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Materialistic society means

Conversations and Morning Walks

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

The materialistic society means duality.
Room Conversation with Irish Poet, Desmond O'Grady -- May 23, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: So when one is free from the designations, then he becomes purified.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
(CC Madhya 19.170)

So when we become purified, our senses are purified, and when the purified senses are engaged in the service of the master of the senses, that is perfect life. That is nonduality, absolute.

Bhagavān: That can be experienced in the present.

Prabhupāda: Yes, by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And practically, you are coming from different groups-Americans, Indians, Africans—but you don't think yourself as American or Indian or African.

O'Grady: But the system insists that you do.

Bhagavān: The world as it is, the society, the materialistic society, puts these bodily demands...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. The materialistic society means duality.

O'Grady: But that's unavoidable.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

O'Grady: Because of your physical existence...

Prabhupāda: Unavoidable, yes...

O'Grady: And your personal spiritualism as well.

Prabhupāda: But it can be avoided in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Just like the leaf of lily. It is in the water but it does not touches the water.

O'Grady: I didn't catch that last expression, no.

Bhagavān: Lily leaf.

Yogeśvara: To show how we can live in this world but still be transcendental.

Bhagavān: There's a lily leaf that sits on the water and even though it sits on the water it doesn't get wet.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhagavān: Prabhupāda is explaining we can be in this world...

O'Grady: But I don't think you can explain situations in one realm, in one area, in the terminology of situations in another one. Because if you put this element and this element together, you get salt. Now, if human nature was the same with that element in that person and that element in that person, you should also get salt. So if you've got fifty million elements and fifty million elements here you should get a mountain of salt.

Atreya Ṛṣi: If you can try to understand this example.

O'Grady: Oh, I can, understand.

Prabhupāda: What is that, salt? Salt example was... Explain.

Yogeśvara: What was your point?

O'Grady: I'm saying its difficult to argue about one kind of situation in terms of another kind of situation when the nature of the problem or the nature of the result is different.

Prabhupāda: No, the kinds or varieties may remain, but sometimes the varieties help. Just like if you bring varieties of flower in a vase, it becomes very beautiful, but they are all flowers. So you have to become flowers. So even in varieties there is unity of beauty.

Page Title:Materialistic society means
Compiler:Rishab
Created:29 of Feb, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1