Knife

Expressions researched:
"knife" |"knife's" |"knives"

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.55.5, Translation:

The fishermen presented that extraordinary fish to Śambara, who had his cooks bring it to the kitchen, where they began cutting it up with a butcher knife.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 1.28-29 -- London, July 22, 1973:

Just like medical practitioners, they are trained up how to practice surgical operation on dead body. It is not possible to, of course, for a gentleman, to push knife in someone's body. It is naturally very difficult thing. Rogues and thieves, they can stab. So as the doctors, medical men, surgeons are trained up to operate their knife on the dead body to see where are the nerves, similarly, kṣatriyas are also allowed for being trained how to kill. Kṣatriya means... Kṣat. Kṣat means injury. And tra means trāyate, saves. A kṣatriya has to save the citizens from being injured by others.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- London, August 18, 1973:

So Kṛṣṇa also, although in the material life, Kṛṣṇa is providing all necessities of life. Duly, there is seasonal changes. You get seasonal fruits, flowers, grains, and all necessities. You'll be still given chance, especially to the human being, that you get all supplies, necessities. Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. All necessities, But again you revive your consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the plan. But if you do not revive your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if you simply enjoy the senses, then there will be restriction of supply. This is the law. That is the restriction of supply. Therefore, there will be no rain. And if there is no rain, what factory will do, you rascal? You can manufacture scissors and knives and buckets of plastic, but you cannot prepare rice and wheat. That is not possible, sir. That will depend on rain. So immediately rains will be restricted. Now you all chew all these kankar (?). What is this kankar? These stone particles?

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- London, August 18, 1973:

That is the plan. But if you do not revive your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if you simply enjoy the senses, then there will be restriction of supply. This is the law. That is the restriction of supply. Therefore, there will be no rain. And if there is no rain, what factory will do, you rascal? You can manufacture scissors and knives and buckets of plastic, but you cannot prepare rice and wheat. That is not possible, sir. That will depend on rain. So immediately rains will be restricted. Now you all chew all these kankar (?). What is this kankar? These stone particles?

Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972:

Then how to understand that it is the negative? That is explained in the next verse, that nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. You cannot cut, the spirit soul by any weapon, knife, sword, or thistle. (pistol?) It is not possible. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. The Māyāvāda philosophy says that "I am Brahman. Due to my illusion, I feel I am separated. Otherwise I am one." But Kṛṣṇa says that mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). So does it mean that the, from the whole spirit, this fragment has been separated by cutting into piece? No. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. It cannot be cut into pieces. Then? Then the answer is that the spirit soul fragment is eternal. Not that by māyā it has become separated. No. How it can be? Because it cannot be cut into pieces.

Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968:

Devotee: Arjuna.

Prabhupāda: So that is his cowardice. That is being condemned by Kṛṣṇa, that "It is not your business to give up fighting and go away from the warfield and go to the forest for meditation. It is not your business."

Devotee: How did that war differ from other wars?

Prabhupāda: It is... Sometimes knife is pierced in your body by a surgeon, and in another occasion, another man pierces a knife to stab you. Do you think both knife piercing is the same?

Devotee: No.

Prabhupāda: Similarly.

Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968:

Devotee: But a man charges at you on a horse with a lance or something in a war, this...

Prabhupāda: No, first of all try to understand this, that piercing the knife in the body is not always bad. Similarly, war or fighting is not always bad, provided it is done for right cause. That should be understood. So when the director is Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, is directing, so there is no cause of stopping it. He has His plan, He knows. We cannot judge. So He's the Supreme. So that war is necessary because it is desired by the Supreme Lord.

Lecture on BG 4.6-8 -- New York, July 20, 1966:

Now, just like you take the knife. Now, what is the function of knife? Knife's function is to cut. You can cut a pencil and you can cut your throat. The function of the knife is nothing, but when you cut a throat, then the knife becomes polluted, but when you... (drunk talking and whistling in background) When you... (drunk goes on talking and whistling) Don't disturb. Sit down.

Lecture on BG 4.14-19 -- New York, August 3, 1966:

Now, we are human beings. We are meant for taking vegetables and fruits. Now, our teeth is just like knife which can cut the vegetables and the fruits. So all these bodies, I mean to say... I am giving particular stress to the body. A king's body, a poor man's body. A poor man, he has to work very hard. His body is very sturdy. He can work very nicely. But a son of very aristocratic family or king, oh, his body is very delicate. He cannot work.

Lecture on BG 4.34-39 -- Los Angeles, January 12, 1969:

You have to check it. You go to a market place. You buy something. Suppose you buy, purchase one knife. You know what is knife. It must be a sharpened instrument. You see how it is cutting. You test it. So suppose if you go on to somebody to see God, how you'll test it if you do not know what is God? Then he will give you, supply you, deliver you one dog, and you understand, "This is God." So what is your testing power? At least, you must have some theoretical knowledge what is God. So these things are going on, absurd things. You must know what is God.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Delhi, November 16, 1973:

By these blunt senses, materially blunt... Just like with blunt instrument you cannot take any benefit, it must be sharpened; similarly, these senses, you utilize these senses to understand the Absolute Truth, but it must be purified, sharpened. Just like a knife. When it is sharpened it cuts very nicely. If it is blunt, it does not. But you can use the same very knife. So you can use these very eyes. Now you cannot see God, or Kṛṣṇa. But if you purify these eyes, if you purify the senses, you can see God, you can talk with God, you can serve God, everything. That is possible. That is bhakti.

Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Los Angeles, August 18, 1972:

So, so long one is not conscious that "What is the position of my life? What I am doing?" that is called knot, tied up very tightly. So here is the medicine. What is that? Yad anudhyāsinā yuktāḥ. Just like if there is very hard knot, you take a sharp knife and you can cut it, then the knot will open, immediately. Similarly, this knot, this materialistic way of life, is very strong. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). And this knot is, the beginning of the knot is sex life. Beginning of this knot. We are tied up by this sex life. The lowest is the hog. There is also the sex life.

Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1972:

That is real dharma. Dharmān bhāgavatān. So here the same thing is explained, that yad-anudhyāsinā yuktāḥ. Simply by chanting or hearing or meditating upon Kṛṣṇa, yad-anudhyāsinā yuktāḥ karma-granthi-nibandhanam. This asinā... Just like we require a knife to cut the knot, similarly, if we want to cut the knot of this material existence...

Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1972:

Therefore this is the process, yad-anudhyāsinā, you have to take one knife. This is knife. What is that? Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). This is knife. If you want to get rid of this entanglement of material existence, one body after another, then this is the only instrument by which you can unknot the knot and come out of the entanglement. Chindanti. This very word is used, chindanti: "It cuts." Chindanti kovidās tasya. Kovida means very intelligent person.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Los Angeles, April 17, 1973:

You cannot avoid. Karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54). But those who are in devotional service, those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, their sufferings are minimized, a token. Just like one was to be killed. So instead of being killed with his knife, he gets some little cut on the finger. In this way, karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca...

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Los Angeles, April 17, 1973:

Those who are in devotional service, they are: ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66). Kṛṣṇa assures that: "I give you protection from the reaction of sinful life." So when there is very, very grievous criminal activities behind his, sometimes it is like that. Instead of hanging him, there may be little cut by the knife on the finger. This is the position.

Lecture on SB 1.8.49 -- Mayapura, October 29, 1974:

Those who have taken, fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, bhakti-bhājām, karmāṇi nirdahati, their karma, nirdahati, means as far as possible the result is diminished or practically made nil. Even it is there, karma-phala, very slight. Just like the example is just like one is condemned to be murdered by somebody by cutting his head, but by Kṛṣṇa's grace he may be saved from cutting the head. Suppose there is some accident by knife in the hand. They are calculated like that. And generally, a devotee is completely relieved from all karma-phala. So ordinarily, we are indebted to so many persons, not only bāla, dvija, gopa, but ṛṣi, and the devatās. We have to take care of it. But if we become fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, sarvātmanā ye śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ gato mukundam.

Lecture on SB 1.10.6 -- Mayapura, June 21, 1973:

To revenge, he called the servant in the operation room. The servant did not know that he was to be killed. And immediately he was captured, chloroform, and mercilessly killed with knife and then packed up in a box. He was taking the corpse in a different place to throw away. In the meantime a police officer was passing. He saw that drops of blood is coming out of the box. He immediately arrested. So this case was.

Lecture on SB 1.16.26-30 -- Hawaii, January 23, 1974:

The Kali-yuga is very strong. Time is very strong, that even in contact, coming in contact with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are falling. They are falling. That is due to Kali-yuga. Therefore Mother Dharitrī is... Śocāmi rahitaṁ lokaṁ pāpmanā kalinekṣitam: "Now the Kali-yuga has come. I'm thinking that... I'm very much disturbed that people are losing their original qualities." These qualities are not to be acquired. These qualities are there, but it is covered. Just like a sharpened knife. The cutting power is there, but when it is covered by dirt, it does not cut.

Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Honolulu, May 22, 1976:

All other living entities think like yourself. That means your pains and pleasure that you feel, you should take others pains and pleasure. Not that you protect yourself from all danger and you cut the throat of the poor animals on the plea that it has no soul. This is not education. This is education, that whether the animal has soul or not soul, we shall consider later on. But when knife is on my throat I cry, and he also cries. Why shall I say that it has no soul and let me kill it? So that means he does not know how to see other living entity like himself. Buddha philosophy is based on this, that whatever you feel pain you should not inflict to others. This is education. Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat.

Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Honolulu, May 22, 1976:

In this way the next stage is, as soon as he lost all sadācāra, then his profession became bandy-akṣaiḥ kaitavaiś cauryair garhitāṁ vṛttim āsthitaḥ. Bandy-akṣaiḥ. Just like it is very common thing, nowadays especially, that as soon as you find somebody solitary: "Yes, what you have got? Give me. Otherwise I shall kill you. Here is knife." This is called bandy-akṣaiḥ. Arrest somebody and take whatever he has got. This is called bandy-akṣaiḥ. And kaitavaiḥ, cheating: "I shall give you this. I shall..." There are so many cheating processes.

Lecture on SB 6.1.23 -- Honolulu, May 23, 1976:

This is not education. This is education, that whether the animal has soul or not soul we shall consider later on. But when knife is on my throat I cry, and he also cries. Why shall I say that "It has no soul, and let me kill it"? So that means he does not know how to see other living entities like himself. Buddha philosophy is based on this, that "Whatever you feel, pain, you should not inflict to others." This is education.

Lecture on SB 6.1.26 -- Chicago, July 11, 1975:

So that I do not know, that one man is waiting. I am collecting. There was a caricature picture when India was struggling for independence. So the Gandhi's picture, Gandhi was fishing with the tackle, and Jinnah was standing behind with a knife and plate, that "Let this rascal struggle for independence, and as soon as (sic:) he's get, I will take share and go away, Pakistan." Actually he did so. He never went to jail, but he took the share and made Pakistan. So Gandhi, therefore, was not in favor of partition.

Lecture on SB 6.1.38 -- Los Angeles, June 4, 1976:

So that is going on. So-called educated scientist, degrees, what they're doing? Atom bomb, kill men. This is their scientific discovery: that you can kill a man with a knife, one man or two men; now we have got scientific discovery, millions of men in a moment. Come on, discovery. So why don't you discover something that millions of hospitals, diseased men can be brought into life again? That we cannot do. Kill, killing, killing is going on.

Lecture on SB 6.1.42 -- Los Angeles, June 8, 1976:

So these questions were never raised. We are now raising these questions. And they were passing on. No. This is not the process. The process is śāstra-cakṣuṣāt, śabda-pramāṇam. That is the Vedic injunction, śabda-pramāṇam. Just like you are sleeping, and somebody is coming to kill you with knife. So how you can take precaution? You are sleeping. But some of your friend or relative: "Get up! Get up! Get up! There is enemy! There is enemy!" Immediately you wake up. That means you see with the ear, not with the eyes.

Lecture on SB 6.2.24-25 -- Gorakhpur, February 13, 1971:

Actually the brāhmaṇas had so much power in those days that simply by mantra, they would ignite fire. The fire was not ignited by matches—by mantra. And the animal... Just like in medical science, in physiology sometimes experiment is made by plying the knife on some animal, similarly, how the yajña was being performed, that was tested by animal sacrifice. Animal sacrifice was not meant for killing one animal and eating. No. That the animal, an old animal, should be put into the yajña fire and he'll come out a young, with a young body, that was the test how Vedic mantras were being chanted powerfully.

Lecture on SB 7.9.19 -- Mayapur, February 26, 1976:

Even valuable jewel is lying on the street, a paṇḍita will say, "I shall not touch it." This is a moral education. And ātmavat sarva-bhūteṣu. Ātmavat. If you feel some pain by pinching, why should you pinch others? And that is paṇḍita. If you cry when your throat is cut with a knife, why you should slaughter other animals? Therefore Lord Christ says, "Thou shall not kill." But these people are so uneducated. In spite of their Ph.D.s, they have no, this simple education, that "I suffer when I am killed. Why I shall kill others?" This is the modern education, all nonsense rascals' education. This is not education.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:

Just like the philosophy voidism, or suicidism. I am feeling some pain in my body. So if I think that let me commit suicide, then the pain will go away automatically. That is void philosophy. The killing one-self, ātma hā. But because they have no understanding that killing this body does not mean killing yourself. That is their ignorance. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So these rascal think if I suicide, if I commit suicide, and just have a knife on my throat, then all my pains and pleasures are finished. No, that is not... He will be put into more pains and pleasure.

General Lectures

Speech to Maharaja and Maharani and Conversations Before and After -- Indore, December 11, 1970:

Haṁsadūta: You mean put a... Yes, I'll be able to that.

Prabhupāda: This palace is nice.

Himāvatī: Yes. Run down, though. I noticed that the upholstery was torn.

Prabhupāda: It is very old.

Haṁsadūta: That knife, Prabhupāda? You have that knife?

Prabhupāda: Yes. You can give to anyone in this way.

Lecture -- Tokyo, April 29, 1972, (with interpreter):

Prabhupāda: You have to do this thing, that thing." So this movement is like that. When a man is fast asleep, all other senses cannot work, but one sense, which is called ear, it can work. Just like you are sleeping and somebody is coming with a knife to kill you. You cannot see. The man can come and kill you. But if somebody cries, "Mr. such and such, wake up! Somebody is coming to kill you," you can use your ear and be precautious. So this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is something like that, awakening from the slumbering state of material consciousness.

La Trobe University Lecture -- Melbourne, July 1, 1974:

Man (1): Have you got books on the use of flick knives, like your brother-in-law's there? Have a look. Declare yourself, mate.

Madhudviṣa: Sir, listen, we'll have questions and answers in just a minute if you'd like to be patient.

Man (1): Knives...

Madhudviṣa: If you'd like to be patient for a second, we'll have questions and answers and we can ask about the philosophy that we're talking about. (more yelling from audience) The people that want to listen in an orderly fashion are waiting to hear the meeting continue, and those who want to ask questions can please have respect for them and let us continue with the lecture, and then we'll have questions and answers afterwards.

La Trobe University Lecture -- Melbourne, July 1, 1974:

Prabhupāda: Well, he is coming, welcome. We shall welcome. It is very good news that Jesus is coming.

Man: Jesus had no reputation. He wore sandals and he was crucified between two thieves...

Young man: He didn't carry flick knives... Hare Kṛṣṇas.

Young man (2): And your spirituality is in a Rolls Royce on a padded seat, and you're all into money, you Kṛṣṇas. You want money. You rip off people in the streets.

Prabhupāda: No. I don't want money.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Wherefrom the genes came?

Śyāmasundara: Well these can be altered by cosmic radiation. Supposing a cosmic ray hits the gene, it may change it slightly so that maybe it comes out with...

Prabhupāda: That is not the question. Suppose if you have got life, I can kill you with a knife. But the question is, "Wherefrom this life came?" I can change, merely with a knife, your life. That is not very important thing, changing. The thing is to find out the origin, wherefrom the genes came.

Śyāmasundara: He has a book called The Origin of Species, and he traces back...

Prabhupāda: First of all, you are testing his knowledge.

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Prabhupāda: And Brahmānanda sent me that picture, Africa, five thousand priests in that hospital, on account of their drinking habits.

Devotee: Five thousand!

Prabhupāda: Five thousand. In America. (break) ...as soon as I cut with knife, the same blood is coming. Here also the same blood is coming. He is also crying, he is also crying. All these things are (indistinct). Then how do you say that this man has got soul and this animal has not got soul? Where is analogy? And points of similarities are there. Analogy means points of similarity. So the points of similarity, while killing either a man or animal, are all the same, then how are you bringing this analogy that he has got soul, he hasn't got soul? Where is his logic?

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview -- March 9, 1968, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: First of all we have to see what is the diet of the human being. Actually I read in some scientific magazine, a medical magazine, that our teeth is not meant for eating meats. These teeth are meant for eating fruits. Actually the shape of the teeth is like that, just like sharp knife. You can, apple you can take immediately. But if you take one piece of meat, you cannot eat so easily with these teeth. So first of all you have to understand what is your diet. So your diet is different from animals' diet. You take anything.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: Therefore there is chaos. There is chaos. If you want to save yourself from this chaotic condition of life you must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is our proposal. Give me that knife. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Not so many. Begin. Aiye. (break) ...friend of Kṛṣṇa. How much exalted he is, a great warrior, and he has the right to talk with Kṛṣṇa on equal level.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles:

Jayatīrtha: (indistinct) as man progresses, the mark of his progression is his ability to use tools to a greater extent. Like there was the Stone Age. In the Stone Age, they used stones for tools. Then there was the Bronze Age, so they made weapons out of bronze, knives and so on. Then they invented the wheel.

Prabhupāda: Modern age.

Jayatīrtha: So as their science progressed, then they progressed and were able to utilize nature.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Kṛṣṇa-kāntī: Because of sense gratification or mind...

Prabhupāda: Anyway, they say all... Yes. The bodily functions, intelligence...,

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Blunt, intelligence becomes blunt.

Prabhupāda: Yes, blunt. When the knife is sharp, it can cut, but if it is become blunt, then you cannot cut.

Paramahaṁsa: Or worn by age.

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No, no. They are never as... They are always working. How they can take the position of the brāhmaṇa? Brāhmaṇa's position is to teach brāhmaṇa knowledge, brahma-jñāna. That is brāhmaṇa.

Paramahaṁsa: Prior to the growth of technology...

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, there was technology. But not in such large scale. Village technology. There was a blacksmith. You want a knife. You take one piece of steel, and he will do it, phut phut phut phut, and he'll put in the fire, and everything do. And now you are manufacturing these cutleries, cutleries, in larger scale. So they are śūdras. Similarly any factory, it is a combination of śūdras. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: "In this age, all are śūdras." Only we are trying to become brāhmaṇa. Otherwise all śūdras. So therefore there is no adjustment. Just like if you have got only legs, no arms, no mouth, so what is this body?

Room Conversation -- July 9, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: No they say, they simply give primary education (indistinct) they can read, that's all. And (indistinct). They don't send because everyone knows that sending boys to the school means spoil them. That's all. I have seen intelligent boys, they go to school and he is spoiled. Yes, spoiled. He learns how to smoke, how to have sex, how to talk nonsense, how to use knife, how to fight, these things. At least at the present moment. Yes. Simply slaughterhouse, this so-called school is called slaughterhouse. Yes, slaughterhouse.

Room Conversation With David Lawrence -- July 12, 1973, London:

David Lawrence: There's another David over there as well, who's come here. That is David.

Śyāmasundara: You can come again anytime you like. After four, any evening you can come.

Prabhupāda: Have you, have you got any knife? Give me. (pause) So you are living in this village?

David Lawrence: London, you mean?

Prabhupāda: You live (in) London.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 10, 1974, Los Angeles:

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)

Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...lence is violence. But Kṛṣṇa has got two business: paritrāṇāya sādhūnām vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). So those who are duṣkṛtā, there is necessity of violence. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...surgical operation. Yes. When the...

Guest (6): Yeah, I was disturbed in the early morning. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...to have surgical operation, if the doctor says, "No, no, no, I have taken to non-violence. I cannot touch with knife," that is foolishness. (break) ...you, one must know. That, you take instruction from Kṛṣṇa; then you'll know when one thing should be used and one thing not be used.

Dr. Patel: And that is necessity... (break)

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1974, Bombay:

Girirāja: Simplicity is not considered a bad quality?

Prabhupāda: No, no. For him it is all right. And anyone, sva-dharma... He is a vaiśya, He should believe like that. A politician should act like that, that... para-dharmabhāvaḥ. One should not imitate. Just like a physician is operating. I should not imitate, to take the knife and operate. That is not my business.

Girirāja: "After this incident, when Yaśodā was once nursing..."

Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 2, 1974, Bombay:

Girirāja: "O Lord, You have descended especially for the purpose of annihilating all kinds of disturbing elements within the world, and because You are the Absolute Truth, there is no difference between Your mercy and punishment." (break)

Prabhupāda: ...surgical operation is there, the knife is being used on the body, that means he is getting relief. It is not punishment. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (Hindi) (break)

Girirāja: Is that benefit coming in all suffering or only when it is given by Kṛṣṇa?

Morning Walk -- May 28, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: The same story, Alexander the Great and the thief. He was arrested, and when he convinced him that "What is the difference between you and me? You have got good military strength. You are conquering. And I have got my knife and another thing. I am just going and plundering. So you are also plundering, I am plundering. Why you have caught me? What right you have got to punish me? Because we are the same. You are doing in a larger scale, I am doing in a small scale. That is the difference." So he was set free, "Yes." Alexander the Great, he was sensible man, "Yes, what I am doing? The same thing in a bigger scale that's all."

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Therefore they are mūḍha. In spite of good brain, they are rascals, because brain is being utilized for sinful activities, how to set up up-to-date machinery for killing animals. Brain is being used for this purpose. Any animal can be killed with ordinary knife, but they're manufacturing latest machinery. Their brain, rascal brain is being used for that purpose. And what they will understand? They are preparing their road for going to hell. What they will understand about spiritual matters? Nature will not excuse.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: That's alright, but if you are intelligent enough, if you are a rascal fool, you cannot see, but if you are intelligent, then you'll be eager to: "Who is operating? Let me see?" That is the difference of intelligence. Dull, just like we read one story. One little boy he was beating on a drum. So, he became inquisitive, "Wherefrom the sound is coming? Somebody must be within it." He took a knife and cut it. This is intelligence. Wherefrom the sound is coming? He was beating-dum, dum, dum—he became inquisitive. That is intelligence. A dull student-coming, that's all. And intelligent, he tries to (find out), that is intelligence. Inquisitive. Intelligent boy will always enquire, "What is this, father? What is this father? Wherefrom the sound is coming?" That is intelligence. So, if one is very dull—just like cats and dogs, they cannot enquire. What is this machine? What is this behind? It is the human form of life—these enquiries should come. Otherwise he remains a cat and dog.

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

Prabhupāda: So these classes of man should be on the administration, not anyone coward, nonsense, and by hook and crook they get some vote and take the political leader... How you will find peace? The fourth class is required. Just like in your body you have got brain, brain is required. Then hand. Whenever there is some attack, consciously, unconsciously, I forward my hand. So the division is already there. If you come to attack me with a knife, I don't push my head. I push my hand. So when there is attack, the brāhmaṇas are not expected to go forward; the kṣatriyas. So this is training. Everything is perfectly there. People are not accepting. You don't require conference.

Garden Conversation with Professors -- June 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So by killing animals, they used to practice. Just like doctors, medical practitioners, they first of all ply their knife on the dead body and find out where are the nerves, where are the..., not a living man. When they are fully practiced, then they are allowed to practice surgical operation. Similarly, kṣatriyas are meant for sometimes killing.

Morning Walk -- June 30, 1975, Denver:

Satsvarūpa: He has given the school some title, "Oriental Institute." It is called the Oriental Institute?

Brahmānanda: Institute of Oriental Philosophy.

Prabhupāda: Institute of Oriental Philosophy? Yes. And the students are coming to him with knives. That is his popularity. Amongst his own students, he is threatened with knife. And he has to sign something by such threatening.

Room Conversation with the Mayor of Evanston -- July 4, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: No, put it here. He'll take. Take this prasāda. They are all fruits, innocent. In your country you have got so many nice fruits.

Mayor: Yes, we do.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And grains and milk. So much nice things. You can avoid meat-eating very easily, as they have given up.

Mayor: It looks very good, but I (indistinct) with a knife. (laughter)

Viṣṇujana: Someone is bringing a fork. Prabhupāda, perhaps we could provide him with some of our literature and that will inform him more about our movement.

Prabhupāda: Yes, give him.

Mayor: All right, thank you.

Room Conversation with Mr. & Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Jayatīrtha: At the same time in that Time article it discussed that about fifty percent of the crime was done by children under eighteen and people are afraid even to go to the schools.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are not educated properly. Not only that they have given photograph: the children take small..., yes, weapon, knife. And examination is held under police vigilance. This is the education.

Mrs. Wax: Some of us are parents of devotees and when you came to America nine years ago, eight years ago...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- July 8, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: No, the purpose for which you have created or utilized, that is false. So we want to change the consciousness. We don't condemn the thing. (break) ...with a knife you are cutting vegetables and utilizing, but if you use it for cutting your throat, that is bad. That is bad. So they are using the knife for cutting their own throat. This is bad. (break) The śāstra says, nidrāham ādyaṁ plavaṁ sukalpam. This body... We are just crossing the ocean of nescience. So this body is a good boat. māyā ete 'rtaṁ guruḥ karṇa-dharam.

Room Conversation -- October 29, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: Regular violence?

Cyavana: Oh, yes. Very violent.

Brahmānanda: They would go into the farm... The Europeans owned all the farms. And they would go in vans with these knives and just cut everyone in the farm.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Cyavana: They cut everyone up into small chunks.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Brahmānanda: They cut them into pieces.

Cyavana: Into small pieces.

Prabhupāda: Accha?

Morning Walk -- November 2, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: That is real cooperation. (Hindi) (break) Just like every one of them is attached to remain in Africa, continuing to... But they are being forcefully driven away: "Go away." Attachment must be there. The Englishmen, they have got attachment, but they were forcefully driven away. Similarly, this conditioned soul, he has got attachment. And śāstra and śāstra... These people were driven away by śāstra,, by weapon, knife. That is śāstra. And śāstra is the same thing, but it is books. Therefore it is called śāstra. The original word is coming from śās. Sas means ruling, śās-dhātu. Śāstra, śāstra, śāsana, śisya. Śisya. Śisya means voluntarily accepting ruling.

Morning Walk -- December 18, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: If you make tamasic dāna, then you become implicated with his sinful activities. Suppose you want to kill somebody, and you're asking, "Can you give me a nice knife?" "What you will do?" "I shall kill that man." "All right, take it, dānam. I am giving you in charity." So he will be implicated. In the court, if it is known that that man supplied the knife, "Arrest him. Bring him immediately."

Morning Walk -- December 18, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. The government, Indian government, is in necessity. In necessity, "All right, give it to the government." Their duty is finished. But if the government is rascal, that is their responsibility.

Dr. Patel: But suppose you had given me a knife to mend the pencil, and I stab somebody with it. So, like that.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Dr. Patel: You have done a dāna to me, giving your knife to mend my pencil, or some useful work, and I stab somebody with the penknife, so...

Prabhupāda: That is your responsibility.

Dr. Patel: No, but then the dāna that you did was not tamasic. Still, it has ended in tamasic action.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 7, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: The principle should be that you should not leave remnants of food. As soon as it is used, it should not be used more. Otherwise it is not possible to give up. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). I am eating something not very superior, but if I get the chance of eating something superior, then I give up this inferior. So there is no question of making it vacant or void. To fill up the place with better thing.... So when you think of Kṛṣṇa, then you forget māyā. Otherwise you are entrapped with māyā. Why Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto? Mām eva ye prapadyante. This is wanted. As soon as you become anyābhilāṣī, then it becomes difficult. Where is that knife? Give me one amroot(?). Cut into pieces and get...

Morning Walks -- January 22-23, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Just see. "Fresh dead." Just see. The rascals are so fools that unless you make him dead, you cannot eat. So why do you theorize that a dead animal is not good?

Harikeśa: Well, 'cause he had to die from some cause, and that cause is...

Prabhupāda: Cause, all right. It is also cause. You are killing, that's all.

Harikeśa: The knife is clean, whereas the germs are...

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Formerly the Hindus, they used to purchase meat and cook it in Ganges water. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, boy.

Harikeśa: Purify it.

Morning Walk -- March 17, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: This is the punishment, yes. Punishment there is always. But they are so stubborn fools still.

Dharmādhyakṣa: Prabhupāda, the one great brain researcher, he spent nineteen years searching for the memory in the brain.

Prabhupāda: There is a story that two friends talking that, on the point that "How this was cut, separated?" So one friend said, "It is by knife." And the other friend said, "No, it was by scissor." So they went on.... One said, "No! It is knife." He said, "No! It is scissor." So the knife man was very strong. So he took him to the water, that "You say it is knife. Otherwise I shall drown you." (laughter) So he said, "I'll never say." Then he said.... When he was drowning, he was doing like this, (Prabhupāda gesticulates) (laughter) "Scissor, scissor." When he was actually drowned and he had no other means to say, then he was doing like this: "It is scissor. It is scissor." This is their argument. However punished they may be, they'll do this. (laughter)

Madhudviṣa: (break) ...that you are too impatient.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Room Conversation -- April 20, 1976, Melbourne:

Carol Jarvis: But all of these people have a mouth, and you do the same to them. You call them, and they jump.

Prabhupāda: No.

Carol Jarvis: That's the same as a dog coming to its master.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But to have a real master and to have a false master.... Just like a physician. He is asking that "Come here. Lie down." He is knife.... He knows that he'll make surgical.... He agrees. But if somebody, rogue, says that "I shall cut your throat," he'll not agree. That is intelligence. A physician is also with the knife, and the rogue is also with the knife. When the physician says, "You lie down. I shall have some surgical operation," he agrees to ply on his body the knife. But he'll never agree if he knows that "He is a rogue. He'll simply cut my throat." That is the difference. But superficially you see, "Both of them are with knife," but one for real happiness, one for false thing.

Room Conversation -- April 22, 1976, Melbourne:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That is not the real business of human life.

Prabhupāda: But they are thinking, "This is advancement. To sit on the floor is primitive, but to sit on the chair is civilized."

Hari-śauri: Well, when we were on the plane in the first-class, we were eating with our hand, and I could see, these men, they were eating with knife and fork, and they were looking like this. And they were.... I could see what they were thinking. They were disgusted: "Here are these men, sitting in first-class, eating with their hands, very primitive and crude." And they're eating with knife and fork, and I was thinking, "What are they eating? Some beef or some meat preparation, like this." But they're thinking they're civilized.

Prabhupāda: Then why? Why?

Hari-śauri: Yes. "Because I have knife and fork, now I'm civilized."

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I remember when I first went to Vṛndāvana and I saw in the villages how they were using dirt and charcoal to clean their pots and pans...

Prabhupāda: Yes, they use it.

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Unnecessarily. He said "I have to fill out four pages." Four pages of the passport, that takes four days?

Prabhupāda: Everyone in government service, at least it is to be supposed they are all nasty men. Here also, why not? The other day the custom officer, unnecessary. Unnecessarily. He is opening the snuff box, this box, that box. Unnecessarily. Not a gentleman. It is stated there, "snuff," and he is bringing knife to open.

Jagadīśa: Harassment.

Prabhupāda: Everywhere. Rājanyaiḥ, dasyu-dharma. Simply wanting some bribe. They are in power. And that will increase. It will be impossible to deal with. Now it is already. In India, any work you want to be done by government, unless you bribe.... In Africa also. The situation is becoming very dangerous. That Mullik's Thakur, where he...?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In Calcutta, yes.

Room Conversation -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: German people still hate England. They do not like to speak in English; that I have seen. In the bank they know English, but they won't speak it. English everyone knows. The Kaiser was against. They said that Kaiser is the grandson of Queen Victoria, from daughter's side. And King George from the son's side—Edward's seventh son. They were cousin brothers. So this Kaiser, when he was young boy, went to paternal uncle's house, when he was a young boy. So there was some playing, cut with a knife. So royal family, so many doctors came. So the boy was saying, "Why you are trying to cure it? Let the English blood go away." So from the childhood he was so inimical, that "I have got some English blood in my body, my mother is English, father German, so let the English blood go away." I do not know if that is fact, I heard it.

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: And those who cannot be grouped either of these three classes, they should generally help as workers. They are called śūdras. So the workers means... Suppose you require a sitting place: the carpenter is there. Suppose you require a knife: so the blacksmith is there. You require clothing: the weaver is there. In this way, four classes of men. First class, second class, third class, or the intellectuals, the administrators, the producers and the general workers. This is Vedic system of division.

Room Conversation -- August 2, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Unnatural, yes. What for smoking? What for drinking? How nicely they sit down on the ground and take prasādam. Why there is need of table, chair and these dishes and fork and knife and so on, so on? Why?

Harikeśa: It's hard to cut the meat. You need a good surface. (laughs)

Prabhupāda: Our Bon Mahārāja, once I was eating in his festival and... He's a bara-sahib. So he has given fork and knife. (laughs) So I did not know, I do not remember even which way I took fork. So Bon Mahārāja began to criticize "You are going to foreign country you do not know which hand to take this fork and knife." So I told him, "I am not going to learn all these things. I am going to teach them something else, to forget it. (laughter) You went to learn all these things. But I am not going to learn anything."

Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Bhagavān: One time you said that they criticized you when you were going to America because you did not know about the knife and the fork?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Bon Mahārāja. And the book English Etiquette. Very big book. How to sit, how to laugh, how to smile, how to pass water, how to this... (laughter) And they would learn it and waste time. (pause) So, if you grow more, and offer fruits to the Deity in the evening, and this will be very nice. You can distribute that.

Bhagavān: Would you like to go for a walk soon? I'll get everything ready. The palanquin was nice?

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Atreya Ṛṣi: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Cut this fruit and distribute it. Bring one knife.

Atreya Ṛṣi: We have prasādam downstairs.

Prabhupāda: No, bring it here.

Hari-śauri: Do you want to take any...

Prabhupāda: I will take little milk.

Morning Walk -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Obstinate rascals. Not only rascal, but obstinate rascal. Their only remedy is shoe. That's all. Obstinacy. There is a story about obstinacy. Two friends were talking. One friend said, "This is cut by a scissor." So another friend says, "No, it is cut by the knife." So then there was fight. So the friend who was talking of the knife, he was strong enough. So he captured him: "You accept it is scissor, otherwise I'll throw you in the water." So other, "No, it is scissor," so he threw him in the water. So when he was dying, he was doing like this. (Prabhupāda makes a hand motion like scissor) (laughter) So he is obstinate rascal. It is as good as that garden here. Rather, here there is no disturbance of outsiders, and there there are so many disturbances. It is better. Our theory is... Not theory, fact-daiva-netreṇa. These things are arranged by superior management.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: He doesn't make any compromise. "Oh, you are suffering from the boil. There is pus. All right, you don't like operation?" Will that cure? ""No, fool! Come one. Bring knife. Cut it. Press. Now?" "Oh, I am so relieved! You are God. You are God." Then he will see. That is our duty: purge out all pusses accumulated due to infection, material infection. This is our duty. We cannot make any compromise. When the pusses are to be purged out, we cannot take your advice, that "Just blow some air from the mouth or some fan. It will be cured." No, it will not be. Take surgical operation. That is only way. Purge out. "No this! No this! No this! No meat-eating, no..." This is purging.

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Gurukṛpā: Oh, the scissors.

Prabhupāda: Scissor logic.

Devotee: What is that?

Satsvarūpa: One man said a knife was used...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Satsvarūpa: ...and the other said, "No, it was a scissor that was used." And they began arguing back and forth, and finally one man who held that it was a knife, he threw the other man in the river...

Discussions -- May 20-22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The nail cutter, can you...? You know how to cut?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I don't know how to use the tool that you use. The kind I use is a different thing.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, it clips, and I think you use a knife of some kind.

Prabhupāda: No. You have got that clip?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, I have a clipper.

Prabhupāda: That will be...

Room Conversation Varnasrama -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Viśvakarma-pūjā, oh, yeah.

Prabhupāda: So the brāhmaṇas will regularly come, worship Viśvakarmā or demigods. Viśvakarmā is the engineer of the demigods. Some demigod also they will worship. Even the butcher will worship goddess Kālī, then he will apply the knife to the throat of the animal. Even the butcher. Recognition of higher authority.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Would the blacksmiths do the pūjā to Viśvakarmā, or brāhmaṇas?

Room Conversation With Madhudvisa and others -- August 17, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So you keep that permanently.

Prabhupāda: Oh, this is made of..., the outer portion is made of candle? No.

Śrutakīrti: Yes, all wax. Most of it is all just plain white wax, and then you have different color waxes, tanks of different colors so you'll dip it in one tank. You have to do that several times. And then they just get a knife and slit on different angles and twist it.

Prabhupāda: Something artistic, wonderful.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I'll get the water ready. Okay. (kīrtana)

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...arrangements have been made. First I saw where they are taking prasādam, first class, all long tables in a big room, long tables, tablecloths, and proper plates, knife, fork, spoon. Perfect for them. Nice fans, very gorgeous-looking curtains. Everything real...

Prabhupāda: So why...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...proper.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- October 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mixed up. His diagnosis was given to someone else. They made a mistake, and then they treated the other person.

Prabhupāda: And he was being treated as tuberculosis.

Ādi-keśava: Sometimes they make the operations, and they leave the knife in, and they sew the knife up inside after they make an operation. Or the scissors. They take some clamps and they sew them inside the wound. And then the man says, "Oh, I have a pain in my side." And they say, "Oh, new disease," and they make another operation and take out the clamps or the knife.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Sometimes they only depend on machines, these medical doctors. That's why he's mentioning about x-ray. Through these machines you cannot tell the correct diagnosis.

Room Conversation -- October 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: And he was being treated as tuberculosis.

Ādi-keśava: Sometimes they make the operations, and they leave the knife in, and they sew the knife up inside after they make an operation. Or the scissors. They take some clamps and they sew them inside the wound. And then the man says, "Oh, I have a pain in my side." And they say, "Oh, new disease," and they make another operation and take out the clamps or the knife.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Sometimes they only depend on machines, these medical doctors. That's why he's mentioning about x-ray. Through these machines you cannot tell the correct diagnosis.

Prabhupāda: I have got many experiences in my family life. One servant, Kashiram.