Luster (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"luster" |" lusterless" |" lusters" |" lustre" |" lustrous"

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

No woman wants that "I shall look not beautiful and my flesh should be flabby and no more luster.

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

Prabhupāda: Nature will force you that after forty years of age you must become old, and you must not remain so beautiful. This is forced. But no one wants that. No woman wants that "I shall look not beautiful and my flesh should be flabby and no more luster. I don't want all these things." Why it is forced?

Carol: Suffering and pain leads people to God, doesn't it?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Amogha: She says doesn't the suffering and pain lead people towards God?

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the law, but we are so dull-headed that we do not enquire. That is my statement, that you should enquire "Who is forcing these things?" Then there is enquiry of God. First of all we must be... Just like a dog. He cannot understand. He's under chain. He's leading a life most dependent. And he is jolly. He is jumping here and there. That is dog's life. If the master kills him, he cannot do anything. But he is very jolly. He is jumping. That is dog's life. But not human life. Human life is that I am dependent in every step, still I am declaring independent. What is this nonsense? This enquiry should be there. He is dependent in every step, exactly like the cats and dogs, but he is claiming, "I am independent."

You can write this. Lāvaṇyam means luster, and keśa-dhāraṇam means keeping hair.

Press Conference -- October 2, 1975, Mauritius:

Brahmānanda: The shaving of the head is a sign of surrender to the spiritual master, and we leave the śikhā...

Prabhupāda: And keep the head light instead of unnecessarily burdened. In the Kali-yuga there is a symptom. It is stated in the... Lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam: "In the Kali-yuga people will think by keeping long hairs he has become beautiful." This is the mentality of this age. Lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam. You can write this. Lāvaṇyam means luster, and keśa-dhāraṇam means keeping hair.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

The sun-god is within the sun globe. His bodily luster is coming.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is contradictory. Unless you have got a personality, you cannot speak, you cannot think. So how it is nirākāra? That is my first point. Kṛṣṇa says, "aham." He is person. We worship Kṛṣṇa as person. He says, aham ādir hi devānām [Bg 10.2]. That "aham," He's person. We are accepting Kṛṣṇa as person because he says aham ādir hi devānām.

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo

mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate

iti matvā bhajante māṁ

budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ

[Bg. 10.8]

He's person. Kṛṣṇa never said that "I am nirākāra." Where He has said? Can you quote any verse? When He says nirākāra, He says like this, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam [Bg. 9.4]. Mayā, by Me. Tatam idaṁ sarvam, everywhere, by My energy. Just like the sun-god. The sun-god is within the sun globe. His bodily luster is coming. The sun-god can say, "The sunshine is my bodily exposition." That is reasonable. Just like a big light, it has got exposition. Similarly... And that is confirmed in the śāstra.