously, there will be no fear of being thrown back into the cycle of so many species of life. A sincere devotee will surely be transferred to the abode of Kṛṣṇa, as affirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā."

Prabhupāda: Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). These statements are there. If we actually take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then māyā, the laws of nature, will not act.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 28, 1973:

"When one is freed from material anxieties..." This is the process. Therefore we have started this society. People may take advantage of it, and he becomes free from all anxieties. Simply Kṛṣṇa consciousness will make him anxiety-less. Otherwise there is no question. Because anxiety means asad-grahāt. Prahlāda Mahārāja says, sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt (SB 7.5.5). Those who are materially inclined, asat, sad gamaḥ, asato mā. That is the Vedic injunction. Don't keep yourself in the asad. Asad means material, "which will not exist." That is called material. Sad-gamaḥ. And sat means which is spiritual. So, so long one is in asat, asat grahāt, implicated, involved in material things, there is no question of... Therefore viṣaya... Caitanya Mahāprabhu has warned us not to be involved in viṣaya. Viṣaya means material things, money, woman. They are called viṣaya. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taught us by His practical behavior that... Mahārāja Pratāparudra, he was a great devotee and serving Caitanya Mahāprabhu in every way. But when he wanted to see Him, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He denied: "No, no, no. I cannot see a king. I cannot see." So His personal devotees, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, Rāmānanda Rāya, very confidential devotees, they requested, "Sir, he's a great devotee. He serves You in so many ways." "Yes, I know that, but because he's king, I cannot see him. Because he's king, I cannot see him."

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- Los Angeles, November 9, 1968:

Everywhere life means questions and answers. So those who are not interested or do not know what is the aim of life, they have got questions and answers only for sense gratification. That's all. They have no more any questions or answers. Whole field of questioning and answering is sense gratification. That's all. But the human life is not meant for that purpose. Animals, they are... Morning... Just like birds, just early in the morning, they began to chirp, "Where is food? Where is...? Where we have to go? Where we have to find out some food?" That is their business. The animals also. But human form of life, does it mean it is meant like that, that they should simply be involved in questions and answers for sense gratification? No. Therefore Vedānta-sūtra says, brahma-jijñāsā. Athāto brahma jijñāsā, atha: "After this, after the evolutionary process of lower than human being, when we have come, we have got this body, human form of body, the business is brahma-jijñāsā," jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. That is the Bhāgavata. But there is no education. There are so many universities, they are going on simply how to advance the method of sense gratification. That's all. There is no education. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. The human form of life should be specially engaged for understanding what is Brahman. Otherwise it is simply spoiled.

Festival Lectures

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 16, 1968:

We can go through many so-called proofs or logical proofs. Simply because that fact is already established, I might give one or two. We can understand in our mundane logic that if something exists, that there's some reason for its existence, and similarly, if something does not exist, that there's some reason for that. Just as we can say something exists... For example, a harmonium exists because somebody has made that harmonium. A circle exists on the wall because somebody has drawn that circle on the wall. But on the other hand, a square circle does not exist because that existence would involve a contradiction or that would be absurd.

So for anything which exists there must be a reason, and for anything which does not exist, then there is a reason why it does not exist. Now Kṛṣṇa's existence therefore is most certain because any reason which could deny Kṛṣṇa's existence is impossible to be found. Kṛṣṇa means He is the all-inclusive entity.

General Lectures

Lecture to International Student Society -- Boston, December 28, 1969:

Wherever you find opportunity, you chant simply Hare Kṛṣṇa and see the result.

So this is a process of purification. When we actually purify our, this material contamination and designation, we, I mean to say, raised, we are promoted to the actual spiritual life. And then, at that time, we shall feel happy and our consciousness will be broader, and everything will be all right.

Indian man: I don't know the equivalent verse in Sanskrit from the Gītā, but somewhere it says that..., Kṛṣṇa says, "All roads lead to Me. No matter what one does, no matter what one thinks, no matter what one is involved with, eventually he's evolving towards Me," this Kṛṣṇa.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. In all our centers, we distribute prasādam. Anyone who may come, "Take prasādam."

Guest (4) (Indian man): Has the movement involved itself in social philosophy, then? Because sometimes I'm sure you, if you propagate your good will, the moral path...

Prabhupāda: Yes. We are spreading the best moral principle, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Guest (4): But don't you come... (sound of jet drowns out) ...who don't like you? Does it not mean a bit of problem?

Prabhupāda: We are getting a better response from the Western countries than in India. In India, we see that the leaders, they do not like it. They are now opening beef shop, wine shop, and we are preaching "No intoxication, no meat-eating." So actually, we are not very favorable to their propaganda. (laughs) They don't like us, the leaders. Now there are big, big signboards. In Juhu we have got a center, and the government has opened beef shop, very big. And wine shop, you'll find everywhere. And we are preaching, "No intoxication, no meat-eating." So how they'll like us? That is the difficulty. "It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss." But still, we are struggling.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: No. If I don't hit..., bat in my hand, the bat cannot hit the ball. How is the bat independent?

Śyāmasundara: Let's take another example. Say a rock falls from a cliff into the water and makes the water move. He would say that the rock's falling and the water's moving, that the monad involved in the rock and the monad involved in the water did not really affect each other, that the water parted and the rock went through the water, but that this was the inherent nature of the water and the inherent nature of the rock, so that they did not really affect each other.

Prabhupāda: But one thing is that when rocks were thrown on the sea by Lord Rāmacandra's will, they began to float. Therefore the Supreme Will is the ultimate cause. Supreme Will wants that the rock may go down in the water, then it goes; if He does not wants, then the rock floats. Therefore rock is not independent. The Supreme Will of God is independent. There are so many other examples. The same example as I cited the other day, that the cow eats the dry grass and it gives so nutritious, full of vitamins milk. But the same dry grass, if a woman eats, she will die. Therefore the plan of the Supreme that the cow, by eating dry grass, she can deliver nicely. It is not on the dry grass she is producing milk; it is the will of God that is producing it. Similarly the stone falling. Because the will of God is there, therefore "You stone, go down in the water!" But when God wills that it floats, it will float. So that in that case the monad theory did not act.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

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

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

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: No, no, it is not stagnation. Just like we, we have taken to Kṛṣṇa, it is not stagnant. We was going on. We are sending preachers, so we are not stagnant. So the question of stagnation does not come anywhere.

Kīrtanānanda: In the Vedic culture, the thing that keeps it from becoming stagnant is the presence of the brāhmaṇa. The brāhmaṇa community, they give purpose so that all of the other orders, they can remain just as much involved as if they were involved in war because this kind of society that Hegel is describing where there is no brāhmaṇa, there is simply this materialism. So they require war or else they become stagnant. Our answer is that they require the brāhmaṇa community directions so that everyone can work with full energy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: So would you say that we are in a state of peace or a state of war?

Prabhupāda: Real peace... That definition we don't accept, "Stagnation is peace." We don't accept that. Our peace is working for Kṛṣṇa. That is peace.

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Śyāmasundara: Then using another example, that every apple on the tree will fall, but when it is ripe, it will fall to the ground. There is no man involved with that. What about that?

Prabhupāda: No. That is his imperfect vision. We say that God is everywhere. God is everywhere. Aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ paramāṇu cayāntara-stham. God is present everywhere, even within the atom. Now the modern atomic theory, they will explain from atomic theory about the falldown of the apples. But we say that within the atom there is God; therefore God is the ultimate cause.

Śyāmasundara: What kind of test do we apply to phenomena to see what is the cause?

Prabhupāda: For every phenomenon there is a cause.

Śyāmasundara: But how do we determine that God is the cause behind everything?

Prabhupāda: Because then we know that God is the ultimate pusher, the pushing begins from there. So it may come through various agents. Just like one railway wagon is pushed by the engines, and it strikes another wagon and that is also pushed; another wagon, and that is pushed, that is also pushed. Similarly, the original pusher is the engine. Our study is like that, that the original, sa aikṣata, sa aikṣata... These are the Vedic... He glanced over, He desired; immediately there was creation.

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Prabhupāda: Then why they are killing? The freedom of the poor animals, why they encroach on the freedom of others? Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam (ISO 1). Do not encroach upon others' freedom. That is Vedic injunction. That is nice. But why these people are encroaching upon the freedom of these animals? The birds, they are flying, freedom, the ducks. Why they kill? Encroaching upon other's freedom. Without any harm, the birds are flying, without... If you kill an aggressor then you are right. Suppose somebody is coming to kill you, then you kill first. That is good. But if somebody's not doing anything harm to you, and if you kill, then what is this philosophy? What is this philosophy? Give him some bad name, because I have to kill him. "Oh, he has no soul." You can attack, he has no consciousness, you have no soul. You can attack him. Why you are killing? Let him kill you. So far this philosophy of religion, he says that God is good, but that he is involved in a world which is not his own making. That God didn't create the world, but that he is involved with it. Then we should be judged by Mill. God is good, but not as good as he thinks he is. That is his opinion about God.

Śyāmasundara: No. God is... God is good...

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Prabhupāda: Which is factual, not theoretical—that will have good effect in practice. What is his example?

Śyāmasundara: There is no example given, but for instance, if there are two different theories involving a subject, then that theory which is more easily practiced is more true. It has become part of our experience; that is true. He says that anything that is meaningful or real must have some influence on practice on our experience, and vice verse. Anything that is practiced must be meaningful or real.

Prabhupāda: So that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We have invited our students, and when they actually practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the result is immediately there. Just like you all European and American boys, you were eating meat, and other things were practiced, but since you have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you have left it. So by practicing, we see the practical result; therefore this is most practical.

Śyāmasundara: What about, for instance, people who are practicing sense gratification, and they find it very practical to gratify their senses. Does this mean that it is meaningful or real?

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Hayagrīva: James writes about religion and total surrender and involvement. He says, "In the religious life surrender and sacrifice are positively espoused. Even unnecessary givings-up are added in order that the happiness may increase. Religion thus makes easy and felicitous what in any case is necessary. It becomes an essential organ of our life, performing a function which no other portion of our life can so successfully fulfill."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Without religion the human society is animal society. So religion must be there, and religion means to understand God, to learn how to love God, how to obey His orders, and actually real religion means to accept the order of the Supreme Lord, God. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā this fact is taught. God is personally teaching that "You become My devotee, always think of Me," man-manā bhava mad-bhakto, "worship Me," mad-yājī, "and if you cannot do anything more, you simply offer your obeisances unto Me." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Without any big, I mean to say, attempt for religious system, if one has got the idea that there is God, and even without seeing Him if he follows His instruction, always think of Him... Either you think of Him as personal God or as localized or all-pervading, but God has got form. One has to think of the form of the God. That is easier. And if God is accepted as impersonal, that is very troublesome.

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Śyāmasundara: The emphasis of these existentialists is upon acting. They think that first there must come an active decision to say, be concerned one way or the other about something, and take an active role in dealing with life rather than aimlessly taking pleasure from it. But try to ethically become involved with life and make decisions, either this or that.

Prabhupāda: So these things are very nicely described in Vedānta-sūtra, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the right commentary on Vedānta-sūtra. Just like it is also philosophy, that what is the actual aim of life, or what is the Absolute Truth. So the Vedānta-sūtra is so nicely made, the answer is also there. The Absolute Truth must be that thing which is the origin of everything. Now Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam discusses what is the nature of that origin. This requires philosophical as well as authentic proof. Now, that origin, first of all the origin is conscious or not conscious. Origin, just like these some philosophers, they are tracing life from bones, tracing life. So now one should be intelligent enough to understand whether actually life can begin from bones and stones or life begins from life, actual life. So if the origin of everything, you can say the original source of creation or the creator, if you take it as creator, that we have to take. But creation does not take automatically. There is no proof. There is no proof. From matter, automatically creation takes place, that is not very perfect philosophy, neither one can support this view in the long run.

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Śyāmasundara: So he proposes these three stages of existence. The first one we talked about is the aesthetic stage of noncommitment—simply sense gratification and speculation. The second stage he says that a man makes a leap in commitment and begins to concern himself or involve himself with the world on an ethical level. And the third stage is the religious stage, or self-realization. But in the second stage he says that "The despair of life has lead one to the commitment to make choices, to commit himself to action and to enter into life's involvement and become ethically concerned; that suddenly he's turned within himself and in his passion and freedom and decision or subjectivity, then he begins to find himself."

Prabhupāda: What does he find?

Śyāmasundara: This may be likened to the people who do pious works, or the people who do good to others, who are morally committed to life, on that level. To feed others, clothe others, like that. They say that that is a step higher than simply sense gratification and speculation. He says that "This is a move in the right direction toward authentic selfhood, and eventually this way we will understand what I am. And because we are at last doing something, we are involved with life, then we are no more abstract.

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Śyāmasundara: Oh. So penance and austerity, that it is not really suffering? What does suffering involve?

Prabhupāda: No, no. No suffering. Those who are advanced in knowledge, there is no suffering. Actually those who are spiritually advanced, if there is some bodily pain, he knows that "I am not this body. Why should I suffer? Let me do my duty. Hare Kṛṣṇa." That is advancement.

Śyāmasundara: Well, by this inwardness of suffering, he applies... The same principle, the same idea is there, that one goes on, and he risks...

Prabhupāda: Actually, suffering is due to ignorance, that's all.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. That he risks serving God on his faith of...

Prabhupāda: There is no reason.

Śyāmasundara: ...and whatever...

Prabhupāda: Because he knows that "I am part and parcel of God. So my duty is to serve God." So where is the suffering?

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, will is ultimate reality, we also admit. Because we desire, we will like this. We will that we shall be enjoyer of the material world. Idea was that "I shall become like Kṛṣṇa." This was the idea, and therefore I will. And Kṛṣṇa gave us chance, "All right, you come here and fulfill your desire." So they are implicated in so many karma, and becoming more and more involved. So according to karma he is getting different types of body, and there is no end. It is going on.

Śyāmasundara: Yes, he says that the will is eternal, and it is always incarnated in one body after another. But he describes it as a force...

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is a force.

Śyāmasundara: ...an impersonal force.

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Śyāmasundara: No. I want to take something that we all know, like "Two plus two equals four," that principle. There's no waterpot or anything visible involved, just a purely abstract principle, "Two plus two equals four."

Prabhupāda: Abstract or concrete, it doesn't matter. What is abstract for you is concrete for other. (break) ...Kṛṣṇa is concrete. Paraṁ satya, actually that is the only truth. So this idea, abstract and concrete, that is relative.

Śyāmasundara: Just like the idea, "The sum of the angles of a triangle equal 180 degrees."

Prabhupāda: This is calculation.

Śyāmasundara: It is calculation, but there's no...

Prabhupāda: Relative knowledge, because we cannot know beyond 180 degrees according to your geometrical calculation. But your calculation, everything is imperfect because you are imperfect. So because it is going on, for our purpose we take it as truth. That's all.

Philosophy Discussion on Edmund Husserl:

Śyāmasundara: Well, you can see that this child is coming out, that this child is being conceived by a father. You can see that. It's self-evident. That much is self-evident. But who is the father and how the father is there and the activity involved has to be gotten from authority.

Prabhupāda: No. The father may die(?), even your father may... Suppose the child does not know what his father may be. His father, he doesn't care to know. But when he grows up, he can see one man, always constant companion of the mother, he can enquire, "Who is this man?" And the mother will say, "He is your father." So he's not that (indistinct)?

Devotee: What does father mean though?

Prabhupāda: It doesn't matter. He doesn't know. But mother will explain that "He is your father."

Śyāmasundara: But if he doesn't understand...

Madhudviṣa: Someone else can be your father. If he says, "No, he's not your father, he's your father over there," he's never seen before, still, the idea of fatherhood is the man who's been with him all the time.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:

Devotee: As a result of Freud's philosophy he prescribed, and many of his students prescribed, certain activities. This is one thing we forget to mention—that they prescribed certain activities to help relieve the patient of the trauma, and that is called therapy. Actually there is a higher therapy. Actually one of Freud's students would say that we are all involved in therapy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which we are, and that therapy is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Therapy is a certain kind of activity which will relieve the anxieties and stresses of the mind.

Prabhupāda: That is recommended by Freud?

Śyāmasundara: No. He wasn't a therapeutical psychologist.

Devotee: No, but as a result of his...

Śyāmasundara: Later on they devised that theory of therapy.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) in support of our movement.

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Śyāmasundara: Actually this Jung has had a great impact on modern thinkers, because he took psychology out of the laboratories and made it more a human science, a personal, personality science that involves unconscious states, mystic states, religious states, not just something analytical and cold. And especially younger people are very much fond of hearing (indistinct).

Devotee (3): (indistinct) this Carl Jung drew a picture of what he thought the face of a realized soul might look like, a person, a person in perfect knowledge. And that picture was printed, and it looks like Prabhupāda. (laughter) (indistinct)

Śyāmasundara: His investigation of symbols around the world, he found that the symbols most used for someone who has realized the self are the jewel and the child—these two symbols. These are symbolic of someone who has attained the ultimate perfection. A jewel and the child.

Prabhupāda: Jew and the...

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Hayagrīva: Continuing on this, God's personality, these are his recollections of his spiritual encounters. He says, "But here I encountered a formidable obstacle. Personality, after all, surely signifies character. Now character is one thing and not another, that is to say, it involves certain specific attributes. But if God is everything, how could He still possess a distinguishable character? On the other hand, if He does have a character He can only be the ego of a subjective, limited world. Moreover, what kind of character or what kind of personality does He have? Everything depends on that, for unless one knows the answer, one cannot establish a relationship to Him."

Prabhupāda: His character is transcendental character, not like the material character. Āprakṛta. It is said, just like bhakta-vatsala, He is very kind to His devotee. This kindness is, is one of His characteristic. Similarly, He has got unlimited qualities, and according to that transcendental quality He is sometimes described, but all those qualities are permanent. Whatever qualities and character we have got, they are minute manifestation of God's character, because we have got character also. That is only a minute manifestation of God's character. He is the origin of all character. That is described in the śāstras. He has got also mind, He has got also feelings, He has got also sensation, He has got senses, sense perception, sense gratification. Everything is there. That is unlimitedly, and we, being part and parcel of God, we possess in minute quantities all the God's quality.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Śyāmasundara: I haven't made this very clear, but because we have freedom, we become susceptible to bad faith. Bad faith means that we avoid making any decisions at all, good or bad. We simply drift. He calls it drift. We go day to day without entering and becoming involved with any responsible decision-making.

Prabhupāda: That drift means that is decision. Yes. That is decision. When you drift, that is decision.

Śyāmasundara: People, especially these days, they want to avoid making any kind of decisions, especially hippies.

Prabhupāda: Therefore you must take others' decisions, superiors' decisions.

Śyāmasundara: So he says that this condition...

Prabhupāda: Just like a child cannot make any decision. He should take decision from the parents. That is the position.

Philosophy Discussion on Mao Tse Tung:

Śyāmasundara: He stresses two aspects (in the) theory of dialectical materialism. The one on which he placed the most emphasis is the aspect of the pragmatic element of philosophy, that philosophy must have practical effect. And the other aspect is the contradiction between capitalism and communism, and this contradiction involves conflicts and eventual revolution. He agrees with Hegel that without conflict, there can be no progress. Do we accept this? Without conflict, there is no progress?

Prabhupāda: Our Kurukṣetra battle is a conflict between Kurus and Pāṇḍavas. So after the conflict, the Pāṇḍavas became the kings. So that is admitted; without conflict, you cannot make progress.

Śyāmasundara: Is that true on every level of...?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: ...chemical law? (?)

Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Mind is saṅkalpa and vikalpa. Mind's business is to accept something and reject something. So in this way, accepting and rejecting, if the mind is sound, then we come to some conclusion by intelligence. Accepting and rejecting, this is conflict. Then by intelligence we take something out of this conflict.

Philosophy Discussion on Plotinus:

Hayagrīva: Plotinus saw the individual souls returning to God or the One through three stages. The first stage is that of asceticism, detaching oneself from the material world. The second stage, one detaches oneself from the process of reasoning itself. That would be mental speculation. And in the third stage the intellect transcends itself into the realm of the unknown, the realm of the One, and he speaks of this as an ecstasy, an involvement, or a transcendence of the ego. So these are the three stages of God realization that he sets down.

Prabhupāda: That means, what he called three stages, karmī, jñānī, yogi. That karmīs, they are trying to improve their condition by this material science and material advancement of education, and some of them are trying to go the heavenly planets by pious activities. These are karmīs. And higher than the karmīs are the jñānīs. They are speculating on the Absolute Truth by their education and coming to the conclusion that God is impersonal; when we merge into that impersonal feature, that is our liberation. And the yogis, they are trying to get some mystic power by practicing mystic yoga system—wonderful power, aṣṭa-siddhi, eight kinds of perfection: to become lighter than the lightest, to become smaller than the smallest, to become bigger than the biggest. Whatever they like, they can get.

Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Aquinas:

Hayagrīva: I think the problem with all of these is that they cannot conceive of spiritual form. When they speak of form they are thinking that there must necessarily be matter involved. Aquinas believed that the Augustinian and Platonic doctrines of the complete independence of the soul from matter or the material body denied man's substantial unity. That is, man is body and soul. He is a particular type of soul in a particular type of body.

Prabhupāda: It..., it is the same argument, that when you are dressed it appears that you are not different from the dress. The coat is moving, the pants is moving, but actually it is completely different from the person who is putting on the coat and shirt.

Hayagrīva: So in other words they, he, he actually had no idea of spiritual form as such.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Hayagrīva: I'm not sure that Alexander understood it in that way.

Prabhupāda: No. How he can understand? (laughter) He cannot. He is a talkative philosopher, that's all.

Hayagrīva: He, he says, "God Himself is involved in our acts and their issues. Not only does He matter to us, but we matter to Him."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is one sense correct. Because we are fallen condition and we are sons of God, so we are suffering. God is very much compassionate; therefore He comes personally to teach us: "You rascal, why you are rotting in this material world? You surrender to Me and go back to home, back to Godhead, you will be happy." Therefore He is consulting. Otherwise why He comes from Vaikuṇṭha? Everyone, just like a son is rotting in his own way, but the father comes: "My dear son, why you are rotting in this way? You come home. You have got state. You will live there comfortably." But he does not come. That is his misfortune.

Hayagrīva: Now, Alex...