Go to Vanipedia | Go to Vanisource | Go to Vanimedia


Vaniquotes - the compiled essence of Vedic knowledge


Know very well (Lectures)

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are dreaming, "Now we shall do this. Next time, I shall have this. Next time, I shall have this. Next time, I shall kill that enemy. Next time, I shall do this." They are planning like that. Go on.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...feeling sometimes happy and sometimes distressed in his sleeping condition. The introspective man is always indifferent to materialistic happiness and distress."

Prabhupāda: The introspective man who is after self-realization, he knows very well, "Suppose if I do in future such and such big business, or such... I can construct such big skyscraper house." But because he's introspective, he knows that "What I shall do with all these things? As soon as I exit from the platform, everything remains here, and I take another form of body, begins another life." That is introspection. The materialistic person they cannot understand what is the future. They are thinking this body is everything. "We have got this body, and when it is finished, it is finished for all." These questions we have already discussed. But actually it is not. This is the first understanding of self-realization, that soul is eternal, it is not annihilated even after the annihilation of this body. This is the beginning of self-realization. So these people they do not understand it. They don't care for it. That is their sleeping. That is their miserable condition. Go on.

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

The introspective man who is after self-realization, he knows very well, "Suppose if I do in future such and such big business, or such... I can construct such big skyscraper house." But because he's introspective, he knows that "What I shall do with all these things? As soon as I exit from the platform, everything remains here, and I take another form of body, begins another life." That is introspection. The materialistic person they cannot understand what is the future. They are thinking this body is everything. "We have got this body, and when it is finished, it is finished for all." These questions we have already discussed. But actually it is not. This is the first understanding of self-realization, that soul is eternal, it is not annihilated even after the annihilation of this body. This is the beginning of self-realization. So these people they do not understand it. They don't care for it. That is their sleeping. That is their miserable condition. Go on.

Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:

What is the distinction between the animal body and the human body? Biologically.... Here is our friend Mr. Ghosh. He knows very well. There is no difference biologically between human body.... Medical students in the biological department, they study from the frogs, from guinea pigs, the human constitution of the body. There is no difference. But what is the difference? Not this bodily construction, but development of consciousness. That is the difference. So if we do not develop.... That is the opportunity, human life. In human life there is the opportunity to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Nairobi, October 31, 1975:

So because we are learning knowledge from śruti, from the perfect person, we will never be convinced. We shall challenge, "You create, rascal, create first of all. Then talk. Otherwise I shall kick." (laughter) This is our challenge because I know. We know very well that it will not be possible to create living being by combination of chemicals. He is talking nonsense. That is not possible. So we have to study from śruti. Then we become learned. Then we can know what is our constitutional position. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati (BG 18.54). Then he does not lament and neither he aspires everything, because he knows everything is complete there, conducted by the Supreme Being. And the Supreme Being said, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).

Lecture on BG 7.15-18 -- New York, October 9, 1966:

That is his vision. He does not... He's not disturbed. Tulyārthāpamānayoḥ(?). A person who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he doesn't care for all this material distress or insult or honor, because he is aloof from this. He doesn't... He knows very well that "This designation, this honor, or this insult, they are pertaining to my body, but I am not this body." Just like Socrates. Socrates was condemned to death because he believed in the..., an immortality of the soul. So he was condemned to death, and he was asked to take hemlock or something like that, poison. And the judge wanted: "Well, Socrates, how do you want to be put into the grave?" He replied, "First of all, you catch me. Then you put me into the grave. (laughter) You are dealing with my body, nonsense. I am out of this. So you kill me or you put me into the grave or whatever you like, I don't mind. First of all, you catch me. Then you put me into the grave."

Lecture on BG 7.15-18 -- New York, October 9, 1966:

One who is completely conversant with Kṛṣṇa science, he knows very well, "I am not this body. I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. My eternal relation is with Kṛṣṇa. But some way or other, I have been put into this entanglement of this material body. All right. Now I am in sense. I get aloof from you. I am not going to be associated with the three qualities of this material nature," as we are discussing this morning. "I am not concerned with the modes of goodness or modes of passion or modes of ignorance. I am concerned with Kṛṣṇa." Therefore such a learned and who has understood his real position and his relationship with Kṛṣṇa, he is jñānī. He knows. Therefore he is very much dear to Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa always guides him. This man, who is in distress, goes and prays to God. That praying of God is an asset to him, but it may be, when he is put into opulence, he forgets God. There is defect in that.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Miami, February 27, 1975:

Therefore those who are fully Kṛṣṇa conscious or fully advanced in spiritual consciousness, they do not make any difference between an insect and a elephant because he knows very well that the same spirit soul is there within the elephant and within insect, within the microbe, because the dimension of the spirit soul is very small. You cannot imagine. It is one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpita (CC Madhya 19.140), everything is there. So such minute particle is so powerful that it is managing the body of the elephant and it is managing the body of the ant.

Lecture on BG 18.67-69 -- Ahmedabad, December 9, 1972:

Kṛṣṇa says, "This confidential knowledge may not be explained to those who are not austere or devoted or engaged in devotional service, nor to one who is envious of Me." So Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He knows very well that there will be so many rascals who are envious of Him. Actually, everyone is trying... Because Bhagavad-gītā is very popular book of profound knowledge, everyone is trying to prove his own theory through the medium of Bhagavad-gītā, excluding Kṛṣṇa. This is going on. They want to kill Kṛṣṇa, demonic. Anyone who is trying to kill Kṛṣṇa, he's a demon. So to warn the devotees from these demons, this śloka was spoken by Kṛṣṇa Himself.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Vrndavana, October 16, 1972:

So viṣaya. Viṣayī means, does not mean that if one is very rich, then he's viṣayī. Viṣayī means one is only interested with these four things: eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. The whole world is going on like that. The modern civilization, they're simply interested how to eat, how to sleep... In your country, in America, you know very well. They're whole day working, how to construct a skyscraper building, how to own at least four cars.

So, so long we shall be attached to this viṣaya, simply, there cannot be any peace. There cannot be any peace. It is impossible. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that viṣaya-viṣānale. Anala means fire. There are different types of fire also. Vi..., viṣānala, the burning sensation by drinking poison. Viṣaya-viṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale. "Whole day and night, twenty-four hours, my heart is burning." Viṣaya-viṣānale, juṛāite nā koinu... "I did not try, how to get out of this blazing fire."

Lecture on SB 1.10.20 -- London, May 24, 1973:

Anyway, human life is meant for knowledge. That's a fact. Therefore athāto brahma jijñāsā. And what knowledge? Knowledge does not mean how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sex life, and how to defend. That is not knowledge. These things are there in the animals. The animals also know very well how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sex life and how to defend. No. That is not... Human life is meant for different business, and that is brahma-jijñāsā. So brahma-jijñāsā, if one begins the life of brahma-jijñāsā, brahma-jñāna, and when it ends in understanding Kṛṣṇa, that is perfection of life. That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19).

Lecture on SB 1.15.50 -- Los Angeles, December 27, 1973:

And when the Pāṇḍavas were lost, now he wanted to retaliate the insult given by Draupadī during her svayaṁvara. So he advised... He was friendly to Duryodhana and brothers. "Now this lady is lost. Now we can deal with her as we like. She is our property." So she was lost. "So I want to see her naked in this assembly." So vastra-haraṇa. You know. But Kṛṣṇa saved her. So Draupadī knows very well Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is said tadājñāya draupadī ca.

And another side is that when... At the time of retirement, there is no more responsibility. Here is it said, patīnām anapekṣatām. They are retiring from home without any consideration, "What will happen to our wife Draupadī?" No. "Now everyone should take care of himself. We are also going alone." This is retirement. Anapekṣatām, without waiting for anyone, alone, simply depending on Kṛṣṇa. This is called renounced order of life. So this is the process of retirement, not that to make arrangement in the family that "I am now retiring.

Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Delhi, November 6, 1973:

Their business is, these apaśyatām ātma-tattvam (SB 2.1.2), those who are blind, those who cannot see, the ātma-tattvam, "What I am," such persons, what is their business occupation? That is the distinction between devotee and nondevotee. A nondevotee, he is very much happy by sleeping. We have seen it practically in Western countries. You know very well, if they can sleep twenty-four,-five hours instead of twenty-four hours, they are very happy. They think that they are getting some profit. Not only Western countries. I have seen long, long ago, about fifty years ago in Calcutta, the office peons, they took letters for distributing to other men, but what do they do? They will sleep at Delhousie Square with the peon book. I have seen. They thought that "This sleeping is our gain. We are getting salary. That is another gain. But because without working I am sleeping now for three hours in Delhousie Square, it is also another gain."

Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 26, 1972:

Viṣaya means necessities of the body: eating, sleeping, mating, and defense. So one should understand that "I am this body. I am not this body, but because I am now encaged within this body, so I must maintain the body also, without being attached." Just like you have got a nice car. You require it for movement. But you should, you know very well that "I am not this car. I am taking service from the car. The car should be maintained to give me regular service, not that I shall identify with this car." Similarly, this body is just like car, mechanical car. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (BG 18.61).

Lecture on SB 3.25.8 -- Bombay, November 8, 1974:

He was against Rāmacandra. Therefore he's asura. When he was in danger, when Rāmacandra was in his front to kill him, so he began to offer his prayer, Rāvaṇa, "Please come and protect me." He knew that "I cannot be saved from the arrow of Lord Rāmacandra." That he knew very well. Therefore he was praying to Lord Śiva, "Please come and save me." But Lord Śiva could not come and save. Pārvatī was requesting him, that "Your, such a great devotee, he's in danger, and he's praying to, for protection, and you are not going?" Lord Śiva said, "What shall I do? I cannot give him protection." Therefore the simple word is rākhe kṛṣṇa māre ke and māre kṛṣṇa rākhe ke. If Kṛṣṇa wants to kill somebody, nobody can give protection. It is not possible. And if Kṛṣṇa wants to protect somebody, nobody can kill him. This is the...

Lecture on SB 3.25.12 -- Bombay, November 12, 1974:

Janeṣv abhijñeṣu. Just like we are reading this literature, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. They are very abhijña. Kapiladeva... Devahūti is asking from Kapiladeva because He's abhijña, He knows very well how to liberate. So people who are not interested janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ... (SB 10.84.13). The animals are not int... Here, in this temple, the human beings are expected to come here, not the animals. Cats and dogs, they cannot come here. So anyone who does not take advantage of the instruction of abhijñaḥ, they are simply cats and dogs. They are not human beings.

Here we have got, in India especially, so nice literature. Vedic literature. Essence of Vedic literature-Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam (SB 1.1.3). It is recommended that nigama means Vedas. Nigama is compared with a tree. Nigama-kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru means desire tree. From the Vedas you can take all kinds of education, knowledge.

Lecture on SB 3.25.20 -- Bombay, November 20, 1974:

Nitāi: "Every learned man knows very well that attachment for the material is the greatest entanglement of the spirit soul. But that same attachment, when applied to the self-realized devotees, opens the door of liberation."

Prabhupāda:

prasaṅgam ajaraṁ pāśam
ātmanaḥ kavayo viduḥ
sa eva sādhuṣu kṛto
mokṣa-dvāram apāvṛtam
(SB 3.25.20)

This is the definition of our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Consciousness is there. Living being means there must be consciousness. The consciousness... (sound of baby in background) (pause)

Lecture on SB 3.26.34 -- Bombay, January 11, 1975:

And if you try to become intelligent, some tricks, material trick, to get some money or cheat others, that is not very good intelligence. These cats and dogs that... They have also such intelligence. How to steal food from the room, the cat knows very well. So that is not intelligence. That intelligence can be found, even birds, beasts, everywhere. Real intelligence is how to regain your Kṛṣṇa consciousness and be promoted to the stage of bhāva, and at the time of death maintain that bhāva, and then your life is successful. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9).

Lecture on SB 6.1.9 -- Los Angeles, June 22, 1975:

That is first-class bhakti, ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlana, just to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Just like Arjuna. He was not willing to fight or to kill the other party. That is very good. He is a Vaiṣṇava. Naturally he does not like to fight or pick up quarrel with others or do some harm to others. Vaiṣṇava is para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. He knows very well that "If something harmful is done to me, I am unhappy, so why should I commit the same thing to others?" So But in spite of his conviction that he should not fight, still, when Kṛṣṇa insisted up to the point that "Your this mercy upon them will not act because it is already My plan that they will have to die. So you have become very kind, but you cannot surpass My plan. That is not possible. I have come here..." Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8).

Lecture on SB 6.1.62 -- Vrndavana, August 29, 1975:

We must work very hard." But that is not the fact. The real fact is that "We want to enjoy sex." So far hunger is concerned, you can control, but sex desire, it is very difficult to control.

So this material world means that maithunādi. Maithuna means sex intercourse. That is the beginning of material life. You know very well how strong is sex desire in the Western countries. Even old man, going to die, he has also. Although he cannot enjoy sex, still, he is trying his best by medicine, by other means, by intoxication, by stimulant. So that is the only happiness of this material world.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- San Francisco, March 15, 1968:

Generally, people think that "When we shall become old, we shall take care of becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious or God conscious or go to the church or temple. At present, let us play and enjoy life." So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "No." Kaumāra ācaret prājñā. Prājñā means intelligent. Intelligent means who does not waste time. Time is very valuable. You are American people. You know very well how to utilize time. But time is very valuable is also accepted in Vedic civilization. There is a very nice verse in Cāṇakya śloka. You just see how much time was considered as valuable. By this verse, you will know. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says Cāṇakya Paṇḍita was a great politician. He was sometimes prime minister of the emperor of India. So he says, āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi na labhya svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ. He says that "A moment's time of your duration of life, moment..." Not to speak of hours and days, but moments. He was considering moment to moment. Just like today, 15th March, 1968, now it is half past seven or past seven, thirty-five.

Lecture on SB 7.9.3 -- Mayapur, February 10, 1976:

And for him He has appeared, so let him be engaged in pacifying the Lord." So Brahmā, the head of all the demigods presented there, he decided, prahlādaṁ preṣayām āsa. He pushed him forward: "My dear Prahlāda, my dear son, better you go forward and pacify." It is something like to push a little child in the cage of the lion. It is something like that. Nobody dared. So Prahlāda Mahārāja, he knew very well that "However ferocious He may be, I am not afraid. He is my Lord. I am not afraid." He was jolly, innocent, pure devotee. He had no fear. So he was sent: "My dear Prahlāda, you try."

So brahmā avasthitam antike. He was very near sitting, but he had no fear. Just on the lotus feet, near the lotus feet of the Lord, he was sitting. Others were contemplating. He was free, that "I am under the shelter of the Lord."

Lecture on SB 7.12.6 -- Bombay, April 17, 1976:

The tongue is dry and dictating, "Take a cigarette, take a cigarette," and immediately I begin to smoke. That means I am dictated by the tongue. Then tongue, then belly. The belly is filled up, and still, there is some nice food stuff—"All right, let me eat." Control, cannot control. And then genital. That, we know very well, we cannot control. This straight line: tongue, belly, and the genitals. Therefore one should control the tongue first. That is spiritual life, beginning, controlling the tongue. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). The controlling of the senses begins from the tongue. If you allow the tongue to eat anything in the restaurant or anywhere, then you cannot become the jitendriya. And if you can control the tongue—"My dear tongue, I shall not give you any food which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa prasādam"—then the tongue is controlled. And kṛṣṇa-prasādam means patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26).

Festival Lectures

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

So today is that auspicious day, Janmāṣṭamī, when Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared five thousand years ago in India, Mathurā. Those who are Indian ladies and gentlemen present, they know very well where is Mathurā. It is about ninety miles south of New Delhi. Mathurā is still existing and it is eternally existing. Kṛṣṇa appeared in Mathurā in His maternal uncle's house in a very precarious condition. That birthplace, Lord Kṛṣṇa's birthplace, is now maintained very nicely. One who goes to India, they see. So anyway, Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared on this planet five thousand years ago. Now Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). Divyam means "not ordinary." It should not be understood just like we take our birth. Kṛṣṇa does not take his birth like us.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation Lecture -- Hyderabad, August 22, 1976:

Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). If one is actually interested. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). So guru is required for one who is actually interested in the highest status of life. Those who are like cats and dogs, they do not require guru. A dog does not require. He knows very well how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sex life, how to defend. That does not require any guru. By nature all animals know it. So the human life has got special knowledge, special advancement of consciousness. He can understand. So if he is refused or if he is kept in darkness, as it is being done by the modern civilization... Everyone is being kept on the platform of eating, sleeping, sex and defending. That's all. This is going on in the name of humanity, nationality and so on. But the business is the same. The business is the same: eating, sleeping, mating and defending, as the cats and dogs are doing.

General Lectures

Lecture Engagement and Prasada Distribution -- Boston, April 26, 1969:

In this age, life, duration of life, is reduced, memory is reduced, man's compassion is also reduced. Similarly, there are so many things, they are reduced. Although we are thinking that we are advancing, but actually the most important things we are reduced. Take for example the duration of life. Every one of us knowing very well that as your father or forefather or grandfather lived for long duration of life, it is very difficult to find out a man who is over seventy years or eighty years. I have got experience. My grandmother lived for ninety-five years.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 21, 1972:

"Now, because Shah Jahan was living, sitting in the Agra Fort as a prisoner, and all the reactions of Aurangzeb's activities, killing of his other sons, usurping the empire, that was beating on his heart; therefore he was suffering. He is the hero."

So this is an example. The author of a book knows very well what is the purpose of that book. That is my statement. Similarly, this Vedānta-sūtra was compiled by Vyāsadeva, or Kṛṣṇa's incarnation, or Kṛṣṇa Himself. So He knows what is Vedānta-sūtra. So if you want to understand Vedānta-sūtra, then you must understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). Kṛṣṇa says also that by studying all the Vedic literature, one has to understand Kṛṣṇa. And He also confirms... And Vyāsadeva explains Vedānta-sūtra in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Because He knew that "Vedānta-sūtra, being authoritative version of Vedic literature, so many rascals will comment in different way.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement daily brings cash value without any business, without any labor. What do you think?

Viśāla: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Viśāla knows very well.

Śyāmasundara: So when we use the word "God," it has cash value?

Prabhupāda: Cash value. We are going to everyone, we are simply showing some book and taking (indistinct). You can say, somebody may say, you are giving books worth $200 and taking $1,100...

Śyāmasundara: I think this may be one reason why Kṛṣṇa consciousness is thriving in America, because this is a typically American idea, that everything must have a cash value or it is useless.

Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Hobbes:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Vena. So everything depends on the king's accepting the absolute instruction of God. So king, in Vedic civilization, the king was absolutely following the regulation given by God, and it was confirmed by saintly persons, sages. Then it was executed; not whimsically. There was advisory board of the monarchy always. They were not politician, diplomat, but they were all saintly person, knew very well the Vedas, and they used to guide the monarch. Therefore the monarch is absolute governing body. The ministers were helping, but the king was educated by God's direct instruction, as Kṛṣṇa said, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān. Vivasvān, the sun-god, there are tradition two kṣatriya family—one from the sun-god and one from the moon-god. Sūrya-vaṁśa and candra-vaṁśa. The kṣatriyas in India, they claim.

Page Title:Know very well (Lectures)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:09 of Oct, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=28, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:28