Literal (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"literal" |"literally"

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 11, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: We have to find out who is the original source, so that requires wisdom. So when one is perfectly wise after many, many births, cultured, he sees, "Ah, here is the original, Kṛṣṇa," vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19), that mahātmā, great soul, is very rare to be seen, who has surrendered. So our... We are giving the shortcut process: what one has to attain after many, many births, we are simply saying is surrender to Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That's all. This is the greatest boon or, what is called, greatest reward or contribution to the human society. And if actually one is wise, then he'll take our word that if one has to come to this point after many, many births, that Kṛṣṇa is everything, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19), to understand, why not accept it immediately?

Allen Ginsberg: Do you take rebirth in human form literally?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Allen Ginsberg: As a...

Prabhupāda: What is the difficulty?

Allen Ginsberg: I just don't remember having been born before.

Prabhupāda: You don't remember your childhood that does not mean you had no childhood. Do you remember when you were so small boy, what did you did?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 29, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The literal meaning of sūtra is a condensed statement, Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The literal meaning of sūtra...

Prabhupāda: Yes?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...is a condensed statement?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Conversation with Mr. Wadell -- July 10, 1973, London:

Mr. Wadell: I am taking you too literally. Let us forget about that point. It's not worthwhile.

Prabhupāda: No, no, because you say, "They are dying, God is not supplying," that is a mistaken idea. God is supplying. God is supplying. He is dying natural death. It is not that because there is want of supply, therefore he is dying. That is a mistaken idea. Death is not dependent on supply of food. There are so many other causes.

Mr. Wadell: Oh, yes, I agree about that, but you cannot...

Garden Conversation with Mahadeva's Mother and Jesuit Priest -- July 25, 1973, London:

Jesuit Priest: Don't you find it extremely difficult to get the literal meaning from the Sanskrit to the English?

Prabhupāda: No. You may, it may be difficult for you, but...

Jesuit Priest: No, no. I'm just thinking...

Prabhupāda: ...for one who knows Sanskrit, it is not difficult for him.

Jesuit Priest: When I did my studies, we had to do Greek and Hebrew and Latin and, naturally, reading the scriptures in English. But it helped enormously with a background of a little bit of Hebrew. Not very much. But certainly Greek and Latin. You get a much more comprehensive notion of what's in the scriptures.

Prabhupāda: Therefore we are teaching Sanskrit.

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Śyāmasundara: Should it be taken literally or allegorically?

Prabhupāda: No, literally, literally.

David Lawrence: Yeah, literally as a physical fact.

Prabhupāda: Oh yes, oh yes.

David Lawrence: Now, having said that then, if one goes on logically...

Prabhupāda: You'll find so many demons like Pūtanā even at the present moment.

David Lawrence: So one could leap from behind a tree, putting it tritely if you like.

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

David Lawrence: Yes. I mean is that to be taken again literally or is there, as you say, a figurative meaning there in terms of faith?

Prabhupāda: No, that is literally. Because gopīs were just dancing according to Kṛṣṇa's desire. They are so devotees that whatever Kṛṣṇa desires, they are prepared to do.

David Lawrence: See, without being too irreverent, it seems a strange thing to get young ladies to undress in front of you.

Prabhupāda: Therefore I say...

David Lawrence: I'm probably misunderstanding it you see.

Room Conversation with Indian Ambassador -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Ambassador: No, I mean he just, literally, it's not bhakti at all. Yes, it is...

Prabhupāda: Neither Vivekananda nor any swami. That is the regrettable fact. They, actually... Even Dr. Radhakrishnan, he could not present Bhagavad-gītā as it is. You see? He's impersonalist, and he presented in a different way, and now Professor, Dr. Pirindher...?

Haṁsadūta: Philinder.

Śrutakīrti: Dillinger.

Prabhupāda: He said, he came to see me that "Now we have rejected Dr. Radhakrishnan."

Interviews with Macmillan and various English Reporters -- September 12, 1973, London:

Prof. Gombrich: Oh, I see. So it's literally for English-speaking devotees.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not English-speaking. They are Bengalis, the students. But they want to learn English. Therefore we are teaching English.

Indian Man: Is this a government-recognized college now?

Prabhupāda: No. Government recognition means we have to abide by the orders of government. We cannot teach Bhagavad-gītā only or Bhāgavata. But our aim is to teach... We have got another school in Dallas for small children. There we are Sanskrit, teaching Sanskrit and English. Yes.

Morning Walk -- December 8, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: But they say, "We cannot literally see that embodied in any one person."

Prabhupāda: No, you can see, but you have no eyes to see. Suppose there are so many richest person. We have not seen, but they must be admitted. Just like in your country, Rockefeller. So it does not mean—one has not heard about Rockefeller—therefore it does not exist.

Karandhara: But Rockefeller is constantly having to prove and assert his power.

Prabhupāda: No, prove to you, prove to me, but there are many who does not know. So that does not mean the Rockefeller is not existing. Your limited sense cannot approach. Therefore you cannot say that the thing is not existing. That is another rascaldom.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 18, 1974, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: "...morning," what is the meaning?

Sudāmā: Well, it's just actually become an expression of greeting. Literally, of course, it means that "I am pleased to see you, happy to meet you. Good morning."

Prabhupāda: Anyone else?

Satsvarūpa: In English when we say, "Goodbye," that means "God be with you." Some God consciousness.

Pradyumna: They say, "Good morning. Good morning to you."

Bali-mardana: Like one pig grunting at another pig.

Morning Walk -- January 22, 1974, Hawaii:

Bali Mardana: What they say, they say that everything has, it has a hidden meaning. So the literal meaning is not true literally; it has a hidden meaning which is true.

Prabhupāda: That's all right, but nobody has disclosed that hidden meaning.

Nitāi: Everyone discloses a different hidden meaning.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) Then what is the real hidden meaning?

Room Conversation with devotees about Twelfth Canto Kali-yuga, and Conversation with Guest -- June 15, 1974, Paris:

French Woman: But we are not under historical literally. We try to speak of mystical experience. This is exactly the subject of, that we did. We cannot discuss history because everybody has his own documentation.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So I was very much pleased because I was very sorry that Jesus Christ was crucified. But when I heard this historical discovery, I was very satisfied. But one thing is that... Here, at least, in London, I have seen. There are so many churches vacant. (French)

Room Conversation with German Women Philosophers -- June 17, 1974, Germany:

Haṁsadūta: Literally.

Prabhupāda: Hm? I do not follow.

Haṁsadūta: That which has been written down about his activities or his speaking cannot be accepted literally because who knows.

Prabhupāda: Then why do you quote? (German) (break)

Pṛthu: So she makes a difference what is true and what is not true.

Prabhupāda: But if you, if you cannot follow Bible literally, then where is the truth? (German) (break) ...new truth.

Room Conversation with German Women Philosophers -- June 17, 1974, Germany:

Pṛthu: She again says that one cannot accept the portions of the Bible where there are statements...

Prabhupāda: Now, once she said that those things cannot be taken now literally.

Pṛthu: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: Then what is the use of taking Bible? (German) (break)

Pṛthu: ...that one always has to take the truth from the untruth, also in Bible.

Prabhupāda: This is nonsense. From untruth, how there can be truth?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 15, 1975, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: What is the meaning of Sufism, literal meaning?

Guest: Well, Sufism in a sense is ah, what bhaktism is in the Hindu context.

Prabhupāda: Bhakti means to offer service to God. Does it mean?

Guest: Oh, absolutely!

Prabhupāda: Then if God is to be served, then He must be a person, otherwise where is the question of serving?

Room Conversation with Carol Cameron -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: That's the problem. That's why there are so many hundreds of branches of Christianity, literally hundreds. So many divisions of Christianity. Some people accept this, some people accept this.

Prabhupāda: Therefore we should advocate that Bhagavad-gītā is not like that. It is coming in the same form as it was taught to Arjuna. If you challenge that "How you know that it has not been changed?" the ācāryas are there. The ācāryas are there, and they are accepting. Therefore it is correct. We have to follow the ācāryas. So when we see the ācāryas have accepted, then we accept. All the ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, before that other ācāryas also, they accept.

Room Conversation -- June 26, 1975, Los Angeles:

Devotee (1): No. We want to... We want to know if the story has an allegorical meaning rather than a literal translation, or that King Ugrasena who was a man who lived five thousand years ago and had four billion bodyguards, or whether the stories within the Bhāgavatam, apart from some of them being actual, are allegorical stories. Such as the story of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma chopping off the the eighty-eight...

Prabhupāda: All right. You can give up that portion. You can take other portion.

Devotee (2): We don't mean to give it up.

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

Prabhupāda: Therefore he is a rascal. He does not know how to defend him.

Sandy Nixon: Can the Vedas be taken symbolically as well as literally?

Prabhupāda: As it is. We are presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, not symbolically.

Sandy Nixon: Are you attempting to revive... I feel like asking this question two different ways. First I'll ask it one way which is, in a sense, incorrect. Maybe I'll just ask it this way and just get your answer. Are you attempting to revive in the West the awareness... Are you attempting to revive the ancient Indian caste system in the West?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 10, 1976, Mayapura:

Hari-śauri: A figure of speech. Not meant to be literal.

Prabhupāda: Everything is theory. No practical. (break) ...ten direction. Eight direction, corner, and northeast, east-west, and up and down. So everywhere He is present. So Kṛṣṇa has got ten hands. So my father used to say, "When Kṛṣṇa takes your money or possession in ten hands, how you can protect it with two hands? And when He give you in ten hands, how much you can take in two hands?" (laughs) So in my case it has become practical. Everything He has taken in ten hands, and now He is giving in ten hands. (laughter) I am practically experiencing.

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Mr. Dixon: If we produced all of the foods that we could produce and we literally gave them away to other countries that need them, we'd produce a tremendous disincentive in those countries for their own production. I don't think it's as easy, the world...

Prabhupāda: Production.... You take the total land as God's property, and all the population, they are sons of God. Then whole problem solved. Everything solved. If economic problem is solved, then social, political, religious, philosophical, everything is solved.

Morning Walk -- May 27, 1976, Honolulu:

Devotee (2): Actually, at the end of his life, he (indistinct) some disease, and he went literally crazy.

Prabhupāda: Disease already there. Old age is already there. That means God is there. They're being punished, but they are so shameless they'll not accept the truth. Same thing. The (indistinct), they're being punished every moment, every step, "No, God is not there." All right. Wait a few years more, God will show either you are dead or He's dead. (laughing)

Interview with Professors O'Connell, Motilal and Shivaram -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:

Indian man: It must be understood literally, you say.

Prabhupāda: Yes, why not? Suppose you have got some philosophy. So you can explain your philosophy differently. Why should you take Bhagavad-gītā and explain your philosophy? Is it honesty?

Indian man: All the ācāryas have been doing it.

Prabhupāda: No ācāryas are doing it. All lower-class men. No ācāryas do it. Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka, these are ācāryas. Śaṅkarācārya, Caitanya, they never did it. Outsiders, who did not care for the authority of the ācārya, they did it. Otherwise, we are the ācārya sampradāya.

Room Conversation -- June 29, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Hari-śauri: When it starts to fall apart, that's when they think it's the best. I think I mentioned before, in England, the gentry, the British gentry, when they used to go hunting, shooting pheasants and partridges, afterwards they would get the dead birds and hang them in a shed outside, and then after some days, when all the skin and feathers were literally falling off, that's when they would eat it. That's when it was considered rich.

Prabhupāda: There are so many kadarya things. In Burma, they have got a system, Burmese family. In the door, there is a pot, a big pot. So whatever animal dies, put it in there and cover it. So in this way, after some years, they're decomposed, and it becomes liquid, and then it is so decomposed that if you open it, within three miles they smell. So that is mature.

Room Conversation -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Rūpānuga: Gish(?) preaches that? Five thousand years ago, literally? Do we want to make this comparison, Śrīla Prabhupāda, or not?

Prabhupāda: Why you are going to fight with them?

Rūpānuga: No, no. We don't fight. We're just saying that they are using all the good arguments already, but they are making that one mistake.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Fundamental mistake, there. So if we bring up this, scientist are going to believe here, more likely to believe, because this is (indistinct) in the time range that they are talking about.

Room Conversation -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Dr. Sharma: And at the Belior Math in Belior Math Daksinesvara in Calcutta. But I find that by really chanting... I was crying to God, literally, at night, that "Find me the path again," and then I found your movement. And I find it, yes, it does make a difference. I was also amazed that evening when the first two days ago I was thinking I will ask you five ślokas of Gītā to give me. Out of that, you discussed four. And I was meditating on Hardwar, where I was born. All the time your face was appearing behind Ganges, and it was very strange phenomena. I do not know when I will be fortunate enough to have your darśana again, but in the meantime, I'm slowly... I feel that this movement you have done supernatural thing. Now, somehow...

Prabhupāda: That's a great certificate, because it is coming from you.

Morning Walk -- July 9, 1976, Washington D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the instruction. Tat te 'nukampām (SB 10.14.8). "It is Your mercy, my Lord, that I would have suffered a hundred times more than this, You are giving me little suffering." That is devotee's view. That "I am so sinful, I would have suffered hundred times more than what I am suffering. But You are so kind that You are giving me little suffering and adjusting that (indistinct)." (break) ...thinks like that, for him, back to home back to Godhead is guaranteed. That is the bhagavata-dharma. Muktipadeśa dayābhāk. One who lives like that, doesn't care for suffering, goes on with his duty. That person is sure to go back to home, back to Godhead. Just like a son is sure to inherit the father's property. Dayābhāk, this word is used. Muktipadeśa dayābhāk. Literally, heritage. Ha? What is called?

Morning Walk -- July 19, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Carbon dioxide. CO2. You should have seen it. It was literally completely filled. We put on a play. First we did a big kīrtana, after you left, very big, and many, at least a thousand to two thousand people were dancing. Then there was a play, and the people crowded to see that play of Kali, Sudāmā. Oh, they were amazed to see. Sudāmā was moving around, dancing, watching. They like that very much.

Prabhupāda: Sudāmā plays nice.

Morning Walk -- July 19, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's expert. Especially at that part, Kali and Sin. (laughter) And then after that I looked out at the crowd and literally I could not see any open space in the park. Really, I was shocked. Even where there was a fountain, the whole fountain was filled with people; even where there was water, they were standing in the water, there were so many people. It was hot, so they were standing. And the beautiful thing is because there was a fountain, the air was blowing the water all the way to the stage.

Prabhupāda: It is very nice.

Morning Walk -- July 20, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: That is the life.(?) You may be very stout and strong. The death may take from so many causes. It does not depend on your healthy body.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: When you say that we are kicked out, is it literally that we are kicked out of this body?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Even if one is very attached.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Letter to Sai Baba -- September 13, 1976, Vrndavana:

Pradyumna: The incarnationness or quality of being an incarnation, but that is not... The quality of being an incarnation is not... The most literal is incarnationness.

Prabhupāda: Therefore say that. Lord Kṛṣṇa's incarnationness is fully described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Similarly, Lord Rāmacandra's incarnationness or Lord Buddha's incarnationness, Lord Caitanya's incarnationness, we have got full information in the Vedic literatures.

Pradyumna: Lord Rāma's incarnationness, Lord Buddha's incarnationness...

Prabhupāda: Lord Caitanya.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 7, 1976, Hyderabad:

Devotee (4): Hampi. We were in Hampi, Karnataka State, and big rocks like this were there and the people over the years constructed literally hundreds of small temples, some big. Some they cut directly into the rocks and then put in the mūrti there.

Mahāṁśa: There is one Nṛsiṁha temple over here which is very unusual. It is inside of... There is a big rock, and it is right inside the rock and if someone wants to have darśana, he has to crawl inside to see it. The rock goes like this and he has to actually crawl in to see the Deity. Seems to be very, very old. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...on our?

Room Conversation -- December 20, 1976, Bombay:

Guest: Literal, literally.

Prabhupāda: Literally, yes. The thing is the interpretation is required when you cannot understand. If, if I say, "This is a stick," everyone knows it is a stick. So I say, "Here is a stick." So if you say, "No, I do not accept it is stick." So what is that interpretation? Everyone knows it is stick. Similarly, Kurukṣetra means that the place, still existing. And in the Vedic śāstra it is ordered, kurukṣetre dharma yajayet. You go... From time immemorial it is a place of pilgrimage. Even Kṛṣṇa, during solar eclipse, Kṛṣṇa with His family, He came there, Jagannātha.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, it is literally, that yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī. He, spiritualist person, he knows, that "What is the use of the sense gratification? The sense gratification is there in the cats and dogs. Why I am wasting in this way?" That is awakened. What is the difference? A man is having sex life in a very nice apartment, very decorated and nice cot. He is enjoying sex life, that "I am advanced civili..." And the dog is enjoying sex life on the street in presence of everyone. But the enjoyment of sex life is the same. There is no difference either for the dog or the man. So the spiritualistic man, he says that "Why shall I waste my time in sex enjoyment? This is enjoyed by the dogs and cats. I have got this human form of life for spiritual advancement." So saṁyamī: "Stop this nonsense.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. He says, "Like any other revealed scripture, the Bible's teachings are absolute, but are they to be understood literally or symbolically, and are they applicable for all men?"

Prabhupāda: Literally, not symbolically.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "What is the actual meaning of the sacrifice of the cross, Jesus dying on the cross?"

Second Meeting with Mr. Dwivedi -- April 24, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Forest breeze is very healthy. So let us arrange.

Mr. Dwivedi: This is literally correct. If from the boundary of our school I take a gofen(?) and throw a stone, it will go to the forest next side.

Prabhupāda: So make arrangement.

Mr. Dwivedi: And very near about there are beautiful places. Mahārāja will be able to enjoy them only from below, but we have a Kedara Sakti, a beautiful cave temple.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Room Conversation Mayapura attack -- July 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "You told us about three years ago when we first reported some of our success to you that this was only a beginning. Little did we know at that time how much truth was in this declaration. Now we are literally seeing your fame being spread all over the three worlds."

Prabhupāda: Slow.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhakti-caru: (Bengali) Prabhupāda said, "I kick them on their face." "I literally kick them on their face." (Bengali)

Prabhupāda: They showed film?

Upendra: Today I don't know.

Prabhupāda: Why?

Upendra: Let me look at today's program. Yes. At 8:30, just now, films. And then tomorrow also at 8:30, films and slides. (break) Whatever you say, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is being recorded, and then Tamāla Kṛṣṇa and Hari-śauri, they're all busy copying down, rewriting into their diaries, 'cause your words are so nectarine.

Room Conversation With Svarupa Damodara -- October 15, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhāgavata: Everyone is eagerly awaiting the new issues of your books all over the world. What to speak of the devotees, the scholars, the professors, the librarians, and just the general reading public who are patronizing your books, literally millions of people all over the world are eagerly awaiting new issues of your volumes. When the news gets out that you are again translating and that the new volumes of Tenth Canto will be available, everyone will be in ecstasy.

Prabhupāda: I have got some letters from New Vrindaban appealing for the books.