Island (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"island" |"islands"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 4.11 -- Bombay, March 31, 1974:

You have got experience. Just like when you fly on the plane, after some hours, four, five hours, you become disgusted. You want to come down. Everyone has got this experience. Because the sky is zero, we cannot remain there more than four or five hours or six hours. We must come down. In the sea also. We have got all these experience. If you remain on the ocean for three, four days... Because it runs on. When I first went to America, I went by ship. So thirty-five days. So after four, five days, it was disgusting. As soon as we saw one island, then we became relieved. (Laughter) You see?

So the śūnyavāda philosophy will not give you happiness. After śūnya, after making this śūnya... Suppose you are passing through the sky, śūnya, if you get another, if you go the moon planet or other planet, then you become happy. Then you become happy. But if you don't get any planet, then you have to come back again on this planet.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Bombay, March 29, 1971:

This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is expanding by their help. I am alone, but they are helping me. They are my gurus. I am not their guru, (applause) because they are helping me in executing my Guru Mahārāja's order. So it is very nice combination that somebody is going to Australia, somebody is going to Fiji Island, somebody is going to Hong Kong, somebody is going to Czechoslovakia. And we are also negotiating to go to Russia also. There is chance of going to China also. We are attempting. We have already sent two boys to Pakistan—one in Dacca and one in Karachi. (applause)

So these boys, these American boys, are helping me. I am very sorry that no Indians are coming forward for this... Of course, there are some, but very few. They should come forward, younger generation of India, they should join this movement and spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 16, 1971:

This way, this... Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. No rest. This is called jagat. Where he is going on? You have heard Rabindranath Tagore, poet Tagore. He wrote one article that "When I was in London I saw the people are walking very fast, the cars are going very fast. But I was thinking that 'This England is a small island; they may not fall down on the sea.' " (laughter) If you let loose your dog, it will go on this way, this way, this way, this way, this way. (laughter) This is jagat, going on. Going on, but condition: "You cannot go beyond this." Just like these so-called scientists are going to the moon planet and coming back—because conditioned. You have remain where you are placed by your karma. You cannot move. I cannot move beyond this body. Therefore our senses are all imperfect. We think that "I have got my legs; I can walk very fast." No. You cannot go fast as it is destined by you. Relative. This is called relative world.

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Melbourne, April 3, 1972, Lecture at Christian Monastery:

Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva, the father of Mahārāja Bharata, under whose name the India is called... Not India. This whole planet is called Bhāratavarṣa. In the Vedic literature Bhāratavarṣa means this planet. And it is consisting seven islands. That is also mentioned in Vedic literature. Seven islands means Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Oceania. These seven islands are mentioned. Description is there. So this Bhāratavarṣa... This planet is called Bhāratavarṣa. Now it is divided. Now it is divided because on account of loss of the old Vedic culture we have now divided. I am thinking, "I am Indian," you are thinking, "Australian." Another is thinking, "American" or "Englishman." These divisions have come very lately, say about three thousand, four thousand years ago. Before that, this planet was one. There was only one king. We get this information from Vedic literature. And he was ruling all over, then. The culture was one.

Lecture on SB 1.2.18 -- Vrndavana, October 29, 1972:

In Europe and America, I see people are going for earning their livelihood by aeroplane, daily passengers. I've seen. From Vancouver, they were coming to Montreal and other places. Five hundred miles. At least fifty miles, one must go. In New York, many people are coming from distant place, Long Islands, crossing the sea, and then again bus, again... Anartha, simply unnecessary. People...

Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that "Who is happy?" He says, "The man who does not go out of home, and who is not a debtor he is happy." Very simple thing. Who does not go out of home, and he's not a debtor, he's happy. So now we see everyone is out of home, and everyone is a great debtor. So how you can be happy? In America the bank canvasses that "You take money, you purchase motorcar, you purchase your house, and, as soon as you get your salary, you give me." That's all. Finished. You take the card... American... What is it called? Am-card? Yes.

Lecture on SB 1.8.20 -- Mayapura, September 30, 1974:

So therefore this word is used, chāyeva. This vast power, material nature... It is a very powerful... Sṛṣṭi-sthiti. It can create; it can destroy. At any moment, if there is some earthquake, the whole sea water may come and cover the land portion, and within the sea you can see one island has come out. Everyone has got this experience. So sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya. One side, pralaya; one side, creation. So this can be done by the material nature. But how she is working? She is working under the direction of somebody else. That is Govinda. And Govinda also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: (BG 9.10) "She is working under My direction."

So... So far killing or destroying is concerned, that Durgā power, Kṛṣṇa's power, that is sufficient. That is sufficient. He doesn't require to come to kill the demons. She is engaged. You have seen that Durgā is killing the demon, that asura. You have seen the Durgā's picture?

Lecture on SB 1.10.11-12 -- Mayapura, June 25, 1973:

The whole universe is also a ocean. And all these planets, they are called dvīpa. Just like this planet is called Jambudvīpa, Bhāratavarṣa. Actually it is like dvīpa. Nowadays, those who are flying in the sky, they're going from one island to another island, one planet to another planet. So when that is called dvīpa, there must be relative term, the ocean, or the sea. So whole, this universe, this planets, they are called dvīpa. Therefore they are floating in the ocean of air. Just like you have got experience. You have got experience of this also, ocean of water. And above water, there is air, ocean of air. Then there is sky. So bhava-sāgarasya. The whole universe is bhava-sāgara. Sāgara means ocean, or sea. And bhava means repetition of birth and death. Bhava. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). In the Bhagavad-gītā, once we take birth, we remain here for some time, then we give up this body; we accept another body.

Lecture on SB 1.15.38 -- Los Angeles, December 16, 1973:

"Whether he is competent, exactly my representative?" This is the business of the king. And toya-nīvyāḥ patim. Toya-nīvyāḥ patim means the whole world, not the modern India, a few yards of land, no. The India was governing. India, the king or the emperor of Hastināpura, he was the emperor. Now, seven seas, seven islands, they are mentioned in the Vedic literature. Seven islands. So the emperor would be emperor of the whole earth and there was everywhere the Vedic culture. Everywhere the Vedic culture was, more or less, principally in that part which is known as India. But in other parts also, the Vedic culture was there. And the Europeans, they belonged to the kṣatriya family, and the Americans also coming from them. Now, in due course of time, five thousand years, there is no history. The modern history can give detail up to three thousand years. They do not know what is beyond three thousand years.

Lecture on SB 1.16.12 -- Los Angeles, January 9, 1974:

He was king, emperor, not for exploiting the citizen, but to give them real sense, real consciousness, so that they may become happy. And you can read some of the description of the places, we have selected from Mahābhārata. Read it, purport.

Pradyumna: "Bhadrāśva: It is an island near Meru Parvata. There is a description of this island in Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma-parva, 7.16-18. The description was narrated by Sañjaya to Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira also conquered this island, and thus the province was included within the jurisdiction of his empire. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was formerly declared to be emperor of all the lands ruled by his grandfather, but still he had to establish his supremacy..."

Prabhupāda: This island might have changed, the name. Because there are so many islands. Just like the Java(?) island and Laksadvipa island, very small islands. Similarly, this Meru is also another island. Not only these small island, but according to Vedic culture, each planet is called island. Each planet. Just like this planet, earthly planet, is called Jambūdvīpa. Why it is called dvīpa? Dvīpa means island. Because actually it is island of the air. Just like there are so many islands in the sea, similarly, this vast air, outer space, and all these planets, are floating like island. Therefore they are called island, dvīpa, Jambūdvīpa. Here in this earthly planet, long, long ago, it is said in the Vedic literatures, sapta-dvīpa. Sapta means seven. So this earthly planet is of seven dvīpa, seven islands. These two Americas, north and south, they are islands. Africa, one island. And combined Asia and Europe, another island. The two poles, two islands. Australia, another island. You see? Sapta-dvīpa. So they say they discovered America. But this discovery was long, long, many, many millions of years, it was known. Where is the discovery?

Lecture on SB 1.16.12 -- Los Angeles, January 9, 1974:

"If you want to take knowledge," tad-vijñānārtham, "to understand the complete science," tad-vijñānārtham, "the spirit," sa gurum eva abhigacchet, "oḥ, you must approach a bona fide guru." Otherwise there is no knowledge. That is not knowledge.

So Vedic knowledge is so perfect that this Bhārata-varṣa, seven islands. Now the seven islands still there. You cannot make eight or nine, or six. The seven islands are still there. So seven islands means, within seven islands, the two Americas, North and South America, are there. So why it is called Columbus, Columbus discovered? No. It was already in the Vedic literature. You will find in Śaṅkarācārya's... When Columbus discovered America, how many years ago? Two hundred years?

Lecture on SB 1.16.12 -- Los Angeles, January 9, 1974:

Five hundred years. And Śaṅkarācārya has described about the seven islands 1,500 years ago. So why the credit should go to Columbus? (laughter) It should go to Śaṅkarācārya. But andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ. He says that "I have discovered." So he was talking, perhaps you know this story. He was talking among his friends. So the friends ridiculed another friend. So they were criticizing, "Oh, for nothing you got some credit, that you have discovered America. What you have done? It was already there." So he said, "Yes, that is knowledge. Things are already there, but one who puts it into the forefront of the public, that is credit."

So actually, everything is existing. We have to simply take the knowledge. The modern method is ascending process. The knowledge is there, but still, they are trying to understand it by āroha-panthā, ascending process. It is called inductive knowledge. Inductive knowledge means that... Suppose a man is mortal. So the so-called scientists, they are trying to discover the law, why man is mortal. They are studying, "This man is mortal, this man is mortal, this man is mortal. Therefore it is concluded that all men are mortal.

Lecture on SB 3.26.22 -- Bombay, December 31, 1974:

Not only the sukha, but this whole thing can be finished within a second. If there is a big earthquake, everything will be finished. We have got experience many times—anything will be finished. This Bombay can be turned into sea, and the Bombay can be pushed in an island within the sea. Material nature is so strong. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). And under her spell we are trying to become happy. Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43).

And the devotees, the Kṛṣṇa conscious persons, they know that this is all false—not false: temporary, simply bewildering. On account of contaminated consciousness, people are trying to be happy in this way, but devotees know that this kind of endeavor is simply bewildering, simply waste of time. Real business is how to purify my consciousness, come to the original Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is real business. Svacchatvam avikāritvam.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Los Angeles, January 20, 1969:

Therefore it is said, indicated in the śāstras, that this body is very suitable boat for crossing over this ocean of nescience. We are in the ocean, this outer space, the big space within this universe. It is to be considered just like a big ocean, and all the planets, they're just like islands. Therefore in the Vedic literature sometimes these planets are called dvīpa. Dvīpa means island. Śvetadvīpa. This planet is called Jambūdvīpa. Just like in the ocean, there are many hundreds of small, big island. Similarly, the ocean of air or outer space, there are so many planets. They are called dvīpas. So īśāvāsyam... So all this belongs to God. And we, we are, because we are His sons, we have got the right to use our father's property, but not illegally. What is allotted to us by our father we can accept, that's all. One who lives... That is stated in the Īśopaniṣad, that kurvann eveha karmāṇi jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ. If you accept this principle, then you can live for hundreds of years without any sin.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- London, August 30, 1971:

So before that, before Emperor Bharata, this planet was known as Ilāvṛtavarṣa, and after the reign of Mahārāja Bharata this planet is known as Bhāratavarṣa. Gradually, the Vedic culture being forgotten, the whole planet is now divided. The seven islands, as already existing, they are mentioned in the Vedic literature also, sapta-dvīpa. Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and the Archipelago (Arctic level?). In this way this whole world is divided into seven lands, islands.

So Mahārāja Pṛthu..., er, Mahārāja Ṛṣabhadeva, before retirement... Formerly, even one is king, he was to take leave of householder affairs. The Vedic culture means that the social order and the spiritual order of life. The social order of life is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā: cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). According to quality and according to work, the social order is divided into four. The most intelligent class of men are called the brāhmaṇas, and the next intelligent class of men, namely the politicians, or one who wants to take part in administration, they are called kṣatriyas. And the next intelligent class of men, those who are busy in production—because we want food—so the productive class of men is called vaiśya, mercantile.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, gambling means betting. That is gambling. People are betting. You put one dollar, and if you gain, you get ten dollars. Otherwise, you lose this one dollar. This is gambling. They're gambling in Christian churches also, in the Western countries. So gambling is considered sinful activity. I do not know... One Mr. Bhattacarya, a barrister, he was educated in England. So he told there is some island, Monte Christo? There is gambling?

Devotee: Monte Carlo.

Prabhupāda: Monte Carlo, yes. He said that there are gamblers, and one gambler loses everything, he commits suicide, immediately, and he'll go on. That's all. Nobody cares for him. He told me. It is a fact? So just see the gambling. They bring all their fortunes to stake and they lose everything. And then, out of frustration, takes revolver and shots himself, dies, and it is thrown on the street or in somewhere. Nobody cares. Just like cats and dogs. So there is free gambling in Monte Carlo?

Lecture on SB 6.1.33 -- Honolulu, June 1, 1976:

There are so many manifestation within this planet. Just imagine how many. This is God's creation, different varieties. Just like we see on this planet. Why on this planet? Even on this Hawaii island how many beautiful things, flowers, trees, and fruits. That is God's creation. Ānanda. Variety is the mother of enjoyment. If you want enjoyment there must be variety. Impersonal without variety, zero, these are not enjoyment. This is all rascaldom. The voidists make everything zero. Why zero? There must be varieties. Variety is the mother of enjoyment.

So Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person... We are also. Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa we have got the same quality. So you see Kṛṣṇa, He is enjoying with the gopīs, with the cowherd boys, friends, in Vṛndāvana, in the forest, with cows, with calves. This is enjoyment, variety. Zero is enjoyment?

Lecture on SB 7.6.8 -- Vrndavana, December 10, 1975:

So from four o'clock to ten o'clock, he has taken so much changing. I have seen in New York also, they are coming in from the other island and waiting for the bus, waiting for the ferry steamer, and so many hours wasted to reach the office. And he works in the office for four or five hours, then again he takes this trouble of going so many miles away. Why he is taking so much trouble? Family attachment. Family attachment. So the people are... Not that he has no attachment. He has got attachment, but this attachment, the same four o' clock, rising early in the morning, for Kṛṣṇa's maṅgala-ārati. This is diversion, a better. But he'll not agree. When he has got to go to office for earning his livelihood, he will automatically rise up and go to the office, because the attachment is strong. But in the temple, the rule is that you must get up before four and prepare yourself, and we have to ring the bells three hundred times, and still you are sleeping. Just see.

Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Hawaii, March 21, 1969:

There are varieties of trees, animals, each and every planet. So nothing is void or impersonal. Everything is full of varieties, personalities. So you can understand. And what are these planets? These planets are called dvīpa. Dvīpa means island. Just like this is an island. We are sitting in this Kauai island. Why it is island? Because all around water. Similarly, all these planets are called also islands. Why? Because all around the space, space water. As this is surrounded by water, the planets are surrounded by space. So if you take the space, ethereal ocean, then it is island. Every planet is an island.

Now, if you go to another island, there also you will find the same varieties as you find here. Similarly, if you go to other planet, you will find the same varieties as here. Maybe little different, climatic, but the quality of variety is the same. There is no reason to believe that there is no life, no variegated.

Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Hawaii, March 21, 1969:

Similarly, if you go to other planet, you will find the same varieties as here. Maybe little different, climatic, but the quality of variety is the same. There is no reason to believe that there is no life, no variegated. This is all nonsense. If I come from the mainland of America, USA, to this island, I'll find the same trees or same population and same working. What is the reason to believe that there is no life, there is no vegetable? Why? This is lack of knowledge. Everywhere the same varieties. And wherefrom the varieties are coming? From the sunshine. That is fact, scientific. Because the sunshine is there, so many varieties of planet are coming out, and in each and every planet there are so many varieties of vegetation, human being, animals, seas, mountain. And similarly... This is explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā: yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Yasya prabhā. These innumerable universes, how they have been possible? How they are existing? That is explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā, "On account of Kṛṣṇa's effulgence."

Lecture on SB 7.9.11-13 -- Hawaii, March 24, 1969:

Just like the same example, as I have given several times, that a, the person who has discovered this nuclear weapon, atomic bomb, he's certainly genius. He has got nice brain, that simply egglike bomb, if you throw, immediately the whole island of Hawaii will be finished. Just like you dropped your atomic bomb on the other side, Japan, Hiroshima... They attacked your Pearl Harbor, and the retaliation was atom bomb on Hiroshima. So these are politics. So this invention of atomic bomb, certainly it requires good brain. But Bhagavad-gītā says that this genius, or this brain, intelligence, has been used... (aside:) Stop that. ...has been wrongly used.

So the materialistic class of men are undoubtedly very, very intelligent, but their intelligence is being used wrongly. Duṣkṛtinaḥ. Duṣkṛtinaḥ mūḍhāḥ. Mūḍhāḥ. Mūḍha means rascal, ass.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 9, 1973:

Prabhupāda: That sometimes, everyone knows, there is volcanic eruption in the ocean. What does it harm to the ocean? It throws out some lava, some little island may come out, but what is the harm to the ocean? Similarly, these rascal may go on with their philosophy for killing Kṛṣṇa. That does not hurt Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It will go on. This ocean will never be disturbed by these so-called philosophies. This will never be disturbed. Go on.

Pradyumna: "The author of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, very humbly submits that he is just trying to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world, although he humbly thinks himself unfit for this work."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Every Vaiṣṇava, that is Vaiṣṇava's sadācāra (?), humble. Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā. Although Vaiṣṇava knows everything, still he presents himself very humble, lower that the straw, humbler than the tree. Tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā, amāninā, they don't..., the devotee does not claim any so-called popular respect, false respect.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.385-394 -- New York, January 1, 1967:

This is called nitya-līlā. How nicely Caitanya Mahāprabhu has described.

So Kṛṣṇa-līlā is always going on like that. Kṛṣṇa's birth, Janmāṣṭamī... We observe Janmāṣṭamī. But that Janmāṣṭamī is going on every moment. Janmāṣṭamī is going on. Kṛṣṇa's nitya-līlā. Kṛṣṇa-līlā-nitya, jyotiścakra-pramāṇe. Jyotiścakre sūrya yena phire rātri-dine. Now here it is also, in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, it is said that here sūrya is also on the orbit. Sapta-dvīpāmbudhi laṅghi' phire krame krame. Sapta-dvīpa. Now, according to Vedic calculation, this earth has seven, I mean to say, islands. Just like crossing the sea, we have come to your country from India. The crossing the sea means there are different islands. Now you can calculate the Asia, Europe, America, and, and, how many?

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.385-394 -- New York, January 1, 1967:

So that is calculation in Vedic know... Sapta-dvīpa. Sapta means seven. As the sun is coming in the orbit and crossing all the seven islands, similarly, Kṛṣṇa is also coming in this universe, that universe, that universe. When He comes into this universe, He, He is seen in that tract of land which is called Vṛndāvana. Therefore that tract of land is so sacred. Lord Caitanya describes by His mission, ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayas tad dhāma vṛndāvanam. Ārādhya, the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, is worshipable Deity, and His dhāma, and His headquarters—and His dhāma means headquarters-Vṛndāvana. Therefore Vṛndāvana is so important. When Kṛṣṇa comes... Just like when the sun appears in your country there is a particular city or place... Where it is where the sun first seen? Where it is?

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

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

Where there is some sex? How to defend?" Then, at night, "How to take shelter and sleep?" They have got their own arrangement. In the morning they know that "In that tree there are some fruits. Let us go there." So they fly. Āhāra: eating. As we go to office... In your, this New York City, thousands of people are coming from other islands by the ferry boat, waiting for the bus, going to the office. What is the purpose? The purpose is, "Where is food?" The birds are also going. You have made ferry boat and nice—so many not nice—very nice. It is crowded always. But you have to come. For your bread, you have to go fifty miles, forty miles. But the birds are free to fly from tree to another tree without any bus, without any ferry boat.

So the problem—eating, sleeping, mating—these problems are there amongst the living entities other than human being. Other than human being, they're many.

Festival Lectures

Lecture-Day after Sri Gaura-Purnima -- Hawaii, March 5, 1969:

They think that this life is meant for highest grade of sense gratification. That is the general thinking. In this city, any city you go, they are struggling very hard. Everyone is trying to get very rich, to get monetary power, so that they can satisfy their senses. Just like I hear from my students that this island, Hawaii, is meant for tourists. Tourists means they are all rich class of men. They come here to spend money for sense gratification. That is the way of civilization, the modern civilization: "Earn money at any cost. At the risk of all advancement of life, enjoy." So this is not new thing, but at the present moment in this age, this mentality has increased very improportionately. So when I came to the compound, to the yard of this house, I was very happy to hear the chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, because in this great city of sense gratification, at least in one corner there is the vibration of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.

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

These boys are so enthusiastic in preaching that on my word, they are going any part of the world. Any part of the world. They are prepared to go any part of the world. And just now I received one letter from my disciple Śrīmān Upendra dāsa. He does not know Hindi, and in the Fiji Island there are many Indians, but still, he is making propaganda. He's simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra door to door. They are also husband and wife. And people are very much appreciating.

So my Guru Mahārāja's desire and Caitanya Mahāprabhu's prediction is now being fulfilled. At least, it has begun to be fulfilled. So it is a genuine movement, authorized movement, and India's original culture. So our appeal to the Indian people, that "You should take seriously about this movement and try to cooperate with us." That will be glorification for Indian culture. At the present moment, India is known as very poor, poverty-stricken country. People are under impression that "They are beggars.

Sri Sri Kaliya Krsna Deity Installation -- Lautoka, Fiji, May 2, 1976:

Otherwise how in the western world, all these boys and girls who have joined, in number, so they are coming from different family. But they have taken Kṛṣṇa consciousness so seriously. So if you yourself become serious and distribute this Kṛṣṇa consciousness knowledge, the inhabitants of this island, Fiji Island, they will be also benefited and they will be also delivered. We have no such distinction. But everything must be done under proper direction and under the rules and regulation. So try to carry out and construct the temple very nicely and enjoy spiritual. Thank you very much.

Initiation Lectures

Initiations -- Los Angeles, May 23, 1972:

Prabhupāda: Hm. Thank you. Varuṇa dāsa. Varuṇadeva. Varuṇadeva is the demigod of sea? Yes. You have to control the Pacific Ocean. (laughter) Preaching. (laughter) All the Pacific islands, you have to preach. Is that all right? (laughter) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kaumadakī(?)

(another devotee is called) (japa) So you know the rules and regulations? Yes. What are they?

Sheila: ...meat, fish or eggs, no intoxication...

Prabhupāda: What is that, next? Four you have not mentioned.

Sheila: I have not mentioned four? No intoxicants, no eating meat, fish or eggs, no gambling and no illicit sex.

Prabhupāda: That's all. So your name is Śrīla dāsī, maidservant of the goddess of fortune.

General Lectures

Lecture -- San Francisco, June 28, 1971:

Then there is, there are Mahābhārata, "The Great History of India." Bhārata means India, and Mahā means greater, greater India. The greater India was the whole planet. The whole planet was Bhārata-varṣa. Now it is crippled. It has become a small tract of land. But originally everywhere, this portion of the world, America, it was also Bhārata-varṣa. Sapta-dvīpa, seven islands. Seven islands. Actually the whole planet is full of water—Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean. Full of water. And these are islands only—Asia, Europe, America. There are seven islands, sapta-dvīpa. The planet is sapta-dvīpa, seven full, comprising of seven islands. That is Bhārata-varṣa.

So nana-śāstra-vicaraṇaika-nipunau. So we have to study the Vedic literature very carefully, following the footsteps of Gosvāmīs. Not only chanting. This is also required, kṛṣṇot-kīrtana-gāna. But this is meant, if you simply go on chanting without reading books, that is also good. Especially in this age, because nobody has got power to study books.

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

I understand... Somebody was telling me that in Australia also there is some Śiva temple here. Who was telling me that? He was telling me. So the archaeological investigation has found so many relics, and in the Vedic literature we also find the mention of all the island, sapta-dvīpa, seven islands. Seven islands means Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Australia, and Oceania. These are mentioned already in the Vedic literature. So it is not that the world was not known to Vedic culture. It was fully known. And one king—he was that Mahārāja Pṛthu—he was the only one ruler all over the world, and he was ruling over these seven islands—that is mentioned-although his residential quarter was in the Brahmāvarta, the piece of land between the rivers Yamunā and Ganges. That tract of land is still considered a very sanctified land. Practically all the Vedic culture is there still. So the example is that as there is a chief man or king... He is also supposed to be God's representative. God gives power to somebody to look after the interest of the inhabitants of that particular planet.

Lecture -- Jakarta, March 2, 1973:

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Very nice.

Devotee (1): This type of temple and culture is prominent in that island of Bali. Many, many people. Here there are just a few, in Jakarta.

Prabhupāda: So we have to introduce this here. And if they give place, immediately take it.

Devotee (1): We have it. We'll take. It's very close to the man's house who built this temple, the man who was speaking in Indonesian. He gave us the house. Over a month ago they offered it to us.

Prabhupāda: So then take it.

Devotee (1): Before we were coming every Saturday here to teach their children, just kīrtana and some stories. The children of that man, when I first came there and I was saying Hare Kṛṣṇa, they started saying "Bhīma," "Arjuna," "Yudhiṣṭhira," like this. They know many stories. Of course, many stories are wrongly told, but they have some familiarity with Vedic knowledge, a little.

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

Prabhupāda: Similarly, this Bhārata... Bhārata means... Bhāratavarṣa means the sapta-samudra, sapta-dvīpa. This sapta-dvīpa still accepted—the North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia. In this way there are sapta-dvīpa, islands. So that is Bhārata. Now it is cut off under different circumstances. And the capital was this New Delhi or Hastināpura, and the kings, emperors, were the Pāṇḍavas family. So this is the history of greater India. That is called Mahābhārata. So Mahābhārata... In the Mahābhārata this Bhagavad-gītā is set up, and the writer of Mahābhārata is Vyāsadeva himself, and therefore the recorder of the speech, what Kṛṣṇa said in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, is also Vyāsadeva. So Vyāsadeva, you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, he says everywhere, bhagavān uvāca. He never says that "I am writing." He says, bhagavān uvāca. That you'll mark, those who have read Bhagavad-gītā. (break) ...tac chṛṇu.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Śyāmasundara: Just like Darwin first investigated some islands off of Peru, Galapagos Islands, and he found different species of life that exist there that don't exist anywhere else, so that they must have evolved...

Prabhupāda: That means that he has not seen all the species, because he has not traveled all over the universe.

Karandhara: Deductive. It's a deductive conclusion.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He has seen one island but he has not seen the whole creation.

Syamasundara: No.

Prabhupāda: Then? How he can fix up. There may be many others he has not seen.

Śyāmasundara: But the only thing that I want to get at is...

Prabhupāda: The only thing he has has studied, this earthly planet.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Karandhara: You are accepting authority anyway. We are accepting Darwin's authority that he went to these islands and found these animals. How do we know he went to the islands and found the animals?

Śyāmasundara: Because you can go there now and find them; they are still there.

Karandhara: But you have to go there to make, to make your point and deduct it. (break)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...when it will be cause of all his existence, survival for the fittest, but he is not going into the, who posed this, how it has been done, how it is going to that theory, so his theories are not complete.

Prabhupāda: His theory, it is not science. It is suggestion, guess.

Śyāmasundara: They call it "doctrine of natural selection," not theory.

Prabhupāda: Doctrine. So doctrine, doctrine should be fact, but Darwin's theory, so far... It is called Darwin's theory...

Śyāmasundara: It's not called theory, it's doctrine. It should be doctrine.

Karandhara: What they mean by doctrine is that they can't agree on it and say it's fact. That there's so many short-comings that they will call it a doctrine but they won't call it fact.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: What is that, emancipation?

Hayagrīva: That is to say he simply presented what material he found—that is the fossils. He investigated certain life forms on these island during this trip and theorized about evolution.

Prabhupāda: That is philosophic; that is not scientific. He found something and he based his thesis on that. He cannot find out all the bodies, because there are, at the end, some section, some sect they burn the body. So how he can get information of their body, burned? So his theory is not at all scientific. It is always defective.

Hayagrīva: He spent the rest of his life writing about the material he gathered during this five-year voyage, which is a very short time. And according to his theory of natural selection, the best and the fittest survived. If this is the case, the race will necessarily steadily improve.

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Revatīnandana: So you find the same symbols in the South American Incas as we find in India as we find in the Pacific Islands because they are coming down from the original Vedic culture in different states of...

Prabhupāda: Vedic culture or non-Vedic culture, there are so many similarities. It doesn't matter. Because you are living being, the similarities are there. Just like every living being eats. It is similar to everyone. Every living being sleeps. It is similar to everyone. Every living being mates. It is similar to everyone. Every living being fears. So you have to take the greatest common factor. There are so many similarities.

Philosophy Discussion on John Locke:

Prabhupāda: Of course, for the good of a certain people, if somebody encroaches... But they do not know what is good. They encroach upon others' property for their personal sense gratification. Otherwise, if for the good of the local people somebody, some (indistinct), just like the Aryans, they conquered over many islands or places, but that was for the good of them. Just like the Pāṇḍavas, they also ruled over, but the Pāṇḍavas were God conscious devotees and they made everyone enlightened in God consciousness. That kind of encroachment. Just like Lord Rāmacandra went to Ceylon, or Lanka, and conquered over it, because Rāvaṇa was a demon. So He conquered, Lord Rāmacandra conquered over the property of Rāvaṇa, and gave it to Vibhīṣaṇa, but He did not take anything. Just like Kṛṣṇa conducted, managed this Kurukṣetra war personally, but the kingdom was given to Yudhiṣṭhira. He did not encroach. So this kind of encroachment is all right, that everyone should be Kṛṣṇa conscious, everyone should be highly elevated in spiritual life. For spreading this civilization, encroaching on others' property is quite fit.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: This is natural. This is just like the other day I was saying that on the Hawaii Island we are standing, we know that the proprietor, the government, is there. So just after few yards there is the sea. Then we can conjecture: if the land has the proprietor, the sea has also proprietor. We have not seen who is the proprietor of the land, or the governor of the land. Similarly, there is a governor, proprietor, of the sea and the sky, but we have not seen. That does not mean there is no proprietor.

Hayagrīva: Now...

Prabhupāda: By see, by exp..., by our present experience we can guess the experience which you have not actually experienced. As we see that everything has got I... I am the proprietor of this body, he is the proprietor of this house, he is the proprietor of that land, he is the proprietor..., that there must be a proprietor of the sea. This is common sense. And that is God. The proprietor of the sun, the proprietor of the moon, the sky, that is God. That is described in the Vedic literature. It is said that the moon is the mind of God, the sun is the eyes of God, the land is the foot of God, the water is the semina of God. Everything is described.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not only nature. This is the beginning of realizing. This is impersonal. But there is person at the background. Just like we do not see..., we know that there is one governor, proprietor of the Hawaii Island. We have not seen. But when we see him, he is person. This is the conclusion. Similarly, so long we are not competent to see God, we can understand, "This is God's hand, this is God's heart, this is His..., God's mind, this is God's eyes." But when we are competent we can see regularly, "Here, here is God, face to face." That requires qualification. Because I did not see the governor of Hawaii is that he is not a person, he is imperson—that is foolishness. When I become competent to see, qualified to see the governor, you see he is a person.

Hayagrīva: Alexander distinguishes between what he calls deity and God Himself. For him deity is how it feels to be divine. Now deity for him is a relative term. It is the next highest level of existence. For instance, for an ant, a dog may be a deity; for a dog, a man may be a deity; for a man, a demigod may be a deity.

Purports to Songs

Purport to Bhajahu Re Mana -- New York, March 30, 1966:

You worship Lord Kṛṣṇa with the help of the saints and sages and make your life successful." That he is requesting. "Don't drive in this irresponsible way to put me into the ocean." And it is also requested that "We are just like in the ocean of birth and death." This material cosmic situation is sometimes explained as the ocean, and these planets, they are explained as islands. And actually, they are islands in the air. Just like we have got islands in the sea and ocean, similarly, these planets are islands in the air, air islands, so many planets.

So he says that durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge tara e bhava-sindhu re. Bhava-sindhu. Bhava-sindhu means this cosmic situation where birth and death is going on continually, one after another. "So you stop this business of repeated birth and death. You make your this human form of life successful and get release from this disease of birth and death." Birth and death is a sort of disease for the living entities. It is not the normal condition.