It is very difficult to... (Conversations 1974 - 1975)

Expressions researched:
"very difficult to"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "very difficult to" not "not very difficult to understand" not "very difficult to understand" not "not very difficult" not "not a very difficult" not "not become very difficult"

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 17, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (to Patel) You are śānta-bhakta.

Dr. Patel: Am I?

Prabhupāda: Śānta, dāsya, sākhya, vātsalya, and mādhurya.

Dr. Patel: Mādhurya-bhakta is the best. Like gopīs. But that is very difficult to be.

Prabhupāda: No, best, it is just one's conception, you see? Otherwise, all are best. All are best. But śānta-bhaktas do not take Kṛṣṇa very intimately.

Dr. Patel: (laughs) You are... You take me below the belt.

Prabhupāda: Yes, śānta-bhakta means the bhakta who appreciates the greatness of the Supreme, but does not take Kṛṣṇa as very intimate. That is śānta-bhakta.

Dr. Patel: How can, ah, can you imagine God without taking Him very intimately? These are two, I mean...

Prabhupāda: No, no. Just like... Intimately... Just like I can give this example, that you have got a great regard for me, but not as intimately as my other disciples.

Dr. Patel: Ah, that is possible. Because I am, I have not put on the order clothes.

Prabhupāda: This example is, I think, proper.

Morning Walk 'Varnasrama College' -- March 14, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No, the thing is that actually, at the present moment, they are śūdras or less than śūdras. They are not human beings. The whole population of the world. It doesn't matter whether it is western or eastern. That is the position. So unless they are trained up, so the society's already in chaos, and it will go on still more in chaos, chaos. It will be hell. How people will live? And these rascals are being elected as government men, and they're only making budget how to tax. So one side, there is no rain; one side, there is no rice, especially in India; and one side, heavy tax. So they'll be all confused. They have already become confused. So in the confusion state it will be very difficult to make them Kṛṣṇa conscious. Therefore preliminary help should be given.

Viṣṇujana: Preliminary.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That they should not be in chaos and confusion. Otherwise, how the brain will work?

Viṣṇujana: Yes. No one can give rapt attention without peace of mind.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Our main aim is how to give them Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But if they are already disturbed in every respect, then how they'll take it? Therefore we are taking these subjects, to help him to come to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And this is the method-varṇāśrama.

Hṛdayānanda: So just to clarify, Prabhupāda, I want to make sure I have it very clear, that if someone comes to our varṇāśrama college, even though this may be preliminary help, in general—you've made some exceptions—but in general, when they come to our college, they have to follow the four regulative principles, also learn something about Bhagavad-gītā and then, side by side, they learn a...

Morning Walk -- March 27, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Because woman is the embodiment.

Prabhupāda: You should be trained up.

Dr. Patel: Woman is the embodiment of māyā.

Prabhupāda: Vikāra... In spite of woman, you'll not be agitated. That training required.

Dr. Patel: You... Now, now, that training is very difficult to get. I am very sorry to say that.

Prabhupāda: No, no. No, no. That training is there. We are, we are training in that way.

Dr. Patel: You must, you must have, I mean, a sort of a... You see, between the object and indriyas...

Prabhupāda: Then according to Swami Nārāyaṇa's principles, I am a fallen.

Dr. Patel: No, no, no, sir.

Prabhupāda: Because I am always surrounded by young girls.

Dr. Patel: No, no, that is... Swami Nārāyaṇa sitting with the women but the sādhus...

Prabhupāda: Then why you said...? Don't you see...?

Dr. Patel: Listen, you are arguing in such a way that there will be a flash between us two.

Prabhupāda: No, no. People should be trained up in such a way that in spite of (indistinct) you should not be agitated. That is, that is.

Morning Walk -- March 29, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: All right.

Dr. Patel: I'm very sorry.

Prabhupāda: It is very difficult to talk with you. Therefore you cannot take any lesson.

Dr. Patel: No, I'm not taking this lesson, going to kill an animal to eat it. That lesson in no way I will take.

Prabhupāda: That is meant for others!

Dr. Patel: Ācchā! Not for me.

Prabhupāda: All right.

Dr. Patel: Otherwise, as a Vaiṣṇava you can't...

Prabhupāda: I don't say that Vaiṣṇava. Why I'll say? Why you talk like that?

Dr. Patel: (indistinct) Swamiji told his disciples not to take meat.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Indian man (3): (Hindi)

Indian man (2): No.

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: It may be whatever it may be. Now, just see that how much country conscious he was. He wants prophylactic brush. Not only that. I will tell you another incident. I was manufacturing one medicine, jagon(?) poultice. That is like anti-(?). So doctors were prescribing in Allahabad. So there was one big doctor, Dr. R.N. Banerjee Rai Baba. So sometimes I was seeing the doctors. So when I went there, "Oh, it is very difficult to prescribe country medicine." "Why?" "Oh, you will be surprised. I prescribed this jagon poultice in the Nehru family." He was physician. "And Motilal Nehru said, 'Oh, doctor, excuse me. In the matter of medicine, you don't prescribe country medicine.' " Just see. Believed in him.

Dr. Patel: Gandhiji was never asking anything, for medicine much.

Prabhupāda: No, that is another thing. I know these people, this Nehru family. They were completely Europeanized. Outwardly for them... Even up to the last point of his life, if some European would come, he would immediately receive him. And if an Indian wants to see him, "Oh, it will be..." You will have to wait at least one. Everything London-made is very good. That was Jawaharlal Nehru's idea.

Indian: That was absolutely opposing the Sardar Patel. Anything he wrote to another white skin, "All right, let him be." Lenin, we see, after all. Lenin.

Prabhupāda: That is also not good. But these people, they are svadeśi, for country, but I know them very well.

Dr. Patel: No, he was right up to the end very conscious about this. Because of his Oxfordian education. I think he was in eternal hell, one of these things.(?) (break)

Morning Walk -- April 11, 1974, Bombay:

Indian Man (1): In this world, unless they see the particular person.

Prabhupāda: They cannot see. He is blind, how he can see?

Indian Man (1): It is very difficult to believe he is God...

Prabhupāda: No, no, believe or don't believe. That is another thing.

Indian Man (1): So we must have spiritual eyes or something which is beyond our physical body. And so how why we are drowsing ourself and why we are just galloping in a different way? Because everybody says it is beyond...

Prabhupāda: No. Suppose you are blind. So you require the help of a man who has got eyes. So unless you are sure that "This man has got eyes," why should you take care of him? That is another ignorance. If I know the man who proposes to lead me, he is also blind, why shall I take his help?

Indian Man (1): But if he says, "I am also blind," but just trying to find out the way...

Prabhupāda: Yes, so find out the right way. Find out a man who has got the eyes.

Indian Man (1): But right, everything is right...

Prabhupāda: No, no, "Everything is right," that is your misfortune. You do not know. Because we know the right man is Kṛṣṇa. Everyone knows. But your misfortune. You do not accept Kṛṣṇa. You accept something else.

Room Conversation with Irish Poet, Desmond O'Grady -- May 23, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Purport.

Nitāi: This verse is a reply to Arjuna's third question: What is the means of attaining to the transcendental position? As explained before, the material world is acting under the spell of the modes of material nature. One should not be disturbed by the activities of the modes of nature; instead of putting his consciousness into such activities, he may transfer his consciousness to Kṛṣṇa activities. Kṛṣṇa activities are known as bhakti-yoga—always acting for Kṛṣṇa. This includes not only Kṛṣṇa, but His different plenary expansions such as Rāma and Nārāyaṇa. He has innumerable expansions. One who is engaged in the service of any of the forms of Kṛṣṇa, or of His plenary expansions, is considered to be transcendentally situated. One should also note that all the forms of Kṛṣṇa are fully transcendental, blissful, full of knowledge and eternal. Such personalities of Godhead are omnipotent and omniscient, and they possess all transcendental qualities. So, if one engages himself in the service of Kṛṣṇa or His plenary expansions with unfailing determination, although these modes of material nature are very difficult to overcome, he can overcome them easily. This is already explained in the Seventh Chapter. One who surrenders unto Kṛṣṇa at once surmounts the influence of the modes of material nature. To be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness or in devotional service means to acquire the equality of Kṛṣṇa. The Lord says that His nature is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge, and the living entities are part and parcel of the Supreme, as gold particles are part of a gold mine.

Room Conversation with Richard Webster, chairman, Societa Filosofica Italiana -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Yes. And śrutayo vibhinnaḥ. Literatures are also, authentic literatures... Śrutayaḥ means authentic literature, which is acceptable. They are also various type. Just like Vedas. There are four Vedas: Sāma-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Atharva-Veda, Ṛg-Veda. Then the Upaniṣads are there. Then the Vedānta-sūtra is there. So if we study all this Vedic literature or any other similar literature, it is very difficult to find out the Absolute Truth. Śrutayo vibhinnaḥ. And if we take the philosophers, so one philosopher differs from another philosopher. Na cāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam. Therefore, to approach the Absolute Truth, God, is very difficult subject matter. Therefore our principle is mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Mahājana means the recognized persons, recognized by the Supreme Lord, such persons we follow. We have got a list of recognized persons, just like Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, the Manu. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā, Manu's name is there. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam, vivasvān manave prāha (BG 4.1), this Manu. So Manu, then Kapila, then Prahlāda, Janaka, Vyāsadeva, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Yamarāja. In this way there are twelve mahājanas. And we receive knowledge from either of them. That is bona fide philosophy. That is called paramparā system. The original teacher is Kṛṣṇa and from Him the sun-god, Vivasvān, learned it. He spoke to his son, Manu. Manu spoke to his son, Ikṣvāku. In this way the paramparā system is coming. And that is bona fide. This is our philosophy, to accept knowledge from the perfect person or his bona fide representative.

Richard Webster: And Christians, how do you present this? Suppose if someone was a Christian.

Room Conversation with Richard Webster, chairman, Societa Filosofica Italiana -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: There was a cartoon. When I... One leader is approached for food, that "We are in scarcity of food." The leader says, "Of course, it is very difficult to assure you for food grains. But from next week you will have television." (laughter) Next week you will have television. So these improvements are going on, television, but they are starving. This is going on. Advancement of knowledge and learning is going on in discovering television, but there is no food. This is the mismanagement of the leaders. Dishonest. There is enough food. Punjab still produces food grains. Bengal still produces rice, but they are stocked by government men, and they are mishandling. They are lying on the station for dispatch, but they will not be dispatched. They are rotting. Rainy season spoiled the whole stock; still, they are not dispatched. Official: "There is no dispatch order. There is no wagons available." Simply mismanagement or bribe. This is going on. And people are suffering. How it is possible to purchase? Suppose India's income, the average income, is very poor. Suppose one man earns ten rupees a day, and if he has to purchase ten rupees simply rice for the family, ten..., what for others? Then he becomes dishonest. He wants to earn money by taking bribe in his own capacity. So bribing has become a custom. Anywhere you go, unless you bribe, you cannot get release. And they say that "Whatever salary we are getting, that is not sufficient. Our extra earning is by taking bribe." And now in the Western countries also the difficulty is arising. I do not know whether you are already, I mean to say, aware that so many boys, they are becoming hippies. They are reluctant to do anything. That is a very dangerous sign. If you... If unemployment, no engagement, that is not good for the country. Everyone should be employed. Everyone should be engaged in some service. That should be the policy of the government. And everyone should be happy, without any anxiety. That is good government. So many people unemployed, doing nothing, producing nothing. Is it not a problem?

Room Conversation with Catholic Cardinal and Secretary to the Pope -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Purport.

Nitāi: Those eligible for elevation to the transcendental position are mentioned in this verse. For those who are sinful, atheistic, foolish and deceitful, it is very difficult to transcend the duality of desire and hate. Only those who have passed their lives in practicing the regulative principles of religion, who have acted piously and have conquered sinful reactions can accept devotional service and gradually rise to the pure knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then, gradually, they can meditate in trance on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the process of being situated on the spiritual platform. This elevation is possible in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the association of pure devotees who can deliver one from delusion.

It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that if one actually wants to be liberated he must render service to the devotees; but one who associates with materialistic people is on the path leading to the darkest region of existence. All the devotees of the Lord traverse this earth just to recover the conditioned souls from their delusion. The impersonalists do not know that forgetting their constitutional position as subordinate to the Supreme Lord is the greatest violation of God's law. Unless one is reinstated in his own constitutional position, it is not possible to understand the Supreme Personality or to be fully engaged in His transcendental loving service with determination.

Room Conversation with Catholic Cardinal and Secretary to the Pope -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Read the purport.

Nitāi: There are various grades of men, and out of many thousands one may be sufficiently interested in transcendental realization to try to know what is the self, what is the body, and what is the Absolute Truth. Generally mankind is simply engaged in the animal propensities, namely eating, sleeping, defending and mating, and hardly anyone is interested in transcendental knowledge. The first six chapters of the Gītā are meant for those who are interested in transcendental knowledge, in understanding the self, the Superself and the process of realization by jñāna-yoga, dhyāna-yoga, and discrimination of the self from matter. However, Kṛṣṇa can only be known by persons who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Other transcendentalists may achieve impersonal Brahman realization, for this is easier than understanding Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person, but at the same time He is beyond the knowledge of Brahman and Paramātmā. The yogīs and jñānīs are confused in their attempts to understand Kṛṣṇa, although the greatest of the impersonalists, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, has admitted in his Gītā commentary that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But his followers do not accept Kṛṣṇa as such, for it is very difficult to know Kṛṣṇa, even though one has transcendental realization of impersonal Brahman.

Morning Walk at Villa Borghese -- May 25, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: No, no. That is a fact. We cannot hope to change. But we request everyone to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Yogeśvara: In their factory or wherever they are.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because it is very difficult to close the factory. That is not possible. So whatever you have done, it is all right. But you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then things will be adjusted. We are giving chance to everyone, who is degraded or who is not degraded, by the simple method of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. We do not neglect anyone. We do not say, "You are neglected. We don't accept you." No. I accept you and I accept others. What is this? Cemetery? No. It is also part of this park? (break)

Bhagavān: ...people tolerate such obvious mismanagement.

Prabhupāda: As long as they will not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they have to tolerate. They must suffer. That is nature's law. That is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā... (BG 7.14). You cannot escape all these miserable conditions of... Mām eva ye prapadyante. If you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then you escape. What is difficulty to become Kṛṣṇa conscious? Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: (BG 18.65) "Simply always think of Me." We have got nice Kṛṣṇa. And attend the temple, and we see. And what is the difficulty to think of Him always? Or chanting, hearing His name. So there is no difficulty in remembering Kṛṣṇa always. Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. To become devotee, worship the Lord in the temple, prepare food for Him, and take the prasādam—where is the difficulty? The program which we have introduced, where is the difficulty there? But the rascals will not take. That is the difficulty. They will become hippies, but they will not become devotees. Although a better position. This is their misfortune. Duṣkṛtina, misfortune. In spite of the things being so easy to perform, they will not take to it, on account of misfortune. Duṣkṛtina. Because they have committed so many sinful activities, it is difficult to accept this. Otherwise, the thing which we are presenting is very easy to be accepted by anyone, even by a child. And actually we see. The children, they are also dancing, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and very happy. In Dallas. In all schools the children are unhappy, their face. And we see in Dallas, all children, they are so happy. The teacher is happy. The student is happy there. Have you not marked the face in the picture, how they are happy. Did you mark it?

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Oh, thank you very much. Very good. (laughs) make him a Vaiṣṇava, very nice boy. Very good-looking boy. Don't let him deviate. This is the age to be careful so that he may not deviate. What is the age? Twelve years?

Devotee: Eleven.

Prabhupāda: Eleven. That's all. This is the age. Twelve to fifteen years, the boys become, by bad association, they become rotten. This hellish world is like that. They go to school and become demons.

Paramahaṁsa: Yesterday, in your lecture, you mentioned how in this age it's very difficult to remain chaste or free of...

Prabhupāda: Yes, but one who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he's all right. Teach him Sanskrit and English and let him read our books. Then perfect knowledge. He doesn't require to go to school. And so far mathematics and history concerned, everyone knows. Two plus two equal to four. It doesn't require much education. Even illiterate man who has never gone to school, he can also count. Eh? "How much money you are giving me?" He doesn't want to be cheated. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Rāma... So the fact is God cannot be unknown. If you are actually serious to know God, God can be known. This is no argument, that "God cannot be known."

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: That is putting limitation on Kṛṣṇa, to say that you cannot see.

Prabhupāda: Eh? Eh?

Room Conversation with Russian Orthodox Church Representative -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Soul...

Church Representative: Yes, I know... I cannot say that I know what is soul. I know that there are souls, that I have a soul. But I think that it's very difficult to give adequate... (French)

Yogeśvara: He says he knows that he has a soul, but he thinks it would be hard to give an accurate definition of the soul.

Prabhupāda: But if he knows what is soul, where is the difficulty to give definition? (French)

Yogeśvara: (translating) So he says he can accept that he has a soul...

Church Representative: Certainly, I accept.

Yogeśvara: But it would be hard to describe, he thinks, the nature of the soul. The body, which is something tangible, we can describe. But something of a spiritual nature like the soul must be much more difficult to describe.

Prabhupāda: You can describe it by the negative way, that soul is not body. (French)

Yogeśvara: (translating) Then we are still left with the problem: what is the relationship between the two?

Prabhupāda: First of all let us understand what is the soul. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā: na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit, nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Adāhyo 'yam aśoṣyo 'yam akledyo 'yam. Read those paragraphs.

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Bhagavān: We have to give them a place to go where they can come if they want.

Prabhupāda: Just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja gave Kali four places. He could not find out. First of all he gave him four places, that "These four places you can go." But he could not find out such place. So he was embarrassed. So now there is no question of finding out. Everywhere you go, the same four principles. Formerly, it was very difficult to find out a place where these things are going on. Now everywhere you go, these four things are main principles of life. So therefore they cannot very much appreciate these prohibitory principles, that "What is wrong there?"

Devotee: It is just the opposite now. Now there is no place where Mahārāja Parīkṣit can go to find out a spiritual atmosphere.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Some of our men, at least one, left our association. He thought that "This is denying the primary necessities of life." Rāyarāma, Rāyarāma. He left for this reason, that we do not allow the bare necessities of life. Illicit sex, intoxication... He was first-class criminal on this account, but he could not give it up. Therefore he left.

Devotee: Yes, I spoke with him in San Francisco, and he said, "Swamiji will not be successful because he does not allow free love in his movement." He says, "That is why I had to leave because there was no place for me and my boyfriend." Even he was not attracted to having a girl, but he had a boy. That boy used to be also your typist. He was from Harvard University.

Prabhupāda: That Neil.

Devotee: Yeah, Neil.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: No, everyone knows he is mother and he is father.

Devotee: Yeah, right. And they don't think... There is no question of sex. When they think of mother and father, they don't think of these things. Also with Ramakrishna. He also had his divine mother. You told us a story in Calcutta that he was very debauched. In a village he used to chase the young women. And his brother actually made him famous.

Prabhupāda: It is very difficult to, not to be victimized by woman. It is very difficult.

Yogeśvara: Unless you are victimized by Kṛṣṇa first.

Prabhupāda: Yes. One who is, I means, what is called, captivated by the beauty of Kṛṣṇa, then he is not victimized.

yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde

nava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt

tad-avadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne

bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭhu niṣṭhīvanaṁ ca

Madana-mohana. Madana-dāhana and Madana-mohana. Unless one is captivated by the beauty of Kṛṣṇa he will be troubled by the arrows of the Cupid. Madana-dāhana. The Cupid is known. He has got arrow. If it pierces, then he becomes victim.

Yogeśvara: You didn't find it necessary to enter into any kind of discussion with this French Professor just now. There was no real discussion of philosophy. I was wondering why that didn't happen.

Morning Walk -- June 17, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Everything is worst. Sinful is sinful. Disease is disease. This body, either it is living or it is dead, it is not very important thing. Now see. And the whole world is after this body. Kṛṣṇa says, "The body, either dead or alive, it is not a subject matter for serious consideration." Now see. And what the world is going on? Simply for bodily... Body means senses. It is very difficult to the, for the western people to understand that body is not important thing; the soul is important thing. First of all, they do not know what is soul and then consideration of importance. This is their position. And if one cannot understand what is soul, what he will understand about God? Soul is a minute particle of God. If one cannot understand about this minute particle, then what he'll understand of the Supreme? In the laboratory, if you can test a little sample, just like take a little sea water, analyze, you chemically test, then you can understand what is the composition of the sea water. But if you have no knowledge even a small drop of sea water, how you'll understand the sea, what... That is their position. They do not understand even the sample of spirit soul, as we are. Simply they are trying to cover it. "There is no soul. There is no soul. Life is generated from matter." Although they cannot prove it. A fool's paradise. The fools, rascals, they are explaining the living force in some way, and other fools are accepting. This is the position of western countries, Europe and America. It is a fool's paradise. It is paradise, certainly. Very, very, big, big building and advancement, but all rascals and fools. Fool's paradise. (pause) And if you call a fool a fool, he'll be angry. Mūrkhāyopadeśo hi prakopayati na śamyati (?). (pause) (break) ...so many, so much production, but if nature's law can stop this production, then the question of over-population. If the nature likes, it can produce three times, four times this production. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi (BG 3.27). After all, nature is producing. We do not know how to deal with nature.

Reporters Interview -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like when you say, "United States of America," that's actually a place. There are living entities. There are men and mountains, rivers. Everything is there. Similarly, all these planets, they are inhabited by living entities. There are similarly cities and towns and mountains and rivers and oceans. Everything is there—of different pattern. Just like the moon planet. It is... The temperature is 200 degree below zero. So you cannot go and live there. But there are living entities who can live there. Just like even on this planet, there are living entities in the Arctic region, but for us it is very difficult to live there. And there are different climatic influences. Even on this planet. One place is suitable for one kind of man, another place is suitable for another. Just like we are Indian. We cannot tolerate such, I mean, what is called, pinching, cool. So similarly, in India you cannot tolerate scorching heat. So for each and every planet there are different patterns of living entities. They can live. Just like you cannot live within water. For that reason you cannot say nobody can live in the water. That is foolishness. You cannot live. You say. So there are so many fishes, varieties of fishes. They are living. Don't carry your present experience to others. That is not very good argument. Now, here the so-called scientists, they are saying in other planets there is no living entity. Why? They are putting so many reasons, that "This is lacking. This is lacking." But what do you know, what is lacking and how...? These things are not accepted. You do not know anything about the other planets. How you say there is no living entity?

Guest (3): Your Divine Grace, is there a Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement in India?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Reporters Interview -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (3): How strong is it?

Prabhupāda: How strong? As strong as you think because in every village, every town, every home, there is Hare Kṛṣṇa, still.

Guest (2): Your Divine Grace, do you see a time coming when all mankind will be united?

Prabhupāda: That is very difficult to say, but we can be united on the spiritual platform not on the material platform. It is not possible.

Guest (2): Do you think that that is, that stage is possible within this generation?

Prabhupāda: It is possible at any time provided people take to spiritual life, but they'll not take to it. For example, one of the items of spiritual life is no meat-eating. So do you think this philosophy will be taken by everyone? And this is one of the items of spiritual life, no meat-eating.

Guest (2): Is that a necessary...

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Without... If you don't stop meat-eating, you cannot understand what is spiritual life. A sinful life cannot understand what is God, what is devotion. It is not possible.

Guest (2): And is that the same for others...?

Room Conversation with Bhurijana dasa and Disciples -- July 1, 1974, Melbourne:

Paramahaṁsa: And I also brought one from me.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Paramahaṁsa: And some mangoes.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is good.

Paramahaṁsa: From Queensland, very nice mangoes. They are very difficult to get.

Prabhupāda: Very good. The mango I like very much. Mango is the king of all fruit. Do you accept it or not?

Paramahaṁsa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: It is the king of fruits. Rose is the king of flowers. There is a statement in the Caitanya-ca... Two fruits. One fruit is the nim tree fruit. You have seen nim tree? In not your country. Nim tree you have seen in India, and their fruits...

Paramahaṁsa: A little bitter.

Prabhupāda: Yes, very bitter. So the cuckoo, they try to eat the mango fruit flower when small, and the crow they eat that nim tree fruit. So amongst the birds also, there is discrimination according to the quality. Cuckoo sings very nicely. He is fond of mango fruit. And the crow is fond of this nim tree fruit. The white swan, they live in a very nice garden. There is lake, flower. And the crows, they live in the city. Of course, here in your country the garbage is not open. In India there is thrown anywhere and the crows... You have seen it?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 3, 1975, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: No, that is not. Thirty, forty, fifty or one year, that doesn't matter. One can understand if he wants to understand. Ahaituky apratihatā. It is not limited by any age. Otherwise how Prahlāda Mahārāja was great devotee, Dhruva Mahārāja was great devotee?

Yaśodānandana: I think he just wants to mention that it is more difficult for people who are elderly to understand, those who are more set up in their ways.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. That is the difficulty. They are trained up in such a way that it's very difficult to forget what they have learned. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says, kaumāra acaret prajñaḥ, from the very beginning of life one should learn this art of understanding Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's plan.

Devotee (1): Śrīla Prabhupāda, usually on saṅkīrtana I avoid old people because they just don't understand, and it's very difficult to approach them.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, yes. Old people should be instructed to forget what they have learned. He sādhavaḥ sakalam eva vihāya dūrād caitanya-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam. This is the formula of preaching. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, he is begging to the people, dānte nidhāya tṛṇakaṁ padayor nipatya kāku-śataṁ kṛtvā cāham bravīmi: "Taking a straw in my mouth, with folded hands and flattering you hundred times, I am submitting one request." "What is that?" This is the process of approaching these rascals, old fools who have learned something and does not like to forget. So he says, he sādhavaḥ: "Oh, you are such a nice learned scholar-devotee, so my request is that whatever you have learned, please forget." Sakalam eva vihāya dūrāt: "Kick them out." "Then? What shall I do?" Caitanya-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam: "Please turn your attention to the teachings of Lord Caitanya." He sādhavaḥ sakalam eva vihāya: "You are very great personality. So my request to you: you forget or kick out whatever you have learned." That is the first business.

Morning Walk -- February 3, 1975, Hawaii:

Siddha-svarūpa: It is very difficult to put everyone who is living outside of the temple in one category. Some people, they are, many people that I know living outside are following strictly the regulative principles, and they are...

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Siddha-svarūpa: They are strictly following regulative principles and chanting their rounds and having morning āratik in their homes. And evening also, they are chanting. So instead of fighting, I think we should only try to encourage everybody to chant and follow the regulative principles.

Prabhupāda: No, that is... Whether you live in temple or outside temple, the rules and regulation and the process must be followed. Then you are successful. It doesn't matter that you have to live in the temple. Gṛhe thāko vane thāko, 'hā gaurāṅga' bo'le ḍāko. Not that everyone has to live in the temple. If he does not agree with other Godbrothers, friends, he can live separately. But he must follow the rules and regulation. That is wanted. But if you live with devotees, it will be automatically done.

Siddha-svarūpa: Easy.

Morning Walk -- February 3, 1975, Hawaii:

Devotee (3): Śrīla Prabhupāda, it's very difficult to control my mind when I chant. It wanders.

Prabhupāda: So what is the controlling of mind? You have to chant and hear, that's all. You have to chant with your tongue, and the sound you hear, that's all. What is the question of mind?

Rāmeśvara: Śrīla Prabhupāda, it seems unfortunate that if the devotees cannot live in the temples, then they have to work for some karmi just to support themselves, and then they do not have time to go on the saṅkīrtana party. So it is such mercy to be on the saṅkīrtana party. So it seems very unfortunate that they do not have the time.

Prabhupāda: No, then they should live in the temple if they want to give service in the saṅkīrtana party.

Rāmeśvara: We always try to encourage them to come back to the temple.

Prabhupāda: Yes. If he does not join the saṅkīrtana party, that does not mean his spiritual life is hampered. He has to follow the rules and regulation. He may not be able to join the saṅkīrtana party, but he must follow the process, rules and regulation. That is wanted. And because he is living outside the temple, therefore he will forget all rules and regulation and do whatever he likes—then it will ruin the whole thing.

Morning Walk -- February 4, 1975, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda:

guravo bahavaḥ

santi vittāpahārakaḥ

taṁ tu guruṁ na paśyāmi

śiṣya-santā-pahārakāḥ

"There are many gurus. They are very expert in plundering disciples' money, but it is very difficult to find out a guru who can take out all the anxieties of the disciple." Śiṣya santa-pahārakāḥ. Guru is meant for taking away the santāpa. Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-trāṇāya kārunya-ghanāghanatvam **. "The śiṣya will be peaceful"—objective of life—that is the business of guru, not to take away his money.

Haṁsadūta: In one lecture you were explaining those prayers, saṁsāra, and you said the first business of the guru is to take away the anxiety of the disciple.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Now, our people, they have got some hope that they're going back to home, back to Godhead. And all other rascals-zero. Who is endeavoring for zero? What is this endeavor?

Haṁsadūta: There's nothing to do for that.

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

Prabhupāda: Revealed. It is revealed. Hm? Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā the vibration is coming from Kṛṣṇa. Now, you practically realize it: "Yes, what is said is correct." That is direct perception. First of all, you receive the message, and then apply your logic and see that it is fact. Therefore it is perfect. When you receive the knowledge and when you directly apply it to your perception, when you see it is correct, that is the proof that the message which you received, that is correct.

Professor: Very difficult to have proofs of that, where the eternality of your own ātman for instance, things of that...

Prabhupāda: That is called realization. Yes. First of all you receive the sound, then apply your instruments, and when you find it, it is correct—that is the realization. So our process is to receive knowledge from the perfect. That's all. We are not perfect. But the knowledge we are getting, that is perfect. So according to that perfect direction, if we mold our life, then we are successful. Otherwise you go on experimenting, speculating. Ciraṁ vicinvan. Ciram, you understand, "perpetually," vicinvan, "thinking." Ciraṁ vicinvan.

Room Conversation with Tripurari -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Others will follow.

Devotee: The mass will follow. Some other times I've heard you say, like the other day, that the masses of people... When Balavanta Prabhu was running for office you were saying that it'd be very difficult to get our present-day leaders to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I'd just like to try to understand further, whether it is the masses or the leaders?

Prabhupāda: No, we are dealing generally with the masses. But if we can convert one leader, then it is equal to turning many people in the mass. That is the idea. Some way or other, we are doing Kṛṣṇa's service. Either you serve the mass or the leader, it doesn't matter. Your service is recognized.

Tripurāri: Sometimes the devotees question, if they were pure, then they could get everyone to take a big book. It's simply our fault that we're not pure enough that we can't get everyone to take a big book. Or is it just that we can't engage everyone, we can't get everyone to surrender completely?

Prabhupāda: Well, that is also a devotional attitude. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "I do not love Kṛṣṇa. So that's... And if I would have loved, then I would have died without His presence. But I am living now. Therefore I have no love for Kṛṣṇa." This is another thing. One who is too much addicted to the service of Kṛṣṇa, that is very good sign. So your headquarter is now Pittsburg?

Tripurāri: No, now Philadelphia.

Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Young man: I find it very difficult to know the difference between truth and illusion.

Prabhupāda: God is truth; what is forgetfulness of God, that is illusion. God is truth. Just like the sun is present all the time, twenty-four hours. But we say now there is no sun, at night. But that's not the fact. The fact is the sun is there; I cannot see. That is illusion. Not that God is not there. God is there. As exactly, same example, the sun is there at night, but I cannot see under certain condition. Therefore it is illusion. Our senses are imperfect; therefore sometimes we cannot understand or see God. If our senses are purified, then we can see God every moment. So, what is your idea of God?

Young man: I, I... Something that I see sometimes in everything, the sameness in everything.

Prabhupāda: No clear concept.

Young man: I have no clear...

Prabhupāda: Yes. The clear conception of God is that originally He is person. Just like the same example, the sun. We can see every day the sun. (aside:) Can you give me that 7-Up? The sun is there always, but at night we cannot see. At night we cannot see. That does not mean the sun is not there.

Young man: But sharpening the senses, how does one sharpen one's senses?

Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa of Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa of Bhāgavata and Kṛṣṇa, Mahābhārata—the same.

Indian man: Thank you. I know a little about that, but still, if you we take Kṛṣṇa of Bhāgavata, and if you want to say, explain all the things that had happened pertaining to Kṛṣṇa, it would be very difficult to explain the same thing with Kṛṣṇa of Bhagavad-gītā. That Kṛṣṇa of Bhagavad-gītā will be separate to everybody.(?)

Prabhupāda: No, therefore... No, therefore... Therefore we say that first of all you understand Kṛṣṇa of Bhagavad-gītā. That is the ABCD of Kṛṣṇa. Then you go to Bhāgavatam.

Dr. Movebhed: I feel... If I am not wrong, I feel that what others have done, that Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Radhakrishnan, etc., etc., they have taught that Kṛṣṇa of Bhagavad-gītā is very much important for us. Whether He was living or whether He did not live, or anything which was in the name of Kṛṣṇa, that is quite (sic:) impertinent. We want to have the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa as enunciated in Bhagavad-gītā, is just enough to tell others who are in need of...

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But if you do not believe in that person, how do you understand his philosophy?

Dr. Movebhed: That's where... I think I may be wrong. Please correct me if I go wrong. That's where people have taken little, two to three steps, as my friend has told, first advaita. She wanted to have two...

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. We have got two process. One process is chanting. Another process: read books. That is also chanting.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: One argument that the Christians have... When we tell them that we accept Lord Jesus, so they say that "You haven't accepted Jesus into your heart." We say, "We're following the teachings of Jesus." And they say, "But you haven't accepted Jesus into your heart," that "You're not a follower of Jesus. And that's the lacking qualification."

Prabhupāda: It is very difficult to convince them. (break) We may not keep the Christ in heart, but even you do not keep Christ by your dealings. You are simply disobeying the orders. Then how you can be a Christian?

Ravīndra-svarūpa: Jesus says that in Matthew. He says that "Many will come to me and say, 'Lord, Lord,' that 'We cured the sick in your name, and we cast out demons in your name,' " and Jesus said that "When they come I will say, 'Get away from me. I know you not, for you failed to do the will of my Father.' " Even though they're claiming to be Christians.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prajāpati: Many times, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I've heard you say, when speaking to people, that "You don't have to give up your faith. You can remain a Christian or you can remain a Mohammedan. Simply chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and you'll become purified." So the main point...

Prabhupāda: No, we say not only Hare Kṛṣṇa. "You chant the name of God. But if you have no name of God, then here is the name of God."

Ravīndra-svarūpa: Yeah. So that if we can get Christians to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then...

Morning Walk -- May 11, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: That is tapasya, that voluntarily we accept some inconvenience. That is called tapasya. Tapasā brahmacaryena (SB 6.1.13). The tapasa means first brahmacarya, how to avoid sex desire. That is the first tapasa. Tapasā brahmacaryena samena vā, yamena niyamena vā, damena tyāgena satya-śaucābhyām (SB 6.1.13). The steps are there. So tapasā, tapasā... Tapasya means first brahmacarya, how to restrain this sex desire. That is first step. Where is their tapasya? "It is very difficult to do this tapasya. Oh." Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given harer nāma (CC Adi 17.21). If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra regularly, you'll be cured. Otherwise, regular tapasya is almost impossible nowadays.

Paramahaṁsa: Is there a stage after a person becomes completely purified...?

Prabhupāda: The students, they are going to school, college, and they are talking of sex. Where is tapasya? How it is possible? So therefore bhakti-yoga is the only way of spiritual improvement in this age—all age, especially in this age. No other method will help you-yoga, karma, jñāna, nothing. Bhakti-yoga is always strong, especially in this age, Kali-yuga. Therefore it is said, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva, especially. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam, kalau nāsty eva... (CC Adi 17.21). This is the simplest. But people do not know what is the ultimate goal of life. They are so much in ignorance. They do not know what is spiritual life, what is ultimate goal. Simply like cats and dogs. The dog jumps over with four legs, and if a man can jump over with four wheels, then that is advance. Just see. They think, "Now we are advanced. We have got four-wheel car to jump over. And the dog is jumping with legs. Therefore this is advanced." They do not know this is also the same dog's business. They do not know it. (break) ...again they have made this car, coming from miles away, but the business is fishing. Just see. Bambhārambhe laghu-kriyā. "Advancement of civilization, we have got car, we are nicely dressed, we are human being, ev..." But what is your business? Fishing. Bambhārambhe... Ārambha, gorgeous arrangement—the business is the same. The skylark, what is called? Skylark? These birds?

Morning Walk -- May 16, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is a fact. Why they will think? It is a fact. There is English proverb, "There is many dangers between the cups and the lips." You are going to drink tea. The distance is: here is cup and here is lip. There may be many dangers. So suppose in drinking tea there is some choking within the throat, and coughing, you may die immediately. You are so much under the control of nature. Little mistake will cause your death, little mistake. And conditioned life means we commit mistake, we are illusioned, we cheat, and our knowledge is imperfect. This is conditioned life.

Amogha: I telephoned that geographer yesterday to talk to him, and he said that "What Swamiji said was true, but how can...?" He said, "It will be very difficult to apply because most people, they are not interested." But he says it was very... He could understand that was true, what you were saying. He may also come again to talk more.

Prabhupāda: Yes, let him come. Let him come. People may take or not take, but he is inquisitive gentleman. Let him understand. People... We are preaching. Who is taking? Mass of people, they are not taking it. But still, we are doing that. That is our duty. People may take or not take, but a God's servant must speak the truth. Just like Jesus Christ. He was crucified. Nobody took his words. But he did it. If people would have accepted his philosophy, then why he was crucified by the judges? It was done by the judges, Roman judges. So this is the position of the world. Socrates was killed because he said that there is soul. This is the defect of Western civilization. They want vox populi. What is that vox populi? Huh?

Devotee (1): Bauxite?

Prabhupāda: Vox populi. You know this word?

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

Prabhupāda: Hm. You find so many fanatics. How you will unite them?

Yogi Bhajan: Gradually, one by one, one by one, they will understand. Love is the winning point. That's why they don't understand. When they find love from you, they will find love from me, they will love from people, they will love from everybody else. You know, you can take a mango stick and beat somebody, but you can take mango off it and eat. Effort has to be made somehow. And now...

Prabhupāda: Effort is being made, but the platform, the world where you are staying, that effort is very difficult to fulfill.

Yogi Bhajan: That is agreed. That's typical, difficulty is agreed. I go to India; I find the difficulty. I am here; I find the difficulty. But there are genuine people in the spiritual work...

Prabhupāda: But one thing is, just like you said some Christian priests?

Yogi Bhajan: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That "I realize that one, God is one." So if God is one and every one of us after God, then why there is disagreement?

Yogi Bhajan: Well, those... Everybody has limited egos, so we understand that.

Prabhupāda: No, we should... The conference should be made that if there is God and God is one, then who is that God? What is His characteristic? That should be discussed.

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Then don't understand them also, you don't understand here also. Then what you will do?

Siddha-svarūpa: What it is is that we're automatically taking as authoritative what the scientists say, but we don't think is authoritative what Śrīla Prabhupāda and the Bhāgavata is saying.

Harikeśa: Well, the difficulty I was having about this mountain, this Meru. It sounds... It's very difficult to explain that to someone.

Prabhupāda: No, no, that is difficult, but everything is difficult for you. Because you want to see. You have not seen their arrangement; neither you have seen our arrangement. So but your proposition is you don't believe what you don't see. You have not seen neither of them, so you have to remain silent.

Harikeśa: So the best position is just remain silent until realization comes?

Prabhupāda: No. You should... Śukadeva Gosvāmī says. You have to believe that. It is an idea. If you believe or not believe, it doesn't matter. But you can get an idea about the planetary situation. That's all. Neither you can go there; neither you can see it. An idea is given, that is all. But there is no argument.

Harikeśa: No.

Prabhupāda: No.

Siddha-svarūpa: Did the people who said they went to the moon, did they go to another planet?

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Ambarīṣa: 'Cause they have made many great religious pictures, big epics about Jesus and stuff like that. So maybe they would be open to the idea of doing the Bhagavad-gītā. That would be nice. (break)

Siddha-svarūpa: I mentioned to you something about making a movie of Bhagavad-gītā. You said it would be very difficult to find fifty thousand elephants. (laughs) There will be some... (break) ...Kṛṣṇa-līlā will be easier. He can be fighting one demon or dancing with the gopīs. Bhagavad-gītā is... (break)

Prabhupāda: ...do not understand the existence of soul, then why do they say, "My head, my hand"? Why not say, "I head." What is their answer? Why do you say, "My head"?

Siddha-svarūpa: They have no answer. (break) ...very much to know about this.

Prabhupāda: That is the folly.

Siddha-svarūpa: Their desire is to enjoy the world and have religion to help them.

Prabhupāda: It is not the question of religion. Unless one understands, then he does not understand the transmigration of the soul. (end)

Room Conversation with Lt. Mozee, Policeman -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: Yes, for others to distinguish.

Lt. Mozee: Yes.

Prabhupāda: But one has to see by the result.

Lt. Mozee: Um hm.

Prabhupāda: Phalena paricīyate. It is very difficult to distinguish which is good medicine, which is bad medicine. By the effect. Thank you.

Lt. Mozee: I thank you for your time, sir.

Prabhupāda: Give him this garland.

Lt. Mozee: Thank you.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) I saw on the airplane. So it has struck me, yes, that this is the position of the human society.

Lt. Mozee: Yeah, Govinda dāsa told me that you had read this on your way in, so I brought a copy. I didn't know whether you wanted to quote from it. But I was ready to be prepa... I was prepared.

Prabhupāda: You have read it?

Lt. Mozee: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

Prabhupāda: It is a problem. Actually it is a problem. Such a rich state as America, and there is crime. It does not look well. Yes.

Room Conversation with writer, Sandy Nixon -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: So this instruction is strīṣu duṣṭāsu: "When women become polluted, there is unwanted population." That is coming all over the world, the hippies. Therefore the first thing is how to train up women not to become polluted. This is the way of... In the modern society they have given women freedom. That I have already explained. In the name of freedom of woman, they are being exploited. Everything is there: social, religious, political, cultural, educational. We have to accept that course. Then everything will be all right. If you don't accept, then you have to suffer problems. It is not meant for a particular class of men or particular country, it is meant for the whole human society. Therefore, this purification of the society at the present, fallen condition is very, very difficult to revive. Because people are so fallen, it is almost impossible. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended that "You all together chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and everything will be done nicely."

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva (gatir anyathā)

(CC Adi 17.21)

In Kali-yuga it is very difficult to reform the whole human society to become perfect by this process, Vedic process. It is not possible. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu's, that "You chant congregationally this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Never mind. Whatever impurities have entered, it will be all cleansed." That you have seen yesterday in the procession. So everyone was chanting in ecstasy Hare Kṛṣṇa. You have seen? Yes. So this is the process which we are trying to introduce, not anything, caste system or this system, no. Then everything will come automatically. Easiest process.

Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prof. Hopkins: So you would... You would say that those, those smārtas say, and I know smārta brāhmaṇas who are worshipers of Viṣṇu. You would say they still are impersonalists in some ultimate sense because at some point they would deny...

Prabhupāda: No, it is very difficult to pick them out. Most of the so-called Vaiṣṇavas, they are impersonalists.

Prof. Hopkins: Some, I suspect, are more Vaiṣṇavas than they are smārtas.

Prabhupāda: So, satataṁ kīrtayanto mām?

Brahmānanda:

satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ

yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ

namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā

nitya-yuktā upāsate

(BG 9.14)

"Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion."

Prabhupāda: Perpetually. It is not that I am worshiping now and when I am perfect I become one. That is impersonal.

Prof. Hopkins: But someone who sees devotion as the not just a stage...

Prabhupāda: They say everything one; no devotee, no devotion, and no person. Everything becomes one.

Morning Walk -- July 18, 1975, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: No, war is going on. But they are so senseless that they will not come to this, so rascal. Therefore they are described as mūḍha, all rascals.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very hard to preach to these fools, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: These people are so stupid, it is very difficult to preach to them.

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) No, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That will be...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, we are hearing from you and your books that we will die, and we must learn to face these problems as you mentioned, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9), but still, even as your disciples, we are not so convinced.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa: Because we've been brought up in a culture where we've been taught that we will never die. Particularly in America we never even see death here.

Prabhupāda: You think you will not die?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa: I know I will, but how can we realize that, come to the platform of realizing?

Morning Walk -- October 5, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: That is stated in the śāstra. Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Patram means vegetable, leaves; puṣpam, flower. In this way, whatever He says, you collect and offer to Him and take prasādam. Then you are not responsible. And if you collect for yourself even patram without offering to Kṛṣṇa, if you take, you are responsible for killing. It doesn't matter whether you kill a big animal or a small plant. You are responsible. Just like a soldier. He kills hundreds and thousands of men and he is given gold medal. And as soon as he kills one man for his sense gratification he is hanged. Eh? Is it not? He can say, "I have killed so many men. At that time I was not hanged. I was given gold medal. How is that? (laughter) I have killed only one man. I am going to be hanged?" That is law. You cannot do anything on your own account, sense gratification. Then you are responsible. Yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'ya karma-bandhanaḥ. Everything is stated. Read Bhagavad-gītā very thoroughly and try to understand. Then everything will be clear, how to live, how to organize society. We have to live. The same thing: we are also working, we are also eating, we are sleeping, we are also marrying—but according to Kṛṣṇa's direction. Then it is Kṛṣṇa conscious life and perfect life. And as soon as you do anything whimsically, at your will, then you are responsible. Kṛṣṇa or His representative. Kṛṣṇa is giving instruction, and His representative is explaining. In both ways Kṛṣṇa is helping. So even so much facility being offered to you, if you don't take advantage, then you are committing suicide. Ātmahā. Ātmahā. Just like the sea is now calm and quiet. If you want to go somewhere, take advantage of it. And if you start your boat while it is cyclone, then you'll be drowned. So Kṛṣṇa has left the book of instruction, Bhagavad-gītā. It is favorable condition. And the spiritual master is the captain, and you take advantage. Your, this human body is a good boat. So good boat, favorable condition, good captain—take advantage of crossing this ocean. Otherwise you are committing suicide. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). It is very difficult to cross over this ocean of nescience, but these are the favorable conditions. One should take advantage of these favorable conditions and cross over this ocean of nescience.

Morning Walk -- October 7, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: No, if he argues... If you can understand that by argument, if you come to conclusion, they will accept, then talk with them. If they remain dog, what is the use of talking with a dog? Dog will never accept any argument. It will remain dog. So better avoid that.

Devotee (3): Śrīla Prabhupāda, it's very difficult to give good instruction to a dog. It simply barks.

Prabhupāda: No. Therefore I say, they should be neglected.

Harikeśa: Just give them prasādam and kīrtana.

Prabhupāda: That's all, yes. No argument. "Please come and take prasādam." That much mercy should be shown to them.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They are displaying their cannon. They are displaying weapons.

Prabhupāda: That is their only asset. And when they are kicked out by the cannon of nature, they tolerate. That's all. They are showing their cannon, but ask them, "Can you defend yourself from the cannon of nature when he kicks out, 'Get out'?" You may be very big commander and captain or leader, but when death comes can you avoid it? Then what is your leadership? What will your cannon do? You kill nature by your cannon and live. That you cannot do. Then where is the value of your cannon? Eh? Why you are so much proud of showing your cannon? What you can do with this cannon?

Devotee (2): They know how to destroy everything, but they can't create anything nice.

Room Conversation with Bill Faill (reporter) -- October 8, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: What we have to study particularly whether it is standard. Otherwise they may speak so many things, but if they do not know what is the standard... Just like medical science or any science, that is one. It cannot be different because it is spoken by different men. That is not one. That is not science. "Two plus two equal to four"—this is a science that is true everywhere, not that because it is spoken by somebody else it becomes "two plus two equal to five" or "three." No. That is...

Faill: No. Some other people, do you feel, possibly have had the truth as well, have they?

Prabhupāda: It is very difficult to say.

Faill: Yes. Unless you studied it in detail.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Unless I study, it is very difficult to say because there are so many bluffers, so many.

Faill: Just doing it for money.

Prabhupāda: That's all. That's all. It is going on like that. They have no standard method. We are presenting the standard method. This is Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. As it is, without any malinterpretation, we are presenting as it is. This is standard.

Faill: Yes. If you begin dressing things up, they change. And the size of the movement now? Is it a growing movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, it is very much growing. You will be surprised that we are selling these books... We have got about fifty books like this, and every library, college, professor, universities, they are very much appreciative of this, because there was no such literature existent. This is the new contribution to the world.

Room Conversation with Bill Faill (reporter) -- October 8, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: Then how we can accept that? Drug is a material thing, chemical composition, and how it can help one, God realization? That is not possible. This is a kind of intoxication and hallucination, but it is not God realization.

Faill: Do you think that the great mystics down the ages have actually seen this spark? This is what...

Prabhupāda: What do you mean by mystic?

Faill: Well, there seem to be chaps who've had some very odd experience and always remembered it and found it very difficult to put it down in words.

Prabhupāda: Mystic means something jugglery? What do you mean by mystic?

Faill: Well, it's just the name they seem to give people who've had an experience of another level of reality.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So yes, that... We don't say mystic. Our reality is God realization. There are different stages. I mean to say, direct perception, then receiving knowledge from authority, then personal experience between the two, then above that transcendental, and then, I mean to say, spiritual. In this way we have to go, step by step. We have to come to the point, to the spiritual platform. So, so long we are on the bodily concept of life, our understanding is sense gratification because body means the senses. And then, if we go still up, then we can see that mind is the center of sense activities. We take the mind as the final, and that is mental platform. Then, from mental platform, we come to the intellectual platform. Then, from intellectual platform, we come to the transcendental platform.

Morning Walk -- October 16, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: Bartering. So there is no need of money. Similarly, you go to another shop. You get. So you produce your food, and in exchange, in barter, you get all things, other things. Somebody is producing something, somebody is producing something. But it can be done. Suppose I am a blacksmith. You want some work from me. So you say that "I'll make this instrument for me." So I say, "You give me one kg paddy." So you give me one kg, I prepare you, so your necessity is fulfilled. Now I have got so much paddy. Now, I may go to purchase something else because I am blacksmith, so grains will be used for my eating, and for, say for ghee, I take the same grain somewhere. So where is the money need of?

Harikeśa: It's very difficult to cheat in that system. It's very difficult to cheat.

Prabhupāda: Cheat?

Harikeśa: In a system of bartering it's very hard to cheat.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There is no cheating. Everyone is simply simple, honest. And here the government begins cheating. He is engaging you to hard work day and night and paying you a piece of paper, where it is written "one hundred dollars." That's all. This is your society, cheating and cheater. That's all.

Harikeśa: People have a hard time understanding that point, because with a hundred dollar note you can buy things.

Prabhupāda: Therefore I say you are all rascals. You do not know. If I say, the government may arrest me that I am infusing people in a different way. But that is the fact.

Morning Walk -- October 17, 1975, Johannesburg:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That's duracara? Duracara?

Prabhupāda: Ferocious, but still, when he is given food by somebody, he feels obliged.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: On one lecture tape you said that man is duracara, very difficult to... When he's misbehaved?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) (out of car) ...by chanting mantra and herb. But a crooked man cannot be controlled any way. Therefore he is more dangerous than the snake. Sarpat krurataraḥ khalaḥ.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Why is it that the man cannot be tamed and the unintelligent animal can be tamed?

Prabhupāda: Because man is more intelligent. He can misuse his independence and intelligence, whereas animal cannot do that. He is not so intelligent. He has... That is the defect of the modern civilization. They have been described as duṣkṛtina. Duṣkṛtina means he has got brain more intelligent than the animal, but the brain is being utilized for mischievous activities. Therefore they are called duṣkṛtina. Brain should be utilized for some benevolent work for the good of the living entities. But this brain, modern educated brain, is being misused for discovering something which is very dangerous to the human society. Therefore duṣkṛtina. And he is getting Nobel Prize because he has discovered this atomic weapon which is so dangerous, and he is glorified, "Oh, you have done so nice scientific discovery." What is that discovery? "That you can kill... Instead of one man with gun, you can kill one thousand men. Therefore you must be offered Nobel Prize." This is man's appreciation.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Better to walk this way, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Morning Walk -- October 20, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: Because you are fool, you are seeing like that. That is the proof that you are a fool.

Harikeśa: They all tell me what a great time...

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15), and you are finding out happiness. Then how much fool you are. The best authority says that "This is a place of suffering," and you are finding out happiness. So how much fool you are, it is very difficult to estimate. (laughter) Therefore Vedic knowledge is perfect. Now just like there is signboard, "No admission." So who is the fool, create some trouble by entering into it? He's a fool. If there is signboard, "There is no admission," and if somebody enters to create some trouble, he is not a fool? So Kṛṣṇa says, "There is no happiness," and if somebody searches happiness, he is not a fool? That is... Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness required, that he gets perfect knowledge from Kṛṣṇa. He has no trouble. Kṛṣṇa said, "There is no happiness," and if somebody thinks, "All right, although Kṛṣṇa said, let me try for it," then he is a fool.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Similarly, they say that they can cure disease, but it's impossible.

Prabhupāda: How it is possible? The disease is suffering, and this place is suffering, so where is the question of curing disease? Kṛṣṇa consciousness means intelligence. We are guided by Kṛṣṇa, so there is no trouble. Everything is all right. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious. And as soon as you make experiment like fools and rascal, then you are doomed.

Harikeśa: "Well, my guru, Meher Baba, tells me, 'Don't worry. Be happy.' "

Prabhupāda: Then he is another fool, another rascal, mūḍha.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: He didn't even speak. He didn't speak for so many years.

Morning Walk -- October 20, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: So that is material knowledge. In order to taste happiness, you have to suffer. That is material happiness. And happiness, pure, is spiritual happiness. Here, in order to enjoy happiness, you have to suffer; then you can taste. Therefore that is not real happiness. (break)

Harikeśa: A sandtrap. This is where the ball goes in and it's very difficult to hit it out of there.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Harikeśa: So you're not supposed to hit it in there.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Harikeśa: It makes it more difficult.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes they hit a golf ball, Śrīla Prabhupāda, two hundred yards, and it goes into the hole.

Prabhupāda: The same thing. In order to feel the happiness of playing, he has to go in this way. It is unhappiness.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Such standard of religion the Western countries are not used to.

Prabhupāda: Where is religion in Western countries? There is no religion. All bogus thing. Religion means to surrender to God. Then where is God, and whom to surrender? They surrender to senses, that's all. So unless there is God, what is the meaning of religion? That is not religion. They have created something, civilized human society. There must be some religion. Just like aristocracy means he must have a good dog, that's all. There is no religion in the world except Kṛṣṇa consciousness. All bogus.

Morning Walk -- November 11, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So what is the benefit?

Harikeśa: But that's so difficult to do, you know. There are so many things get in the way.

Prabhupāda: So you can... Difficult to do, you can count ever... It is very difficult to count this sand. Can you count? It is very difficult. But you can waste your time in counting. (laughter) You are rascal; you can go on: "I shall count how many." But it is not possible. So that is rascaldom. Which is not possible, that we'll get. Now it is... Everyone knows there are some particles. Now you go on counting. Don't eat. Don't sleep. Go on counting. And śāstra says, ""Even if you are able to count this, you'll not be able to know God, even if you are able." This is not possible to count, but even if you become so expert that you can count one day, still it will be acintya tattva. That is... There is a verse that even one day you become the rolled sky... The sky is so big. You can roll it just like you roll up your bedding. And even if you can, all the atoms constituted, still you'll not be possible to know, understand God.

Dr. Patel: Because their main hypothesis is... That is near the mind. (?)

Morning Walk -- November 12, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: The bodily consciousness is also material. That is also one. And the soul consciousness, spiritual, that is also one. That is ekatvam. So for a learned person there is no defect. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini, paṇḍitaḥ samaḥ (BG 5.18). This is the... So anyone who is under the bodily conception of life, either human beings or dogs, they are the same. But that upādhi amongst human being is stronger than the cats and dogs. The human being, being advanced in consciousness, they are making this nationalism. But it is nothing but dogism. Is it not? That's all. The so-called national people are sacrificing so many lives, so many politicians, Napoleon and these big, big leaders. But what is their business? Business is that doggish mentality: "I am this body." So it is very difficult to give up this doggish mentality that "I am this body." Very, very difficult.

Dr. Patel: That is ahaṅkāra.

Prabhupāda: False ahaṅkāra. Because he is not body, it is false ahaṅkāra. So śāstra therefore says, bhagavad-bhakti vihinasya jati japas tapaḥ kriya. A person who has not developed Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for him this advancement of nationality, big work, industry, so on, so on, so on, jati japas tapaḥ kriya... Kriya, these act...

Dr. Patel: Activities.

Prabhupāda: What are these? Apranasya hi dehasya mandanam loka-ranjanam. It has no value. But people are enamored by these things, "I belong to great nation. I am American. We have got so many industries. We have got so many cars." Attachment. So it is very difficult. Sarvo-padhi-vinirmuktam. One, after becoming completely freed from all these false designations, to become a devotee is very, very difficult. There is no education.

Morning Walk -- November 16, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, no. He is, after all, a student here. That... This is Kṛṣṇa, that you go... Just like you are caused by your father. Your father is caused by your grandfather, his father, his father, his father, his father. In this way, if you go to Kṛṣṇa, then He has no father, and that is Kṛṣṇa. So long you will find another father, then he is not supreme. And when there is no more father, then He is supreme.

Dr. Patel: It is very difficult for us to understand the divya-bhāva of Kṛṣṇa. That is why people are asking these questions because divya-bhāva is very difficult to be understood.

Prabhupāda: Therefore it is said,

matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā

mitho 'bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām

adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ

punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām

(SB 7.5.30)

Those who are simply chewing the chewed, they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Naisaṁ matis tavad urukramāṅghrīm (SB 7.5.32).

Yaśomatīnandana: Niskiñcananam...

Morning Walk -- November 16, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ... Nobody can understand Kṛṣṇa, and they are thinking, "In my imagination, Kṛṣṇa is like this." What is the value of this imagination?

Dr. Patel: That is why I said, sir, that divya-bhāva is very difficult to tell because it is felt by the divya-bhāva itself. It cannot be felt by the...

Prabhupāda: Yes, and therefore Kṛṣṇa said, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Unless one is siddha, there is no question of understanding Kṛṣṇa. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānām (BG 7.3). Even if he is siddha he cannot understand. Out of many of them, one may understand. And they are trying to understand Kṛṣṇa by imagination. Just see the folly. Kṛṣṇa said,

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu

kaścid yatati siddhaye

yatatām api siddhānāṁ

kaścid...

(BG 7.3)

And because one is voted some big man-śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19)—he is thinking...(laughter) He is thinking that "I can imagine my Kṛṣṇa." Hare Kṛṣṇa. (laughter) (break) ...accept the opinion of a saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ. Because public votes are there, although he is a puruṣaḥ paśuḥ, we have to accept. So Ambarisa Mahārāja, you are feeling all right or not?

Ambarisa: Yes, I am feeling well today.

Prabhupāda: You are taking yogurt? Give him kicheri and yogurt.

Morning Walk -- November 17, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: They are keeping servants also. But educated dogs. After passing so many examinations, they are seeking after master. And without master they will starve. This is doggish mentality. A big technologist, unless he gets a good job, he is nothing but dog.

Dr. Patel: He has got no means to further his technology. He must have some means to further his own technology in the modern times, sir. It is very difficult to further your technology without proper means, instruments.

Prabhupāda: On the principle it is dog's business. Unless you get a master, you are useless. So that is dog's business. Just like these dogs here on the beach. Because they have no master, they are forlorn, only barking and going here, there. Sanatha jivitaḥ. So we are, every one of us, we are now dogs of the material nature, or just like street dogs. So therefore... Hare Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we should take shelter of the big master, Kṛṣṇa. Then it will be all right. Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...eva caran nirantaram. This is Yamunacārya's prayer. Bhavantam eva caran nirantaram. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. Bhavantam eva caran nirantaraṁ praśānta-nihśeṣa-gato... Prasanta-nihsesa-gato-manantaram. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (break) ...all right? No. Not yet. You are feeling all right? No.

Ambarisa: Yes, feeling all right. Yes. (break)

Indian man (1): Coconut tree along this side. Prabhupāda asking.

Ambarisa: (break) ...warm weather in Florida.

Prabhupāda: Huh? In Honolulu. That means it depends on weather also, not only seaside. (break)

Lokanātha: We chant, "Gaura Nityānanda bol, haribol, haribol..."

Morning Walk -- November 17, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Things which one does not know, he should not try to cheat others by placing some untruth.

Dr. Patel: It is like five blind men seeing an elephant.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So you should not give the conclusion that "Elephant is like..."

Dr. Patel: Then we don't accept... It is very difficult to know the whole truth by any one of us.

Prabhupāda: No. Therefore our process is upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ. One has seen the truth. Not these rascals. Tattva-darśinaḥ. Darśinaḥ means who has actually seen. There is no change. The advice is tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevaya (BG 4.34). These are the quotes. Upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ. Not that theoretical. Tattva-darśinaḥ. You have to go there. Then you will get knowledge. A blind man goes to another blind man. What is the profit? No profit.

Dr. Patel: Andhena andha-niyataḥ.(?)

Prabhupāda: Ah. Andha yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). A blind man must go to a man who has got eyes, who has seen. Then that is right knowledge. Now we are presenting this book, Scientific Basis of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. Let anyone come and challenge. Let anyone come. We have got many scientists. They will talk. What is the value of speculation?

Dr. Patel: I think some scientists have talked nonsense before you, so you are... (laughs) All scientists are not like that, sir. (end)

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, he said.

Devotee: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Therefore they did not put any questions.

Dr. Patel: Yes. It is very difficult to put question to you. (Prabhupāda laughs) You mow the opposition down very badly. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: It is all Kṛṣṇa's...

Dr. Patel: I am a shameless man to give questions... (laughs)

Prabhupāda: How long did I speak?

Harikesa: Hm, about forty-five minutes.

Prabhupāda: That is my standard. (Hindi exchange)

Man: In that Birla house.

Prabhupāda: Birla house? Huh.

Girirāja: The program was in the garden.

Man: I was there, in that Birla house.

Morning Walk -- December 24, 1975, Bombay:

Lokanātha: For detachment you suggest they remain separate.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Unless they are separated, it is very difficult to advance in spiritual consciousness. That is the whole Vedic system. Gradual. First of all, brahmacārī, he is educated very nicely that this is not good to marry and enter into a family life. And in spite of education, if he is still inclined, then he is allowed to marry. This is a concession. And that is for a few days, few years. Then compulsory separation from the family life. Vanaprāstha. At that time, wife is allowed to stay with the husband, but finally they are separated, sannyāsa. Wife should go home, remain with their children. That's all.

Lokanātha: So when they are gṛhastha, they make advancement?

Prabhupāda: Hm? That advancement is not very solid. But there is advancement; but that is not very solid.

Śrīdhara: Without sex pleasure a man and a woman would not be attracted to one another.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Attraction means that sex. There is no other. Yan maithunādi gṛhamedī sukhaṁ hi tuccham. Why they are working so hard day and night? Only for that sex pleasure. That is the psychology. There is no other happiness. Yan maithunādi gṛhamedhī sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). Their happiness is based on the center of sex pleasure.

Śrīdhara: So the body of a woman only reminds of the sex pleasure.