Prabhupāda: They kill the grandfather and have a feast, the cannibals. Yes. That is a great sport, that the grandsons will kill the grandfather and have a feast on his body by toasting.(?) Yes. The same idea is being preached by the communists. They want that all old man of the society, they should be killed. That is one of the theories put forward by the communists. Because they are not producing anything. So just imagine, these things will come gradually. So better to leave this place as soon as possible. Not to come again. That should be our serious attention. The other day the radio man was asking, "Swamiji, how to adjust?" "And there is no adjustment. You have to go out of the scene. There is no adjustment." So he was not very happy. If I would have bluffed him, "Oh, you do this, you do that, you do this humanitarian work, you spread(?) education and give foodstuff." No! There is no adjustment. The only adjustment is quit this place.
It is better to... (Conversations 1968 - 1975)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: What is the false ego and..., now you have to hear. That's all.
Śivānanda: No, I mean the attention itself, this is material, very, very subtle, but...
Prabhupāda: Yes. If you give attention, it is better. Even if you don't give attention, simply hear, that will also have some effect.
Śivānanda: Now, can... We should be able to control our attention then, to direct our attention to where...
Prabhupāda: Then what is the use of sitting if you don't control your attention? Then you are simply wasting time. Why do you come? That is understood. When you come to hear, that means you must hear with attention. But this is a concession, that even if you don't hear with attention, you become purified. But if you do it, it is very nice. You make progress. You get the result very quickly. So success of life is to please Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord, by one's occupational duty. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ, svanuṣṭhitena dharmena.
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: No, no. Use small.
Hayagrīva: Thank you. There's so many... That causes a headache for everyone.
Prabhupāda: No. It is better to make everything sound but slow. We want to create this position of Back to Godhead as very authorized representation of the science of God. In future people may refer to it, so we should very cautiously and very nicely do it. It is very important thing, Back to Godhead. If our movement is going to be recognized as scientific, God consciousness movement, then this Back to Godhead will be referred as authorized scripture. So therefore we have to prepare in such a way, nothing non-conclusive can be introduced in this. That should be our policy. And actually it is the position of Back to Godhead.
1970 Conversations and Morning Walks
Haṁsadūta: The government house?
Prabhupāda: Oh yes. It is better than Buckingham Palace, such a big house.
Haṁsadūta: Oh, the governor's house. The governor's house?
Prabhupāda: Yes, governor's house.
Haṁsadūta: It's surrounded just like a...
Prabhupāda: A big garden. Yes. That was viceroy's house. Now it is dilapidated. Otherwise, formerly it was very, very nice. Huge palace in India. Lord Collier's policy was to bring one of the princes from England and make him king of India.
Haṁsadūta: King of India.
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That is my opinion. But as soon as you go to a medical man, especially in your country, first of all, you have to give blood, immediately. (laughter) One ounce of blood immediately. First business. And then other injection. Because I underwent so many medical examination, I have got experience. For my immigration. I think, three or four times I was under health examination, and blood-taking, and injection. Of course, it is not very painful. That arrangement is there. But the business is like that, "First of all give your blood; then talk of other things." Better to die without a doctor. (laughter) That's the best principle. Don't call any doctor. Simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and die peacefully.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But what about when you're not going to die... What about when you have some problems that's not fatal. Then who would we call?
Dr. Weir: That's why I think it's better to accept that as it is rather than make analogies which are dangerous.
Prabhupāda: I may make analogy or not analogy but the thing is that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there but it is covered. As soon as its covering is taken away, it is uncovered, the original position comes out.
Śyāmasundara: I believe he made one observation which is rather in the British tradition, I believe, where he said that if there was no observer then there would be no such thing as light and darkness.
Dr. Weir: Yes, light and dark are subjective reactions. Really, the scientists would say there are wave lengths of a certain type in one part of the universe and in the other they're absent. But, until you have an observer you can't notice that.
Śyāmasundara: But the qualities are there, inherent in the rose, which are preferable to those of the daisy.
Dr. Weir: Why? Tell me why. I mean, you haven't given me any reason for saying it is better.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Śyāmasundara: The rose has nice scent. It appears...
Prabhupāda: ...beautiful.
Śyāmasundara: ...beautiful.
Mensa Member: (indistinct) be subjective (indistinct)
Śyāmasundara: Yes. There are four basic principles that Prabhupāda mentioned, eating, sleeping, mating and defending, which are natural for the animals or to the humans. But man is using his propensity, his conscious propensity, to simply enjoy material nature on a more advanced level: to eat better, to sleep more, to have better sex life and so on. It still boils down to that. Everyone is seeking sense pleasure.
Prabhupāda: Such propensities are there in animals. Then what makes the difference between animals and man?
Dr. Weir: Animals, as far as I know, don't conduct scientific research.
Śyāmasundara: What is the point of scientific research?
Dr. Weir: Because of this feeling of wanting to know.
Mensa Member: I wonder what (indistinct)
Reporter: There should be right surrender.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Reporter: There should be...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Because you are (indistinct), it is better to surrender and be peaceful. (break) ...here, there, here, there, here. Kṛṣṇa says, "No. That surrender will not help you. Just surrender to Me, you will be happy." So intelligent person will feel that "If I have to surrender, why not to Kṛṣṇa? Why surrender to some foolish man? Let me surrender to Kṛṣṇa. If my business is to surrender, I cannot do without surrender." That is intelligence.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So this is natural. If one saintly person do not be disturbed by people's unhappiness, he is not saintly person. He is not saintly person. If he is simply satisfied that "I have got a temple, I am getting good income, let me eat and sleep." My Guru Maharaja condemned this process. He said that to earn livelihood by showing some temple and collecting money and eat and sleep, better to become a sweeper in the street and earn his livelihood instead of earning livelihood in this so-called spiritual way. So practically all over the world a class of men, a priestly class of men, they have made it a means of earning livelihood, temple achar(?), taking money from people and enjoying, and then become drunkard. In your country, five thousand drunkard priests were consolidated in a hospital for treatment. They're getting money. So there is possibility, we are opening temples, public is contributing. But if we become easy-goer, "Now money is coming, let us eat sumptuously and eat, eat and sleep, and if possible drink also." But, of course, we are restricting.
Prabhupāda: They say, "Oh, it is better to kill him than to give him so much..." That theory is coming in communist country. That an old man, grandfather, is suffering. Better kill him. And there, in Africa, there is a class of nation they eat, make a festival, by killing great-grandfather and grandfather. Is it not? Yes.
Śyāmasundara: They eat them?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Huh?
Pañcadraviḍa: I had an uncle and aunt. They were in the army so when they went overseas, they could not take their dog with them. So they said, "The poor dog, he will be so heartbroken not to be with us," that they had him put to sleep. They killed.
Prabhupāda: In Gandhi's life also, he once killed one calf or some cow. It was suffering very much. So Gandhi ordered that "Instead of suffering, just kill him."
Sudāmā: So better to become and hog and dog.
Prabhupāda: Yes. The hog... The hog has no restriction, mother, sister or anyone. You have seen? The child hog is raising on the body of the mother, although a child. They are so sexually inclined. Sometimes they are having sexual intercourse with the mother. So you take this facility. If you want better facility for sex life, just become hog. So nature is giving the facility. "All right, come on. You eat anything without discrimination. Here is stool. And you can have sex life without any discrimination, your mother or sister. Come on."
Śyāmasundara: So the hippies have adopted that philosophy, hog philosophy.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Karandhara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: It is like our New Vrindaban. Eh?
Devotee (1): It is better.
Prabhupāda: You had been in New Vrindaban. But there are other residential quarters also. Hm?
Trivikrama: There is one rented motel for you Prabhupāda. There's a section of a small motel. He has rented.
Prabhupāda: Oh. Who has rented?
Trivikrama: Just very close.
Śyāmasundara: Sudāmā.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is good.
Devotee: Yeah! (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Instead of becoming empty, it is better too crowded. Our building, in the morning it was, there was no place to bow down. It was just match box packed up.
Devotee: Yeah, that's right.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee: That is because all the devotees are here from all the temples, but still...
Prabhupāda: Could not (indistinct). That is good. And it is always like that.
Devotee: No.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is most opulent, Kṛṣṇa is more powerful, Kṛṣṇa giving you assurance, "I give you protection," and still, if you don't take to Kṛṣṇa it is misfortune, simply misfortune. Unfortunate. So you remain. If you want to remain unfortunate, who can help you? So instead of arguing, you just surrender to Kṛṣṇa and make your life successful. That's it. That is wanted. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma... Now, these foreigners, they are practiced, always chanting Kṛṣṇa. You cannot do that? Why? Let me know why. You are all young boys; they are also young. They have got more facilities for sense enjoyment than yours. Why don't you take to it? So it is better late than never. Take to it. Take interest in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. You are all Indians. Make your life successful. Help others and be helped. (aside:) What is this? (Hindi—discussing prasāda to be served) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Tūrṇaṁ yateta. (Hindi) Life is very short. Any moment it can be finished. Tūrṇaṁ yateta na pated anu-mṛtyu yāvat. Before the next death comes... You give me in a plate. Where is restroom?
Prabhupāda: The search for knowledge is natural, but the knowledge should be taken from the person who knows the knowledge. That they do not know. The search is all right, but they are taking knowledge from a rascal. That is the difference. So one rascal is teaching another rascal, so what is the advancement of knowledge? Both of them remains in the ignorance. What is the use of the search? Better to stop this university.
Jayatīrtha: Actually people are seeing that more and more all the big problems are being created at universities, all the university students are rioting and becoming restless, Communists...
Prabhupāda: Because the knowledge has begun from wrong conception of life.
Jayatīrtha: They see that they are being cheated, yet they are cheating others also.
Prabhupāda: So blessings of Dr. O.B.L. Kapoor. He is a Vaiṣṇava. Although by age he is my younger brother, we are Godbrothers, and for the last forty years perhaps, since he was a student at Allahabad and I was doing some business there, we are known to each other. So his association is a great blessing for us. But this reception is actually not my reception. It is the reception of my foreign students. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted that His message should be broadcast all over the world, in every village and every town, and my Guru Mahārāja attempted. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura distributed his literature. I think, in 1896, he sent his first book, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and I saw in McGill University that book. And I do not know. That was the year of my birth also, 1896. So somehow or other, later on, I came in contact with Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja in 1922, and he immediately asked me that "Why don't you go to the foreign countries and preach Caitanya Mahāprabhu's blessings." So I was little surprised. Especially at that time, I was very young man and I was newly married. I got one son also. So it was my mistake that I did not take up the words of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja immediately. I thought that "I am now married. Let me settle down." Perhaps if I would have joined from 1922, by the blessings of Guru Mahārāja, I could do more preaching work. Anyway, it is better late than never.
Prabhupāda: Dallas. Dallas we have got very nice temple. Detroit. I thought that our temple, Los Angeles temple, is the best. But this year I went to Dallas. Oh, it is better than Los Angeles. (laughter) It is so nice. Now we are trying to purchase the Berkshire palace in England. Yes. That was being occupied by the Duke of Windsor. I don't think whether I have got, received one letter from. No. So the price is 500,000 dollars.
Dr. Kapoor: 500,000 dollars?
Prabhupāda: Yes. $500,000 means five crores according to Indian rate.
Dr. Kapoor: (laughing) Fabulous.
Prabhupāda: So I had no money, (laughter). But one nice boy—his name is known all over the world, George Harrison—he has promised to give me loan.
Dr. Kapoor: Kṛṣṇa has all the money.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Flag. It is flag.
Guest (1): Flag? (indistinct) It is better to do like this?
Devotee: Yes.
Guest (1): And some Indian gentlemen only married here (indistinct) and...
Prabhupāda: This is temple. Temple.
Guest (1): Yes. Temple.
Prabhupāda: Lord's temple.
Devotee: The Lord's temple. Temple of God.
Guest (1): (Japanese)
Prabhupāda: I can request them. But if they deny that will be insult for me. Therefore I do not like to request them. That will be not good for them, if I request and then they deny, or they do not do. That is not that will be good for them. It is better not to request. That will be offense, if they deny. Or if they did not carry out my order, then it will be offense. Why should they put themselves in such risk? Generally it is the duty of the householder to offer, "Sir, what can I do for you?" Then I can request. But if, as a beggar, I request them and they deny, then that will be great offense for them. That will not good for them.
Devotee (2): (indistinct)
Devotee (1): We are almost there.
Prabhupāda: Yes, 1944. I think you were at that time at my house. Yes. So, somehow or other, this intention for preaching the cult of Caitanya Mahāprabhu increased and the other side decreased. Viraktir anyatra syāt. But I was not disinclined, but Kṛṣṇa forced me that you must give up. (chuckles) And these thing is known better to Śrīdhara Mahārāja, how it decreased, decreased, decreased, then almost it become nil, and then I left home in 1950. Whatever was there, "All right, you do whatever you like." In 1954, four years I remained as vānaprastha, (indistinct) four years, from 1950 to 1959.
Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In the mean time, Bombay. Bombay light.
Prabhupāda: Big sum, yes. So Gosvāmī Mahārāja very much appreciated, and he began to speak highly about me that "Abhay Babu is so expert, he has got so many friends, he has collected so many... So why does he... He should be the Maṭha in-charge." In this way. "Why should he not live with us? Why he's living separately?" In this way. So Prabhupāda, Mahārāja, Śrīdhara may remember it (laughing), he said, "It is better to live separately from you people, and he will do the necessity in due course of time." So I could not understand what Śrīla Prabhupāda meant by that. So his inclination, blessings, were always upon me although (indistinct), but he was so kind.
Śrīdhara Mahārāja: (indistinct) collecting sufficient funds to come back (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: Yes, he was afraid.
Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He asked you.
Prabhupāda: The spirit is independent. Just like I am existing. That is life. And there are other limbs of the body. I can live even without limbs of my body, but I cannot live without life. If I have no hands, no legs, still I live. So therefore I am not dependent on hands and legs. My hands and legs are dependent on me. (pause) Is it not better to walk little, then sit down, compact room?
Karandhara: Oh yes, it's necessary to walk a little.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughs) Just get my cloth. Where it is? Missing? No, no, no. Harer nāma... (CC Adi 17.21). Our theory is sound. The rascal's theory is not sound. Ours is not theory; it is fact. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: "From Me everything emanates." Vedānta-sūtra says, janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) The Absolute Truth is that from where everything comes." But everything we see, life and matter. This is everything. What we see in this world? Life and matter. Is it not?
David Wynne: No, but that's what I mean. The analogy falls down there, doesn't it.
Prabhupāda: God is not like that.
Śyāmasundara: But you're saying that it's better to first penetrate and understand God.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Śyāmasundara: Then understand the universe.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is perfect knowledge.
Śyāmasundara: Before understanding, trying to understand God by His universe.
David Wynne: And science almost denies the existence of God in order to exist, doesn't it?
Prabhupāda: That is a rascal. These rascals say like that. Anyone who denies the existence of God, he is rascal number one. Immediately. And anyone, he may be a great scientist or philosopher, let him come. If he says that "I don't believe in God," then I shall prove that "You are rascal number one." That I shall prove.
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is better to become honest. If I do not know anything perfectly I should not be teacher. That is right thing. And if I have got doubtful knowledge, perhaps, maybe, why shall I be teacher. I should, "No, no I cannot teach. The subject is unknown." That is our process.
Mr. Wadell: Yes. I must say that I, there are many things of which I haven't got knowledge.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is going on. That is going on. Therefore people are misled.
Mr. Wadell: No. I would mislead them more if I said that I knew.
Prabhupāda: No. No, no. If you do not know, why should you say you knew? That is another cheating.
Mr. Wadell: How do you mean?
Prabhupāda: It is said... Suppose I am serving my master. I can think of, "Oh, why shall I serve him? I shall become independent." That is my freedom, little freedom. So I cannot become independent. That is not my healthy stage. Just like... Take for example, a dog. A dog is healthy when he has got a good master. And if he hasn't got a good master, he's a street dog, neglected. He's not healthy. Similarly our position is like that, that we must be dependent on God. Therefore in your Christian Bible also you go for your bread: "God, give us our daily bread." So you are dependent. So it is better to remain dependent on God than to use your so-called little freedom.
Father Tanner: But your dog can be healthy in two ways, can't he? The dog can be healthy... ,
Prabhupāda: No, no, this is an example.
Prabhupāda: So to remain dependent on God is our healthy state. As soon as we declare independent of God, that is our unhealthy state. This is our philosophy. And your philosophy also. To remain there. That is the Vedic injunction, that nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām, eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). What is the difference between God and ourself? God is also a living entity like us, but He's the chief living entity. He's maintaining all others. Therefore we have to ask God, "Give us our daily bread." He's the maintainer; we are maintained. Just like in a family, the father is the maintainer, and the mother and the children and the servants, they are maintained, similarly the whole universe, whole creation, it is maintained by God, and we living entities, within this universe or within this creation, we are maintained. So as we are maintained, it is better to remain dependent on God than to declare our freedom.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Yogeśvara: If it's better to be...
Haṁsadūta: But they consider it to be God's flaw.
Prabhupāda: No, why God's flaw.
Yogeśvara: Because He has given us the chance to fall down.
Prabhupāda: Independence means that you may obey me or not obey me. It is not my flaw. Otherwise, independence has no meaning. Independence has no meaning. If I give you independence... Just like Kṛṣṇa is giving independence to Arjuna: "Now I have explained to you everything. Now I give you independence. Either you accept or not accept, that is your position." So if this independence has no such quality, acceptance... That is not independence. If one has to be forced by the law of God, that is not independence. Then one does not know what is the meaning of independence.
Professor: That's fine. That is fine.
Prabhupāda: What, what is your opinion about interpretation?
Professor: Well, it's much better to have a commentary separated, not an interpretation given mixed with the translation. It is not to be...
Prabhupāda: It is not good. No. Yes. We cite them...
Professor: It has to be different.
Prabhupāda: No, if you have got your own opinion, you can write your own book. But you cannot interpret on the Bhagavad-gītā.
Professor: Yes, that's right. You are right.
Prabhupāda: Yes. If by the dress of sannyāsī, you take some money and eat and sleep, then it is transcendental fraud. (SP laughs) (Hindi) Just like others are toiling, and we are getting money by some dress. That's all. They are getting money by laboring hard, and we are getting money... In India, mostly the sannyāsīs, they do that. The priests also, they do that. This is our profession, just... My Guru Mahārāja said that ṭhākura dekhiye pāya rasta karache, rastaye 'yandiya jīvika badram karam bhari (?). Instead of earning livelihood by showing the Deity in the temple, it is better to take the profession of a sweeper in the street and live honestly. He said like that. The sweeper is working hard toiling and getting some money and living. This is honest living. But just like in Vṛndāvana, all the Goswamis. They have got their Deity. People are coming, contributing. Typical example, Gauracānda Goswami. Ṭhākura dekhiye paisa rasta. (?) All the sevaites, they are meant for... Our Kunja Babu also planned like that.
Prabhupāda: They were all made at the cost of Gauḍīya Maṭha to fight with (indistinct) in favor of Tīrtha Mahārāja. These were the planned things. But I was a rotten gṛhastha. I did not join any one of them. (Prabhupāda laughs) I was rotting in my household life. That's all. But I was planning how to make, how to make this. That was my desire from the very beginning, since I heard it. But I was never with them, either this party or that party. And Guru Mahārāja also recommended, apnader tasturi tublia thaki bhavan. Takhona (?). "When there will be need, he will do himself. There is no need of living with you. It is better to live apart from you." When I was recommended by Goswami Mahārāja to live in the Maṭha, that "He is so nice." Sometimes he recommended. In Bombay, here in this Bombay. That house. Yes. He (Guru Mahārāja) said "Yes, he is very expert. He can do. So it is better to live apart from you. And he will do everything when there is need." He said. I could not understand. Although I was apart from them, a gṛhastha. In this Bombay I was doing business. (people talking outside)
Banker: We have had a long history of debate in America over wealth. We have had one group, the fundamentalist Protestants, who argue that... Most of them are poor, and they feel very guilty if they have money. And then you have another group of Protestants, the Gospel of Wealth Protestants, who say that if you are truly holy, then it is better that the money be entrusted to your hands than to a man who is unholy. And then you have still another group that regards money as an end in itself, rather than a means to, committing you to do other things, And this confuses people in America. Your parents will be one thing, you'll be another. In my case, my mother is a Gospel of Poverty person. Blessed are the poor. She thinks you won't get into heaven unless you are poor. And I'm in the Gospel of Wealth category. (laughter) And you just select your own philosophy along the way. Carnegie was in that philosophy. He even wrote a book about it a one hundred years ago. The steel Carnegie, Carnegie steel.
Prabhupāda: Yes, Carnegie's name I know.
Prabhupāda: It is successful. If one man comes to hear, that is successful. But we have to see that, after spending so much money...
Devotee: Yes.
Prabhupāda: ...better to call a small meeting of the learned scholars and talk with them about our philosophy because even if you advertise common man is not interested. They think, "Oh, what is this?" Even the so-called higher circles. The best thing is to collect some... Just like ordinary meeting it is done. That is better. Why should you spend unnecessarily on advertising. (end)
Prabhupāda: Yes. Similarly, now America has to do the same thing to stop demonism. Then your nation will be leader. You understand; you have trust in God. Now it is your business to trust in real God and work for Him. You cannot... I have explained already. You cannot stop communism. You have to stop demonism. That is your real business. Communism is another type of demonism. So if you remain a demon, so what is the use of stopping another demonism? The same example: stool, the upside is dried up. You cannot say, "Because it is upside of stool, it is better side." Stool is stool. Guer ei pita en opita. (?) (dog barking loudly) Come on. That's all right. He cannot make the condition of the world better by... Just like Professor Kotofsky. He was saying that there must be revolution. I was talking of authority. So the authority you must have to accept. So he said that authority is accepted upon revolution.
Prabhupāda: There was one physician in Dacca. He was... Morning, he was washing his face. So one man was going, and he was coughing. So he asked that man, "Come here. Where you are going?" So he was a cultivator—"I am going to the field." So he said, "Better go home. Don't go to the field." So he was a respectable physician, so he went back. So his students asked that, "How is that, you asked him to go home?" So he chastised his stu..., "You do not know that he is coughing and the sound is like this? He will die after eight hours." It is experience. The students did not know but he could understand, "Coughing under such and such sound, it means death after such and such time." Yes. That, kavirāja can tell. When my father died, the kavirāja said, "Now you can do the rituals because he will die before next morning." He said. And actually it so happened. He said me this about ten, eleven o'clock, and he said exactly, "Before next morning he'll die." So that is experience. If you say, "After twenty days the month of January is coming," the child cannot understand, "How father said that twenty days after, January is coming?" But it is better experience only that one can say, "Today is 10th, and after twenty days, 1st January, will come." Everything is experience but supreme experience is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore if we receive experience from Him, then our experience becomes perfect. This is our proposal.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: It is better than doing something than doing nothing.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That dog also doing, jumping, always. "Yes, we get... Bow! Bow! Bow! Ra, ra, ra, ra!" That kind of... Active business. What is called? Active foolishness. They remain foolish, but still, they are active. That means they are simply creating dangerous position. That's all. Jagataḥ ahitāḥ. It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā. These demons, their progress means only for the mischief of the world. That's all. That is demonic progress. Kṣayāya jagato... For the destruction of the world and for mischievous condition of the world, their progress. Is it not? Kṣayāya jagataḥ ahitāḥ. Kṣayāya means "for destruction and for mischievous condition." Therefore, despite all advancement of so-called scientific knowledge, the world becoming more and more in dangerous and destructive condition. (break)
Viṣṇujana: They want dog's life. They think dog's life is good life. They have to work hard and the dog stays at home all day and enjoys in their nice big house. So they think, "I would be better to be the dog."
Prabhupāda: So they have become. But when he becomes street dog? That means he has to depend on good master. Big apartment for dog means he belongs to the master. So he has to find out a good master. But if he fails to find out a good master, then he's street dog. Dog's life is good, provided he gets a good master. So therefore we have decided to become dog of Kṛṣṇa, (laughter) the best master. And the master says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ: (BG 18.66) "I will give you protection." So why not become dog of Kṛṣṇa?
Prajāpati: He will be flea a on Kṛṣṇa's dog.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That Chaganlal this, I pay him extra eighty-five thousand. That is also black. No more white. So the black money was paid in this way, that the money was counted and it was put in a handbag, and it was locked by him. So the key was with him, and the bag was with me. As soon as court accepted the agreement, then I handed over, "Take this bag." Then again this Ratna Parik, he first of all proposed twenty thousand to sell that house. Then when I went there, he knew that he's settling at any cost, he said, "Now that twenty thousand was cost formerly. Now things have gone very high, I cannot sell." So he knows that we are eager to purchase. Then I said, "Then what do you want to do?" "Now I want thirty thousand." "All right, yes. Take it." I did not argue. In this way I settled up. And our Girirāja's father appreciated that "It is better a bad settlement than to prolong the case." So I took this policy. It is bad settlement, from twenty thousand to thirty thousand. But settled out. "I give you 85,000 black." But one thing I gain—that by cancelling the agreement, their proposal was that increase the price, twenty lakhs from fourteen lakhs. That was the arrangement between the attorneys. They cancelled the agreement and take twenty lakhs from him, and the balance should be divided by..., amongst us. That was the agreement. So that addition of twenty lakhs I satisfied Mrs. Nair by fourteen lakhs fifty thousand.
Prabhupāda: Oh yes. No. A devotee never prays to Kṛṣṇa. They have to undergo so much trouble; still they never pray to Kṛṣṇa. They know that "Kṛṣṇa will give us ultimately protection. Let us do our duty." Tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇaḥ (SB 10.14.8). When a devotee is in difficulty, he is not disturbed. He thinks, It is Kṛṣṇa's wish that I should suffer like like this. It is not suffering; it is my pleasure." Just like when a patient is undergoing surgical operation, there is pain, but he knows, "It is better for me." Therefore agrees, "Yes sir. You go on with your knife." So when you are surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa says that "I shall give you protection," so even in our distressed condition we must know that we are being protected by Kṛṣṇa. We should not be disturbed. Because we create so-called distress and happiness. Actually this world is distress. Here the so-called happiness is also distress. So why a devotee should be disturbed by distressed condition? Harer nāma harer nāma (CC Adi 17.21). (break)
Prabhupāda: (laughing) They are good disciples. They are bringing everything. I am simply ordering. Still, I think, "That was better, to depend on..."
Dr. Patel: What is Māyāvāda, Māyāvāda? This, we do not understand anything. māyā is a fact because it is the power of God, and you have got to work with it. So we are all of us are vādīs. Don't talk all these thing now Swamiji, I am going to fire him.
Prabhupāda: No, why you have become angry?
Dr. Patel: No, I don't become angry, I become violent, not angry.
Mr. Sar: Māyāvādī's name is speaker.
Prabhupāda: That means he is Māyāvādī.
Girirāja: But it is better to find some innocent persons, for preaching.
Prabhupāda: Yes, better field, those who are innocent. That is the duty of the preacher, four things: īśvare tad-adhīneṣu baliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca. The preacher should see four things. First of all īśvara, the Supreme Person, God. So that vision must be there. He knows what is īśvara or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then tad-adhīneṣu, those who have taken shelter of that īśvara. That means devotees. Tad-adhīneṣu. And then baliśeṣu. Baliśeṣu means those who are innocent, have no sufficient knowledge, innocent. And dviṣatsu. And there is always a class of men who are envious of God, dviṣat. Dviṣat means envious. So preacher has to see these four classes of men or three classes. One, īśvara, and the other three classes. So he has to behave like that. To behave with īśvara-prema, how to love. That is his business. How to increase love for the Supreme. Prema. Maitrī, how to make friendship with the devotee. And to the innocent-kṛpā, how to become merciful.
Prabhupāda: Otherwise how one can be satisfied in any condition of life unless there is bhakti? That is the test. The test is that he has got something. Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ. If he actually achieves Kṛṣṇa, then he does not think that anything better than this. That I see amongst these Europeans and American boys and girls. They have seen it, that "It is better than our so-called material life." Therefore they have been able to give up. Just like this boy Girirāja, he is very rich man's son. His father gave him a special car. His father is a big lawyer in Chicago. So he gave up everything. Now he is begging daily, although he is earning at least fifty-thousand rupees per month. But he has no... He is just like beggar. He doesn't care for his father. There are many like this. Bhaktiḥ pareṣānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). These are the test. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (Hindi) (break) ...devotee. Then all the good qualities will be manifested in his person. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ mano-rathena asato dhavato bahiḥ.
Prabhupāda: ...guru more mūrkha dekhi karilā śāśana (CC Adi 7.71).
Dr. Patel: Now I own it.
Prabhupāda: It is better to remain a fool. That is very progressive.
Indian Man (2): Fools are always ready, receptive. (break)
Prabhupāda: "I am fool, I must receive." That... These Sikh section. The Sikh means you always learn. Sikh, Śikṣa. Go on. (break)
Girirāja: "...one who is expert in the knowledge of the Supreme."
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is. Brahma jānatīti brāhmaṇa.
Dr. Patel: Brahma jānatīti brāhmaṇo 'ham.
Professor La Combe: Now it is better.
Prabhupāda: Actually, there was no government.
Professor La Combe: At that time, yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Professor La Combe: They lacked authority. In Vṛndāvana there has never been such kind of trouble.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And the airport, these international flights, they are not going. They stop only to take petrol, and no passengers going. That has hampered very much India's tourist department. Because no respectable, respectable or nonrespect..., no airlines, just like BOAC and other big, big, they are not going. The minister of tourist department, he has several times requested that "You also come." There are no tourists coming in India.
Prabhupāda: On the 29th.
Yogeśvara: One day, 29th of June. Ratha-yātrā festival like in Jagannātha Purī.
Professor La Combe: Today it is better here, little warmer. (indistinct) unusually cool for this time.
Yogeśvara: How are you feeling? When we went to visit you in your office, it wasn't sure whether you could come because you were not feeling very well.
Professor La Combe: I am not very well.
Prabhupāda: What is your age?
Professor La Combe: I got cold.
Prabhupāda: No, age.
Professor La Combe: I'm afraid I should go now.
Jyotirmayī: Yes. Monsieur La Combe has a course.
Professor La Combe: Not a course, but a meeting. And as the traffic is rather thick now, it is better not to take a chance. I should not be late.
Prabhupāda: All right. Thank you very much.
Professor La Combe: Thank you very much.
Prabhupāda: Jaya Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break)
Yogeśvara: ...on a book. It is accepted as being authentic. All the universities use his texts. And he has a big office in the Sorbonne. The Sorbonne is the most famous French University.
Prabhupāda: He is a big man.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Everything exists. For the time being, he may merge; then again he'll come to enjoy this material body. Āruhya kṛccheṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ. Patanty adhaḥ. Even they become merged into the existence of Brahman, again they come back because there is no āśraya. Just like these air, airplanes or the jets. They have invented very good machine, eighteen thousand miles per hour, going very high, but there is no place. They come down again. That is a fact. What is the use of going so high, eighteen thousand miles per hour, and travel and then again come back. Why do you take unnecessary trouble if you cannot stay there? You migrated from Europe and other countries to America. You got shelter. You stayed there. That colonization was successful. But if you are going to colonize in the moon and there is no place to stay, then why you are spending so much money unnecessarily? What is this foolishness? And they have stopped now. So in this way they are trying to merge into the Brahman effulgence, but where to stay? They can stay in the Brahman effulgence as minute particle of soul, but the soul wants ananda, then again—"It was better to live in the material world." They come back again.
Pañcadraviḍa: They clam, then, unless you speak Sanskrit, you have to interpret Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: No, that means if you are a nonsense, you better remain silent. Don't interpret. It is better not to talk than to talk nonsense. What is the meaning of that interpretation. If you do not know Sanskrit, stop speaking. Why do you make imagination?
Pañcadraviḍa: Well, their claim is you have to read the Gītā in Sanskrit in order for it to be read as it is.
Prabhupāda: Now, now, in the very beginning it is said, dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre (BG 1.1). Now interpret. What is your interpretation, dharma-kṣetre? What is your interpretation, kuru-kṣetre? Come on, in the beginning. They cannot interpret anything.
Prabhupāda: Well, that is not done by the ācāryas. But there is no harm chanting "Rādhe." But sometimes it is degraded to make something new, invention. Therefore better to stick to "Hare Kṛṣṇa" and to "Śrī-Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhupāda-Nityānanda." Otherwise... Just like the sahajiyās, they have invented: "Nitāi-Gaura Rādhe Śyāma, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Rāma." These things will come gradually. But they are not approved. They are called chara kīrtana (?), means "concocted kīrtana." But there is no harm chanting "Rādhe, Nitāi-Gaura." So better stick to this Pañca-tattva, and mahā-mantra. Just like "Nitāi Gaura Rādhe Śyāma, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Rāma." There is "Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhe Śyāma," but it is not approved. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). We have to follow the mahājana. In Caitanya-caritāmṛta you'll find "Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-Caitanya Prabhu-Nityānanda, Śrī-Advaita Gadādhara...," never "Nitāi Gaura, Rādhe Śyāma." So why should we do that?
Prabhupāda: No. You discriminate actually. You do not kill human beings, but you kill animals. Similarly you discriminate: instead of killing animals, kill vegetables. Importance. Just like this grass. There is enough supply of grass, but you cannot have enough supply of cows. Therefore discrimination is that it is better to live on grass than on animals. Now, still they are eating seventy-five percent other than animals. They are not eating only animals. Why not twenty-five percent more? In the market they are not eating animal. When the animal-eaters I see, they have got a little flesh, surrounded by salad and these peas and so many other things. Why don't you eat only meat?
Paramahaṁsa: But isn't it better to give up all ego altogether?
Prabhupāda: Why? Why? That is Māyāvādī philosophy. We make our ego purified. "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa." That is wanted. Not that to make my egoism zero. That is Māyāvāda. They are disappointed, they think finish this egoism. It cannot be finished. Because you are individual soul, it cannot be finished. Simply it has to be purified. I am thinking Indian, you are thinking American. You are neither American neither Indian. We are all part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Direct we have to come to that point. Not to falsely think that I am American, I am Indian, I am cat, I am dog. That has to be finished. But you'll come to the real egoism, that I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. That "I am" will go on. No that... They are thinking in a way to finish the "I am" or "I am the same." Wrong thing.
Gaṇeśa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the material scientists are so inquisitive, yet they are leading lives like cats and dogs, how can they come to...?
Paramahaṁsa: They say, "That you have to take from us." If you ask them to describe it, they say, "No, no, you have to..."
Prabhupāda: This is not... Better hate to talk with them.
Paramahaṁsa: Better to...
Prabhupāda: Yes, don't talk with them. So lower-grade men they are, it is useless to talk with him.
Amogha: Yes.
Prabhupāda: "God is detained by the word of court." He has no power to defy the words of court.
Paramahaṁsa: The judge will judge him.
Paramahaṁsa: I think maybe he was thinking that there was some things about some of the Gauḍīya Maṭha books.
Prabhupāda: Maybe.
Paramahaṁsa: And sometimes you said that better not to..., better to read your books.
Amogha: When the devotees went to India this year, they said that Acyutānanda Swami very..., chastised them that "You should never... If I catch any of you buying Bhaktisiddhānta's books from Gauḍīya Maṭha then I will take it away," something like this.
Paramahaṁsa: Yeah, that was, the reason was because of, he didn't want the devotees going to Gauḍīya Maṭha. But there's nothing wrong with the idea of studying the previous ācāryas' books.
Prabhupāda: But here the poison fruit. (laughter)
Śrutakīrti: He says poison.
Prabhupāda: It is better not to have fruit tree than to have a poison fruit tree. What is for?
Śrutakīrti: To protect it from the sun, too much sun.
Devotee (1): Śrīla Prabhupāda, this is a cinnamon tree over here, a cinnamon.
Prabhupāda: Oh. Cinnamon tree, you can use the leaves for cooking. Teja-patra.
Indian man: Bay leaves. Aren't they called bay leaves? A dry one?
Devotee (1): This is the same?
Ambarīṣa: For every old disease they find a cure for, there are..., a new disease.
Prabhupāda: No cure. They simply find out... They say, "It is better medicine," but it is not cured. What disease they have cured? What... Name particular disease, "This disease is cured."
Harikeśa: Well, they have some smallpox vaccine, and no one gets smallpox any more.
Prabhupāda: Yes, does it mean smallpox is stopped all over the world?
Harikeśa: It's very much cut down. There's hardly any smallpox...
Prabhupāda: Very much cut down, but it's very much increasing in another side.
Siddha-svarūpa: No, no, they have smallpox.
Prabhupāda: Ah, yes. When it is ripe, it is very sweet. And when it is not ripe, it is called "vegetable meat."
Devotee: "Tree goat."
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...prepare, it is better than meat.
Devotee (1): (break) ...the seeds.
Prabhupāda: Yes, big, big seeds. That is also very digestive. If you make it powder, it acts like, what is called, pancreas.
Bali-mardana: I think you once told a story about an Englishman who wanted to taste jackfruit.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...tree, jam. It is berry, but blue.
Dr. Wolfe: Prabhupāda, wouldn't it be better to say he is blind, he is stupid?
Prabhupāda: Yes, the same thing. Mad is the sum total of all stupidity. (laughter) When I say mad, it is the sum total of all kinds of stupidity. Now you can give them prasādam. I think we have occupied their time.
Bahulāśva: Śrīla Prabhupāda, when would you like to speak to Dr. Judah about the college?
Prabhupāda: Whenever he finds convenient. I am always ready.
Dr. Judah: About the college?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Brahmānanda: It's a type of cannon. (break)
Yadubara: You mentioned before that it is better that we not do so much cooking. If everyone is separately cooking, then that is such a time-consuming thing for everyone.
Prabhupāda: But you said that "If we cook, it is cheaper." Then? If it is cheaper, convenient, then you cook. I said that "You save time. Don't cook."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The cheapest thing is to cook one thing for... cook for everyone. That is the cheapest and quickest.
Bhāvānanda: During Māyāpur festival, Śrīla Prabhupāda, nicest thing was when we all sat down together and took prasādam.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: That is closed?
Satsvarūpa: They left one man there. Better to keep the temple open with the Deities there or can the...?
Prabhupāda: No, no. When there is Deity, it must be taken care of.
Satsvarūpa: They should not be transported to another temple?
Prabhupāda: No, no harm.
Satsvarūpa: May the temple be only one man left?
Prabhupāda: Why, if there is no Deity, what is the use of keeping one man? (break) ...is meant for Deity, not for man. (break)
Devotee: Well, it's a self-analysis. It doesn't go very far, but at least they accept that God exists and...
Prabhupāda: Self-analysis, that requires intelligence. But our process is, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." There is no difficulty. So it is better than A.A.
Devotee: Yes, much better. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: So why should you bother about that process? You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Is that all right?
Devotee: That's fine. (end)
Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate goal.
Prof. Hopkins: But is it easier or better to be a devotee of Kṛṣṇa...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prof. Hopkins: A Kṛṣṇa bhakta than to be a Christian, say?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Anything genuine is easy. Anything hodgepodge, that is not good. We don't recommend hodgepodge.
Prof. Hopkins: So the advantage then, or the greater value is that it is focused and clear rather than a hodgepodge where the goal and the activities are not clear.
Prabhupāda: The hodgepodge has killed the whole world, that so many pseudo-religious systems. People are misled.
Bahulāśva: Better to just chant and dance.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Bahulāśva: That is why they become mad because they become envious that we are chanting and dancing. They are working very hard.
Paramahaṁsa: They won't join.
Prabhupāda: Yes, they asked in Los Angeles that "How is that? You do not work and you are living so comfortably?" They are envious. And the greatest economist, Professor Marshall, he has said that if man gets money, automatically he will not work. That is the basic prin... Therefore they are creating daily new invention.
Brahmānanda: For more working.
Brahmānanda: There was an advertisement that a ten cent piece, a dime, that was minted ten years ago it was made with silver. So that ten cent piece today is actually worth twenty-five cents. And the twenty-five cents piece that they make today, because it's made with copper, it's only worth ten cents. So it's better to have a ten cent piece that was made ten years ago than a twenty-five cent piece that was made today.
Paramahaṁsa: In the British historical museum in London, I have seen there's a plate about this large, and half of it is pure gold, and the other half is lead. And they found this. They can't explain. It's just a straight line where they separate, and they can't explain how it was produced. So they're experimenting now to try to change lead because there's only, what is it, one proton or electron in the atom? Different. There's only like one proton difference between lead and gold. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...the sky there are many big, big planets where the millions of miles made of gold. Just like desert, there is gold desert.
Prabhupāda: So it is better to remain in that ignorance. Just like the hogs and dogs, they do not understand that this is suffering. But we can understand that this is suffering.
Brahmānanda: Yes. To be a dog, that's all right because the dog doesn't suffer. He is enjoying.
Prabhupāda: No, no, why you are doing austerity? Remain as dog and cat. Therefore you are mūḍha. You do not know what is suffering, what is enjoyment. Mūḍho nābhijānāti mam ebhyaḥ param avyayam. Therefore one who is intelligent, jñāni, bahūnām jan... After suffering in this way and talking all nonsense, when he comes to the real knowledge, then he surrenders. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān maṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). That is knowledge.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Some Catholic priest said that better to let her die, because this is God's way.
Prabhupāda: Then he has to accept the God's way and give up the machine.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But in a situation like that, isn't it more valuable to preserve human life because there's the chance...
Prabhupāda: What is the use?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: There's a chance that somehow or another, they might be...
Prabhupāda: Why should you take the chance? You are perplexed with overpopulation. And why you want to stay? One side, you are perplexed with overpopulation. Let him die.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is good. Those who are doing nothing, for them to attend the church at least for one hour, that is better than... Something is better than nothing, you see. That is good. People have completely forgotten God. They are doomed. So better to remember at least for some time. That is good.
Indian man (3): We would like you to stay more longer in this country.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Indian man (3): We would like to request you to stay more longer in this country.
Prabhupāda: So if you start a good center I will stay and see that things are going on. (aside:) Just take this stick.
Harikeśa: Chopping rocks.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Otherwise whipping. In Bhagavad-gītā it is recommended that instead of keeping yourself lazy without working, better to steal. Better to steal.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: How is that?
Prabhupāda: Huh? That is there. Stealing is bad work, bad work. It is also working, but bad work. So Kṛṣṇa recommends that instead of keeping yourself lazy, better do bad work.
Harikeśa: "Action is better than inaction."
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Yes.
Harikeśa: A man cannot even keep his own body in shape.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Yes.
Harikeśa: A man cannot even keep his own body in shape.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So stealing is still better than keeping oneself lazy.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: "It is better to perform one's duty, even though it may be imperfect, than to perform another's duty"?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. (laughter)
Harikeśa: I've always wondered... The food will be taken care of in a perfect varṇāśrama society; government is taken care of...
Prabhupāda: Government means you, like rascal fools like you. So how you will take care?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Better to walk this way, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Therefore they are called mūḍhas, all rascals. Na mā duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ. How you can understand that this man is mischievously meritorious? How you can understand? Duṣkṛtina means mischievously meritorious. This man is meritorious, but he is using his merit for mischievous activities. That is called duṣkṛtina. So how you can understand this man is mischievously meritorious? You can say, "How is that? A man is meritorious and at the same time he is mischievous?" There're so many organization, especially in Western country, big, big rogues' organization simply for cheating, simply for smuggling. They have got merit. Otherwise how they have organized such big, big organization? But what for? All mischievous activities, harassing government, harassing people. The merit is being used. There are many organizations in the Western country. Is it not?
Prabhupāda: What is the problem? But still, these rascals will say that he is right. You see? He cannot even analyze properly, and still he is obstinate; he is right. This rascaldom is going on. And if we say "rascal," they are angry. Murkhayopadeṣo hi prakopaya na śanti...: "To a rascal, if you give the right instruction, they will be simply angry." That's all. Not pacification, they will be angry. Payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujanganam kevalaṁ visa-vardhanam: "Just like the serpent, rascal. If you give him milk, he'll drink it and increase his poison." That's it. The result will be he will increase his poison. Better to keep them starvation. Therefore everyone, as soon as one sees the serpent, immediately kills. No consideration. "Here is a serpent. Kill him." Similarly, immediately we see the scientists, kill. (laughter) That is the only proccess. So-called scientists. So do you agree, Harikeśa, for kicking on the face of these rascals or not?
Harikeśa: Yes.
Dr. Patel: That they are doing, this and that. I have to explain them that "You are all humbug because they don't know you well; you don't know them well."
Prabhupāda: They will create nuisance because there is no sense. It is better nuisance. Who is coming to make sense, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa? Nobody is coming. Then nuisance is better than no sense. (Bengali:) Naya mameche khana mama baba:(?) "To possess no mama, it is better to have a blind mama." So they are blind mama. That's all right. Where is the real mama? All mamas are...
Dr. Patel: (Hindi) (break)
Prabhupāda: Mama means mother's brother.
Prabhupāda: They gave up everything. Bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna, gopī-bhāvāmṛta... Then, in Vṛndāvana, they were thinking of the gopīs' līlā. So after giving up all these things, again they were thinking of material things? Gopī-bhāvāmṛtābdhi-lahari-kallola-magnau. So they were thinking of gopīs' pastimes with Kṛṣṇa. So after giving up everything material, again material? Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, ramyād kaścid upāsanā vraja-vadhubhir yā kalpitā. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, after so much renunciation, so much vairāgya and strict following the sannyāsa rule, again He is recommending gopī? This is foolishness. Gopīs' līlā with Kṛṣṇa is completely spiritual. They do not understand. They think it is material. Therefore it is better not to go there. First of all become experienced in spiritual life; then try to understand gopīs' līlā.
Yaśomatīnandana: It seems that it is better that he did not preach Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Yaśomatīnandana: With his understanding.
Prabhupāda: Of course, one cannot preach Bhagavad-gītā unless he is empowered by Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible. Kṛṣṇa śakti vinā nahe nāma pracaraṇa. It is not possible. (end)
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Akṣayānanda: ...in the right person.
Prabhupāda: They should have that knowledge, that we are doing the best service to the humanity. It is better late than never. (break) ...position so they may not lose their faith.
Akṣayānanda: Position should be pure.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Akṣayānanda: Remain pure.
Prabhupāda: Earth teachers. (?) (break)
Harikeśa: ...next conference.
Devotee (4): No, Subhaga has spoken to me, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Harikeśa: Well, it's better to enjoy than to suffer.
Prabhupāda: And where is enjoyment? The thief also thinks like that: "Let me enjoy by stealing." Then, when he goes to the prison, then his enjoyment finished. If somebody gives you so many rasagullā, that "You take this rasagullā, and after finishing, I shall beat you with shoes," then will you take? (laughter) This is enjoyment. No sane man will like to enjoy like that. "Take this rasagullā, and after this, I will beat you with shoes, as many rasagullā you have taken." Will you take it?
Harikeśa: Yes, but I eat rasagullās every day and nobody beats me with shoes.
Prabhupāda: Why the other day you told me, "I am now not... I cannot see. My brain is..."? Is it not beating with shoes? (laughter) Eh? Don't you agree?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Tejas: For when the devotees come.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tejas: It is better than Ram līlā grounds. We'll get the educated and sophisticated people.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tejas: Not just the Old Delhi people.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And...
Tejas: And we can make very good... In the newspaper, if we get, then we'll get... We can sell the tickets also.
Prabhupāda: So he wanted to see me?
Hariśauri: He brought two of his friends in as well. I thought he was going to create such a commotion, and you had just taken rest, so I said better to let you rest and not disturb you.
Prabhupāda: (to passerby) Hare Kṛṣṇa! (japa)
Lokanatha: All over the world, the Ratha-yātrā attracts thousands of people, but in Bombay we'll not have Jagannātha Deities, so how could we have Ratha-yātrā and attract people? (indistinct) give some correction.
Prabhupāda: ...our temple then.... (break)
Girirāja: A question was raised about Lord Rāma worshiping Śiva.
| Page Title: | It is better to... (Conversations 1968 - 1975) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 11 of Nov, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=78, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 78 |