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Material condition (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"material condition" |"material conditional" |"material conditioned" |"material conditioning" |"material conditions" |"materially conditioned"

Correspondence

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Mr. Taber -- New York 9 June, 1967:

A spirit soul is not impersonal, and because he is a person he has the latent desire for sense gratification; but in the material condition he does not know how to enjoy; therefore one should purify the senses being free of all material designation. In conditioned stage we are designated souls like "American," "Indian," "dog," "demigod," etc., but in pure consciousness or Krishna Consciousness, we are part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman. By Brahman realization, as you may have read in Bhagavad-gita: brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati (BG 18.54). So in our pure stage when we understand that we are eternal servants of Krishna there is no more distress. Therefore the devotee prays: "My Lord, when shall I be freed from all material desires and be completely engaged in your transcendental loving service. At the present moment I am forlorn and nobody is my master. When shall I have You as my Supreme Master; then shall I joyfully wander over the whole universe knowing that You are my master." Please therefore try to be in Krishna Consciousness and there will be no distress. Gradually as you realize this, you will experience it also; but the process is the same, both at the beginning and at the end.

Letter to Gurudasa -- Vrindaban 24 August, 1967:

Please accept by blessings. I am so much pleased to receive your letter of 8/16/67, and it has given me much encouragement for your being advanced in K.C. Sincere souls who are engaged in the service of Lord Krishna are benedicted by the Lord by revelation. Sri Krishna, His Name, Form, Entourage, Paraphernalia and Pastimes are not material; they are purely spiritual. Therefore, in the beginning they are not appreciated by our materially conditioned senses, but as we go on chanting Hare Krishna with service mood and attitude, the Name, Qualities, etc., become revealed as Reality. For the Unbeliever Krishna and His Name etc are fictitious, but those who are advanced in K.C. realize that K.C. is pure and eternal.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Robert Pekala -- Los Angeles 13 February, 1968:

To prosecute Krishna Consciousness there is no limitation, no material impediment can stop progress of Krishna Consciousness. That is the symtom of spiritual life. Spiritual life doesn't depend on material conditions. We have got many instances from the history of devotee's life as Prahlada Maharaja. He was a small school boy, his father and teachers were all against God Consciousness. Still he flourished and converted all his class fellows to be Krishna Conscious in spite of severe trials experimented on his personal body. So it is only the question of understanding the process how to execute Krishna Consciousness. If you can therefore spare some time to live with me, it will be better. You appear to be a very intelligent boy and I hope you will learn the art quickly.

Letter to Gargamuni -- Montreal 7 June, 1968:

It is so kind of you that you are interested in publication of Srimad-Bhagavatam for the good of the entire human society. May Krishna bless you for your this magnanimous philanthropy for the human society. There are many philanthropists, humanitarianists, but the best philanthropist is he who can award the people in general Krishna Consciousness. Actually the sufferings of the whole world or the entire universe in material condition, is due to lack of Krishna Consciousness. Therefore, the best service to our brother is to awaken Krishna Consciousness. Your judgment that because you think that you cannot take part in the translation work, therefore, you have decided to contribute for its publication. This dictation from within your heart from Krishna is quite in order. For serving the Lord, we require to sacrifice our life, our wealth, our intelligence, and our words. One can serve the Lord with these four possessions; if not, with three, if not, then with two or even one, and that is sufficient to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Letter to Pope Paul VI -- Montreal 3 August, 1968:

My mission is in the line of Lord Caitanya, Who is Personified Love of Godhead, and Who advented Himself 482 years ago in India, and preached God consciousness all over the country. His mission is to revive God consciousness all over the world, on the basis of Srimad-Bhagavatam (Science of God). The principle of Srimad-Bhagavatam is that any religious faith which helps a man to develop Love of God, without any motive, and without being hampered by any material condition, is transcendental religion. And the best process or the easiest process, in this age especially, is to chant the Holy name of God. From this definition of religion as we find in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, the criterion test of religion is how it helps people to develop his dormant Love of God, which is not artificially invoked, but it is aroused from within by bona fide association of devotees and hearing about God.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Janardana -- Los Angeles 2 March, 1969:

So our Krishna Consciousness movement does not belong to any such cheating process. They are cheating processes in the sense that the basic principle is for economic development, and if it is simply for solving the problem of bread, it is not true religion as described by Srimad-Bhagavatam. Even if the living entity is born with a silver spoon in his mouth he will not be happy so such plans for economic development are simply cheating processes. Therefore, the great rishis in the forest Naimisaranya inquired of the great sage, Suta Goswami, "How can the living entities actually be happy?" Srimad-Bhagavatam answers this question that the top-most super-excellent religious principle is that which following, the protagonist becomes a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without any motive and without being checked by any material impediments. That will make a person completely satisfied, and that is our process. We are educated people how they can develop their dormant love of the Supreme Lord without being impaired by any material condition.

Letter to Swami Bhaktivedanta -- Hawaii 14 March, 1969:

There are two kinds of natures, the spiritual nature and the material nature. Material nature is temporary and spiritual nature is permanent; Material nature is simply temporary manifestation within the jurisdiction of spiritual nature. The living entities somehow or other being entrapped by material nature are meeting all kinds of material conditions. His birth, death, old age, and diseases are due to his contact with this material nature. The living entity is evolving different kinds of material body numbering 8,400,000 different forms. The human form is a great opportunity for the living entity to understand God, the living entity, time, nature, and different activities. The material activities are temporary, therefore if the living entities are trained to transform his activities from material to spiritual he regains his original spiritual nature.

Letter to Kulasekhara (Colin Jury), Digvijaya (Dick Withey), Tirthapada (Tim Austin) -- Los Angeles 31 July, 1969:
This initiation ceremony is a Vedic principle to lead a conditioned soul to the higher level of transcendental life. In the Caitanya Caritamrta you will find the instruction as we have given it in our book, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, that after many, many births through approximately 8,400,000 species of life, a living entity gets this human form of life, which is a chance to get freedom from the material condition. When a child is born it is the responsibility of the state, of the father, of the mother, of the relatives, and of the teachers just to raise the child to the standard of Krishna Consciousness so that the child may not have any more to repeat the process of birth and death, but being fully situated in Krishna Consciousness he may be transferred to the spiritual world and situated in one of the Vaikuntha planets. The most important of the Vaikuntha planets is called Krishna Loka, or Goloka Vrindaban.
Letter to Robert Hendry -- Los Angeles 3 August, 1969:

When the consciousness comes to the point of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then life becomes perfect in its original condition. Therefore, in a sense this Krishna Consciousness Movement is declaring war against Candika, who has kept the living entities under her spell. Candika's first spell is to make us identify ourselves with these material conditions. Just like a living entity, because he is born and brought up in American condition, he thinks himself as American, similarly, others are thinking they are Indians, or Canadians, or French and so on. Actually, one is none of these material designations, but he is pure Krishna Consciousness, now covered by the spell of Candika's energy, or the material energy.

Letter to Kapiladev -- Tittenhurst 24 October, 1969:

n the higher sense the Vaisnavas are meant for being members of the family of Krishna to serve as friend, to serve as parent or to serve as lover. So for such elevated devotees sannyasa is superfluous. But still, Lord Caitanya took sannyasa just to prove it factually that so far as the material conditions are concerned, they must be given up. Without knowing this fact some so-called Vaisnavas have turned to be sahajiya. This means one who takes everything as very easy. All the acaryas, beginning from Lord Buddha, Sankaracarya, Ramanuja, etc., all of them renounced this world. So renunciation is required, but when one makes further progress after renunciation towards spiritual life and enters into the Pastimes of Krishna, then things become perfect. The summary is that sannyasa is renunciation, which is imperative for all. Nityananda's breaking the sannyasi rod of Caitanya Mahaprabhu was with the purpose to show that Lord Caitanya is transcendental to all material conditions (CC Madhya 1.97).

Letter to Cidananda -- London 15 December, 1969:

Sankirtana and distributing BTG and our other literatures is the fieldwork of this movement. Temple worship is secondary. People are invited to come to the temple to see the behavior of the devotees specifically in the matter of purification. There are two kinds of purification methods, external and internal. In our Krishna Consciousness Movement, Deity worship helps to keep us externally purified and Sankirtana helps to keep us internally purified. So as far as possible we shall execute both of these processes simultaneously. And by your exemplary character, the general mass of people will be benefited. Our hearts in material condition are filled with all dirty things, and this Krishna Consciousness Movement is the cleansing process.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Professor J. F. Staal -- Los Angeles 30 January, 1970:

The goal of Vedantic study, therefore, is to know the Supreme Lord Krishna. This point is stressed in Bhagavad-gita chapter 8, verse 13, where it is stated that by the mystic yoga process, ultimately vibrating the sacred syllable Om, one attains to His Supreme Spiritual Planet. In the Vedanta Sutras, which you have certainly read, the fourth chapter, fourth Adhikaran twenty-second Sutra states it positively; "Anavritti sabat . . ."—By sound vibration one becomes liberated. By devotional service, by understanding well what is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, anyone who goes to His Abode never comes back again to this material condition. How is it possible? The answer is, simply by chanting His name constantly.

Letter to Anil Grover -- Los Angeles 5 February, 1970:

People must understand intelligently that they are transmigrating from one body to another at every moment. The body is dying at every moment, and the soul is transmigrating to another body at every moment—this is medical fact. The blood corpuscles are changing at every moment and new corpuscles are taking their place. The old order changes, yielding place to the new. This is going on continually. In this way, the soul is transmigrating from baby body to child body, from child body to boy body, from boy body to youth body. So, at the end, when the material of the body does not act very nicely, the soul has to take another material condition of body, giving up the present one.

Letter to Citsukhananda -- Los Angeles 28 April, 1970:

Regarding your second question, in reference to Isopanisad mantra 15, should a devotee ask the Lord to reveal Himself the answer is yes. Unless the Lord reveals Himself, the devotee cannot see Him, He reserves the right of being exposed or not being exposed. The yoga maya curtain is always covering the Lord, and in the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says, "I am not visible to everyone." Even in the material world, a man in the position of Presidentship is not visible to everyone. So one has to qualify himself by devotional service, then God will reveal Himself. So this Isopanisad mantra is an appeal by the devotee to move the veil of yoga maya or the glaring effulgence of Brahma so that the devotee can see Him face to face. The idea is one has to transcend the material conditions as well as the Brahma effulgence, then one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here the word "face" means the Absolute Truth is a Person. That is the most important point, that God is ultimately a Person.

Letter to Sri Govinda (Bob Lindberg) -- Los Angeles 23 May, 1970:

It is very good that you are presently engaged in assisting Bhagavan das by taking care of the treasury and distributing incense, you may continue to expand this engagement and at the same time learn thoroughly our Krsna Consciousness philosophy and how to apply it practically. You can take all help from Bhagavan das in these matters, he is a very qualified devotee.

Therefore do not waste even a moment of this rare opportunity of human form of life. Chant Hare Krsna, be always finding out some engagement in the service of the Lord, and be happy, and by the grace of Krsna you will be freed from all contaminations of this material condition and become fit for realizing the highest perfection of life, Krsna Consciousness.

Letter to Jagadisa -- Los Angeles 9 July, 1970:

You have written that your temple is like an oasis in a desert. Yes, it is a fact that our temples are providing shelter from the burning forest fires of material existence. It does not matter poor quarter or richer quarter, our temples are nothing to do with any material situation. They are situated in the Spiritual sky and as such they are the only alternative offering relief from the miseries of all kinds of material conditions of life. So encourage people to come and spend time with us in the temple and become purified from all contaminations and anxieties. Everyone is suffering from thirst for spiritual life or Krsna consciousness and it is the temple which can offer them Krsna Consciousness to satisfy their thirsting.

Letter to Damodara -- Bombay, India 29 November, 1970:

I am very much happy that you have added worship of Srimati Tulasi devi to your Temple activities. That is most auspicious. However, you should not try to speculate on the "level of consciousness" of the pure devotee of the Lord. In the material condition of life the consciousness of the living entity is covered over in varying degrees by the material energy in the form of sensuous body and subtle mind. But the consciousness of the pure devotee is not limited by the influence of maya and so it is never to be speculated in that way.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Gaura Hari -- Calcutta 29 May, 1971:

Person means not a dead stone. Person means all living entities. We cannot understand in our present material condition. An example is a stone in the spiritual world; if I ask it to move, it will move automatically. In the material world it will not. Universal form is a person also, and from that universal form so many things are appearing.

Letter to Atreya Rsi -- London 20 August, 1971:

Our constitutional position is to render service to somebody else. Everyone in this material world is rendering service to somebody else. Sometimes merchantile firms advertise "service is our business." So that is the constitutional position of every living entity but in the material condition of life they have forgotten where to render service or they do not know where this service attitude can be fulfilled properly. As such in Krishna Consciousness a person becomes perfect because he renders service to the right person, Krishna and thus he is satisfied fully.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Bhargava -- Los Angeles 13 June, 1972:

So I am requesting all of my students to read my books very seriously every day without fail. In this way, if your mind becomes absorbed at least one or two hours daily in the transcendental subject matter of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita, and other books then very easily you will make your advancement in Krishna Consciousness. It is not a matter of changing our engagement, adjusting this or that material condition, in order to find our real happiness. Krishna Consciousness is not like that. It is able to be performed under any variety of material conditions or with any type of engagement. Therefore if your duty as a photographer is very much helpful to our propanganda work and for improving our BTG then there is very much need for your remaining in that occupation and doing it to your best capacity.

Letter to Kirtanananda -- San Francisco 7 October, 1972:

Actually there is no problem, even in the material condition of life. Krsna has provided everything sufficiently and there is no question of scarcity or poverty. Only the demons and blind leaders are misguiding the whole population in the name of politicians, leaders, swamis, yogis, philanthropists, and making the whole world entangled more and more in problems. Our proposition is preaching the gospel of Krsna and request everyone to accept the truth that Krsna is the Supreme Master and everyone should surrender unto Him. Then there is no problem.

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Vrindaban 5 November, 1972:

Advancement in Krishna Consciousness is not the result of material conditions. I shall not expect to find some perfect circumstances of occupational duty which will cause me to be automatically Krishna conscious, no. So why shall I think that by changing this, going here or there, doing something else—why shall I expect that I will become happy by adjusting material conditions in this way? They have not understood. Real attitude of devotional service is, whether I am here or there, whether I am doing this or that, it doesn't matter, just give me little prasada, little service, or if you make me big leader, that's all right—that is devotee, satisfied to serve Krishna in any circumstances of life. So try to impress this fact, we should kill this restless spirit. Enthusiasm and patience, these things required.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Caturbhuja -- Los Angeles 9 May, 1973:

In answer to your several questions, first; what is meant by conditioned sould? Conditioned soul means one who has accepted something illusion as reality. Conditioned means that due to imperfect desires the spirit soul becomes dependent on material conditions for his satisfaction.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Malati -- Los Angeles 7 January, 1974:

You write that things are in a crises in England, with oil shortage and IRA bombing. Therefore, we have to take shelter of Krsna. If Krsna wants to kill us that is not wrong, if it is His desire. Our business should just to be to follow the regulative schedule, deity worship, distributing prasadam, chanting, book distribution and never mind the material danger. Krsna Consciousness means to be on the platform of deathlessness. Every sloka in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam is informing us of this. If you read these books carefully you will understand this platform of deathlessness as opposed to the material condition in which no one wants to die but no one can check death.

Letter to Rupanuga:

My only idea was to point out to the public that unless you have purified leaders there is no possibility of advancement even in the material condition. I had no idea to spend money and energy of our society in a way which is not our real spiritual life. As for the Harmonist articles, they are not bad, but the same thing could be presented in our Back to Godhead.

Letter to Sri Ballavh -- Geneva 4 June, 1974:

In any case do not abandon the regulative principles and be certain to always chant sixteen rounds daily. That will save you from maya. I know you are a sincere disciple, because you are always returning to our camp even though you go away. Krsna will not let you withdraw. But I am hoping that you will soon become sober enough to join with us and stick with determination. working together on behalf of Krsna and completely forgetting the material condition of life.

Letter to Yadunandana -- Melbourne 25 June, 1974:

On the authority of Lord Caitanya and my spiritual master, I am requesting my disciples to always stay in the association of devotees and to propagate the sankirtana movement all over the world, so that others may get a chance also to become liberated from the material condition. Prahlada Maharaja prayed I am not satisfied to go back to the kingdom of God alone, but I must bring back with me all these poor fools who have no alternative ultimately than to surrender to You. This form of worship called gostananandi is more superior than the gostananandi or the holy man who lives alone in meditation of the Lord within the heart. This is the estimation of the scripture.

Letter to Shaktimati -- Mayapur 7 October, 1974:

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 17/9/74 in Hindi language and I have noted the contents. I thank you for your concern for my well being. Actually I was very ill. I was falling down. But, by your prayers Krishna has kindly made me recover. Because you have prayed to Krishna therefore I have recovered. Just like Srimat Kunti devi when there was difficulty, she prayed to Krishna. That is Krishna consciousness. Not that when there is difficulty I shall forget Krishna. Whatever the material condition may be we should just cling to Krishna's lotus feet.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Satsvarupa -- Johannesburg 21 October, 1975:

So anyone who surrenders to Krishna, his destiny is changed by the omnipotency of God. He takes charge of the devotee and guides him how the devotee can go back to Home, Back-to-Godhead. This is the Mercy of God. He knows everything and still He says "sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam braja . . . (BG 18.66)" But, you are thinking God like you, what is destined is going to happen and even God cannot change it? Then God is impotent? This is their version, not God's. God says surrender to Me and I shall cancel all your destiny, aham tvam sarva papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah . . . God will save you from the destiny that you have created by misuse of your independence. He knows but still He is so kind. Surrender has nothing to do with your destiny, that will depend on you (the spirit-soul) because you have a little independence, a little freedom. Theirs is atheistic argument. God is not only omniscient, but also Almighty. Predestiny is there but it is cancelled if you surrender to Him, otherwise God is not the controller. Theirs is like karma mimamsa philosophy, that God is our servant and He must reward me according to my activities. If you surrender to Krishna there is no more predestiny. He knows if you do this you must suffer, so why do you suffer. You take His advice. Even if he says predestined, so why don't you surrender to Krishna now, and get out of this material condition.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Harikesa -- Mayapur 7 March, 1976:

If the young people become very serious, if you find it is detrimental to have them wear dhoti and shave head, that is not necessary. Simply introduce the chanting and prasadam distribution and gradually they will be elevated to being Vaisnava. A Vaisnava is aloof from all material conditions of life, so even under such circumstances a Vaisnava will not feel inconvenienced. Kirtiraja should be returning to preach in Eastern Europe so you can work together to introduce Lord Caitanya's sankirtana movement in this part of the world.

Letter to Balavanta -- New York 8 July, 1976:

By coming to America, the Indians have not improved their material condition. It is welcome that they have come to us. Wherever one lives he should continue Krishna Consciousness. The enclosed photo of the Mississippi farm Deities is very nice, super excellent. The Deity must be very nicely worshiped, dressed, and fed, etc. In so doing you will always be peaceful and enlivened. From the extra ghee, you can contact Boston restaurant. They can perhaps purchase it. Sell ghee and you'll have good income. If possible in the city of New Orleans, open one restaurant. Someone can go to Boston and see how they are organizing things. You can study the history of how cow-slaughter became prominent in the West and then use for preaching.

Page Title:Material condition (Letters)
Compiler:Mayapur, Rishab
Created:05 of Oct, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=31
No. of Quotes:31