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Mercy (Conversations 1967 - 1973)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1967 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discourse on Lord Caitanya Play Between Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva -- April 5-6, 1967, San Francisco:

Hayagrīva: Couple years later. All right. Because time is an important factor. You have to keep track of the time in the play.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He toured, after His sannyāsa, He toured all over India for six years only. That means up to 30th year He toured all over India. And from 30th year to 48th year, 18 years, He constantly remained at Jagannātha Purī. He used to chant in the temple and meet His visitors. Especially during car festival ceremony of Jagannātha, from Bengal about 400, 500 devotees would go and meet Him, and they would remain there for four months continually. July, August, September, October. Four months. And then they would come back. In this way, for 18 years He passed in Jagannātha Purī. So Rūpa Gosvāmī, He met Rūpa Gosvāmī and He taught him about the science of devotion for ten days. That devotional service He instructed that the living entities they're roaming in the 8,400,000 species of life. Fortunately, if by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and if he gets one good spiritual master, then he learns about devotional service. So He taught him about the science of devotional service. That is the importance of meeting Rūpa Gosvāmī. So here the scenery must be mentioned. It is on the bank of Ganges. There is a nice ghāṭa, just like... You have been to Benares? No. You have been to Hardwar?

Hayagrīva: Yes.

Prabhupāda: You have seen many ghāṭas, bathing places.

Hayagrīva: Oh yes, yes.

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk at Stow Lake -- March 23, 1968, San Francisco:

Devotee (1): One of my friends said, "(inaudible), you want to tell us everything, so why don't you build a machine to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa for you?"

Prabhupāda: Huh? Yes. Machine was not made for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, but we are utilizing it so that the machine-maker may be benefited. Because we employ everyone's energy to Kṛṣṇa. So by his energy he has manufactured this machine, so we are employing in Kṛṣṇa's service so that he may be benefited, purified. We are showing him the mercy. Just like one flower picked up from a plant offered to Kṛṣṇa is offering benefit to that plant. Because his energy is in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, the person who has manufactured this machine, when it is employed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness business, he's benefited. Indirectly, we are giving him opportunity, although he does not know it. But his energy is being utilized for Kṛṣṇa. We offer prasādam, the same principle. A man does not know about Kṛṣṇa. But he wants to eat. By eating, he'll be gradually Kṛṣṇa conscious. So you have... Our business is to give opportunity to all forgotten souls to be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, today or tomorrow. The boys and girls who have come to this society, they have accumulated in that way, knowingly or unknowingly, some Kṛṣṇa conscious qualification, and therefore they have taken this opportunity. (Pause) We have no dog friend. (Laughs)

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- May 10, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Pradyumna: Can the boys downstairs bring them?

Prabhupāda: Yes. So they were to go to see some other temple which is called Śeṣayī Temple. So although I was new man, I did not like to go to see the Śeṣayī Temple. I decided that "I shall hear." So at that time I was new, so all other, some of my important godbrothers, they were sitting like this, and I was sitting. At last, you see. But he knew that "This boy is new." Everyone has gone, all others except a few selected godbrothers. So he marked it that "This boy is interested to hear me." So hearing is very important. Hearing. Just like Arjuna heard from Kṛṣṇa. Come on. (People entering) (Break) ...because I was serious for hearing, and therefore now I am serious about kīrtanaṁ, means speaking, or preaching. Do you follow what I say? Yes. So one who is serious about hearing, he can become a future nice preacher. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ. Next stage is developed. That is development. If one has actually heard nicely, then he will speak nicely. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ smaraṇaṁ. Then consciousness will automatically develop because when you speak or you hear, unless your mind is concentrated, your consciousness is right, you cannot rightly hear or speak. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam. And then the development, "How I shall serve Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is so loving. Kṛṣṇa is so great," that automatically comes. Not silent, but activity. Pāda-sevanam means that activity begins immediately. In this way last item is sarvātma-snapanaṁ. Sarvātma, ātma-samarpaṇam, sarvātma-samarpaṇam. Bali Mahārāja just like. Giving, giving, giving, giving, giving, giving. Then, when Vamanadeva asked, "Now, Bali Mahārāja, you have lost everything. Still I have got another leg, another foot, to place." "Yes. There is one thing. It is my head. Come on." So everything is there, and Lord Vamanadeva: "Yes. You have now purchased Me. You have now purchased Me. So I shall remain your doorman here, standing always to give you protection." So Kṛṣṇa became purchased by him, and He remained his doorman. Just see His mercy. Dvārā. Dvārī. Dvāri means doorman. So by serving Kṛṣṇa, nobody is loser; he is gainer.

Room Conversation With John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison -- September 11, 1969, London, At Tittenhurst:
Prabhupāda: Always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. There is no loss, but the gain is very great. Suppose if I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Materially I do not commit any offense or undergo any loss, but if there is any gain, why not try it? There is no expenditure. (laughs) Everything has got some expenditure. So this mantra, Kṛṣṇa or His later succession, do not sell or distribute. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, everyone. Dance in ecstasy. It is very nice thing. So I have come to your country, come to your place. It is very good. So my request is that you are intelligent boys. Try to understand this Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy with your all reason, arguments. It will not to be accepted blindly. Caitanya-caritāmṛta-kaj, the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, he says, caitanyera dayāra kathā karaha vicāra: "Just put into your judgement the mercy of Lord Caitanya." Vicāra karile citte paibe camatkāra: "And if you scrutinizingly judge over it, you'll find it is sublime." So we are putting this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement not as a force, but to the judgement of the people. Let them judge. It is not a sectarian movement. Not any religious movement. It is a science. So we put this philosophy to your judgement, and you judge it scrutinizingly with your all intellects, and you'll find it sublime. And if you find it sublime, then why not put it to the world? You are also anxious to bring some peace in the world. I have read sometimes your statements. You are anxious also. Everyone, every saintly person, should be anxious to bring in peace in the world. But we must know the process.

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 21, 1970, Surat:

Haṁsadūta: In my suitcase. Shall I bring them?

Prabhupāda: Yes, bring. (break) Kṛṣṇa, canvassing Himself, says, Kṛṣṇa, Himself canvassing, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). "Give up everything. Just surrender unto Me." How many do it? So we are canvassing on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. He personally said practically. So you don't expect that everyone will be Kṛṣṇa conscious. It is very difficult.

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ
(BG 7.3)

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very difficult, but it is the mercy of Lord Caitanya that through this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement they are coming so soon. Otherwise, the subject matter is very difficult. (pause) So many flowers?

Haṁsadūta: Yes.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- July 20, 1971, New York:

Prabhupāda: There are four microphones?

Pratyatoṣa: Yeah, you can have four microphones at the same time. To make good stereo recordings of music, it's nice to have four channels, because then you can mix them together afterwards and you can make it perfect.

Prabhupāda: It is Sony?

Pratyatoṣa: See, these are really Kṛṣṇa's mercy. They have microphones, these are microphones. They're made in Sweden. They're really about the best line you can get, and they're very inexpensive.

Prabhupāda: Why the sound is not...

Pratyatoṣa: It's on very low now. This is very low.

Prabhupāda: No, it comes one, two.

Pratyatoṣa: It's on zero.

Prabhupāda: It is zero. Then one it comes. (Sound of Prabhupāda's voice on tape recorder is heard.)

Pratyatoṣa: That's all right.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: Everywhere. Everywhere. In Bombay, everywhere we go, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." In Montreal. They joke, they'll clap, but they'll chant. And that is wanted. I want to see that everyone is chanting. And if chanting has effect, then either he's chanting jokingly or seriously it will have the effect. Fire, if you touch either jokingly or seriously or cautiously, it will act. So our request is that you also preach this cult. Let us cooperate. The whole world is suffering for want of God consciousness. So it is the duty of all religious sects to teach this simple art of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa or any other name which you have got. That's all.

Revatīnandana: They have got this prayer, "Lord Jesus have mercy on me, a miserable sinner." And she was showing me they have a, almost like japa beads. Show him.

Sister Mary: You see, here.

Revatīnandana: They're almost like japa mālā.

Sister Mary: We do it in some, together, in the orthodox church. And we take turns doing two hundred.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1971, London:

Sister Mary: We do it in some, together, in the orthodox church. And we take turns doing two hundred.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Guest (1): And... These are for counting.

Prabhupāda: That is nice. We also do the same thing. We chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Sister Mary: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on us."

Prabhupāda: Oh, what is the wording?

Sister Mary: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on us."

Prabhupāda: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God..."

Revatīnandana: "Have mercy on us."

Sister Mary: It's a little prayer.

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: Sinful? "We are sinful?" You say, "sinful" something? "Forgive some sins" or something like?

Haṁsadūta: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on us." That is the prayer.

Sister Mary: And you say it in your own language.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. "Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God, have mercy on us." That's nice. Very good.

Sister Mary: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: That is nice. Now, the, by praying, it is expected that one should have mercy of God. So what is the test that he has got the mercy of God?

Sister Mary: The mercy of God is the love of God, isn't it?

Prabhupāda: That's it. Mercy of... So... That is the test, that he has learned how to love God. Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). Caitanya Mahāprabhu is also worshiped, that "You can give love of God." Kṛṣṇa prema-pradāya te. Namo mahā-vadānyāya. "You are the most munificent of all incarnations because You are distributing love of God." Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). Kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne. "You are Kṛṣṇa in the form of devotee of Kṛṣṇa. So I offer my respects." This is Rūpa Gosvāmī's prayer.

Room Conversation with Mayor -- November 10, 1971, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Viṣala: I've been reading the Brahma-saṁhitā, and uh, by His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, and he mentions that to receive the mercy of..., Kṛṣṇa's mercy, one has to be free of all mundane desires, and also he has to receive the grace of God at the same time. So it's all, it's like the son, he mentions. He doesn't know how wealthy his father is, but by the grace of his father, he says, "My dear son, I have a lot of money and I..., you will be in my will, and you will have this all and I will give you all these instructions." So similarly, by finally gradually becoming free of all mundane desires and completely being influenced by the cit potency, by the superior cognitive energy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, one will receive the mercy of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. But the most important thing is to receive the mercy of the spiritual master, because only by the guru's mercy can one be blessed by God. So that means we have... (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's been reading your Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam every morning, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Huh?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We've been reading Śrīla..., Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: Yes, read.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Should I get a copy of that?

Prabhupāda: Yes. So here is microphone. You did not know? Śrīmatī has brought two microphones.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, yours?

Prabhupāda: Yes, just see.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 15, 1972, Madras:

Devotee: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Caitanyera dayāra kathā karaha vicāra. Vicāra means statement. Just try to understand the mercy of Lord Caitanya, and give your judgement. This is not a sentimental, as people take it as a sentimental. Most scientific, logical. So how they like that slides?

Girirāja: Very much. I think we may have a brief slide show tonight also.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You have got all the slides?

Girirāja: We have many slides of paintings, of different activities... (break)

Prabhupāda: ...have no attachment. These are all nonsense. You cannot be (indistinct). A living being, to become desireless, how you can? I am living. I am not a dead body. Desire should be to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Attachment should be for Him. That's all. You have to change. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have now attachment for sense gratification, desire for sense gratification. This has to be changed. Purification of desire, purification of attachment. Tat paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Eyes, because it is diseased, you don't pluck out. This is nonsense. Cure the eyes of the disease, then you will see things right. The Māyāvādī philosophy is pluck out the eyes. Buddha philosophy is make it zero. That is also same thing, plucking out. Our philosophy is "No. Cure it." That is the difference.

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Bob: But presently you do not receive information directly from Kṛṣṇa. It comes through the succession from the books?

Prabhupāda: Yes. There is no difference. Suppose if I say that this is a pencil. And if you say to him, "This is a pencil." And he says to another man, "This is a pencil." Then what is the difference between his instruction and my instruction?

Bob: Kṛṣṇa's mercy allows you to know this now?

Prabhupāda: No, Kṛṣṇa's mercy you can take also, provided it is delivered as it is. Now, just like we are instructing people Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā says, Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Now we are saying that "You give up everything, just surrender to Kṛṣṇa." So therefore there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's instruction and our instruction. There is no deviation. So if you receive knowledge in that perfect way, then it is as god as receiving the instruction directly from Kṛṣṇa. But you don't change anything.

Bob: When I pray faithfully and reverently, does Kṛṣṇa hear me?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Śyāmasundara: Momentum.

Prabhupāda: Momentum. But as soon as he stops, no more movement. Similarly, a devotee who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, even he's found that he's suffering from material consequences, that is temporary. Therefore a devotee does not take any material miseries as misery. He takes as Kṛṣṇa's, God's, mercy.

Bob: But what about a perfected soul, a devotee, a pure devotee?

Prabhupāda: Perfected soul means twenty-four hours engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is perfection. Transcendental position. Perfection means to be engaged in his original consciousness. That is perfection. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, "Anyone who comes to Me, that is the..." Saṁsiddhiḥ labhate param. Saṁsiddhi. Perfection, complete perfection. Saṁsiddhi. Siddhi and saṁsiddhi. Siddhi is perfection. That is Brahman realization. And saṁsiddhi means devotion, after Brahman realization.

Room Conversation -- April 18, 1972, Hong Kong:
Prabhupāda: If somebody says that "You give up this Kṛṣṇa consciousness and take..." Now here is Śyāmasundara. His father is very, very rich man, young man. He is always canvassing him that—he is only son—that "You come, do business. You take millions of dollars, whatever you like." He is not going. There are many like that. They cannot give up this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And you know our Jagatāriṇī, wife of Bhūrijana, she was a theatrical girl and earning millions of dollars, but she has given up everything. You have seen his wife, you all, Bhūrijana's wife? She is a nice girl, educated, qualified. But she is satisfied. I asked her to go and marry Bhūrijana. She never saw her (him). She never saw her (him), what kind of husband she is going to accept. But simply on my word, she came, and she came from Los Angeles to Japan and got married. Similarly I am asking one girl. She is a French girl, Mandākinī. So I am asking her to go to Russia and marry one boy. She has never seen. So they obey in such a way. The Western boys and girls, they want to see and behave before marrying. But they are so obedient that without any consideration... Because marriage or no marriage, that is not their consideration. The only consideration is how to please Kṛṣṇa and his representative. Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya-pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). Bhakti-latā-bīja. Bhakti is just like a creeper, and the seed of that creeper can be obtained by the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa. That is Vedic injunction.
Room Conversation -- April 20, 1972, Tokyo:

Prabhupāda: Oh, you take more. Why little, little? Give more. Give me also little more.

Trivikrama: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: Mm. It is very nice.

Devotee (1): Prabhupāda distributes mercy to the world.

Prabhupāda: Who has made it?

Karandhara: Dhruvānanda.

Prabhupāda: Oh. He is good cook?

Karandhara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Mm. He has made nice.

Sudāmā: Shall I save one for later for you?

Prabhupāda: No. No saving. (laughter) Give me immediately. (laughter) Give them.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1972, Sydney:

Śyāmasundara: A bill like a duck.

Devotee (1): And a tail like a beaver, and a body like a wolverine or something.

Prabhupāda: So the Vedic literature says 8,400,000.

Devotee (1): This is all in one.

Prabhupāda: This is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. If somebody is thinking, "If I had like this, like that, like that, like that." "All right you will have all." (laughter) Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted to save himself in this way, that... "Yes, all are granted," but still he had to die. All granted. So we are trying to take facilities from Kṛṣṇa beginning from "O God, give us our daily bread, then give me motorcar, then give me airplane, then give me this, give me that." "Take all, but you will never be happy unless you surrender to Me. You take all." This is going on. The modern civilization, they are wanting, "We may have this, we may have that, we may have this, we may have that." "Yes, you take all. But don't talk of happiness, please." That is the only problem. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66), if you want this. Otherwise, you take whatever you like.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: This is the feeling of separation. Such feeling everyone should... (aside:) Go on.

Devotee (1): "...from the poisonous water of the Yamunā, from the serpent Kāliya, from Bakāsura, from the anger of Indra and his torrents of rain, from forest fire and so many other things. You are the greatest and most powerful of all. It is wonderful that You have protected us from so many dangers. We are surprised You are neglecting us at this moment. Dear Kṛṣṇa, dear friend, we know very well that You are not actually the son of Mother Yaśodā or the cowherd man Nanda Mahārāja. You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the Supersoul of all living entities. You have, out of Your own causeless mercy, appeared in this world, requested by Lord Brahma for the protection of the world. It is by Your kindness only that You have appeared in the dynasty of Yadu. O best of the dynasty of Yadu, if anyone afraid of this materialistic way of life takes shelter of Your lotus feet, You never deny him protection. Your movements are sweet, and You are independent, touching the goddess of fortune with one hand and in the other bearing a lotus flower. That is Your extraordinary feature. Please, therefore, come before us and bless us with the lotus flower in Your hand. Dear Kṛṣṇa, You are the killer of all the fears of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana. You are the supremely powerful hero, and we know that You can kill the unnecessary pride of Your devotees, as well as the pride of women like us, simply by Your beautiful smile."

Prabhupāda: Unnecessary pride is very bad. "Oh, I have become very advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That we should never think.

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1972, San Diego:

Prabhupāda: Fifty pounds. But if you keep the cows, you get thirty pounds daily. This is intelligence. Instead of getting once fifty pounds and finished, why don't you get it daily thirty pounds?

Devotee (1): Because they're lusty.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: We have to set the example, Prabhupāda, through your mercy.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is foolishness. Just like one has got some money, he utilizes his money and gets daily some income. And if he wants to spend all at once, that is foolishness.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Now they think they are smart. They think they can mass produce animals and mass kill them.

Prabhupāda: Mass killing?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Mass killing. That is... They have factories where they can produce thousands of animals very quickly. Quickly they inject certain vitamins and so on in the animal so that they become fat very fast for mass killing.

Prabhupāda: How they can produce thousands of animals?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: They're producing animals in the laboratories, not with... They're not producing, they are utilizing nature's way, but they don't let the animals see the green and the grass or the outside. They keep them in the barn and just keep feeding them.

Prabhupāda: I don't think it is possible. It is simply imagination.

Interview -- July 5, 1972, New York:
Prabhupāda: Now, who is that person, or the authority, who is giving that law, who is controlling that law? That is divine search. But that divine search cannot be completed by the speculation of our imperfect senses. Our senses are imperfect; therefore whatever knowledge we gather by speculating our imperfect senses, that is imperfect. Just like the sun. The sun is very big, bigger, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, but with our imperfect eyes we see just like a disk. If we remain satisfied with this imperfect knowledge, then we remain in darkness. We have to know the sun from the astronomer. They have calculated. They know. In this way knowledge, perfect knowledge, can be attained—when it is received through the perfect knower, not by speculation. That speculation means I shall speculate with limited mind and imperfect senses. So however carefully or expertly I manage with the instruments, they are themselves imperfect. Therefore Vedic sastra says that to understand the divine you must have divine mercy. You must possess.
Interview -- July 5, 1972, New York:

Prabhupāda: That, not only in India. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not meant for India or America. Of course, I am deputed by my Guru Mahārāja to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in the Western world. That is his grace. He wanted that Western people, who are intelligent, they should learn what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So my mission is for the Western country, but it is not meant for any particular country, nation. It is meant for every living entity. Now, there are many unfortunate living entities and there are many fortunate living entities. So we are preaching this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in America or Western country, only the fortunate persons they are coming. But if few of them come and understand, then by their example and behavior, the whole population will be benefited. It is not expected that cent percent population will be able to understand this philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but by the examples of the few, yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas lokas tad anuvartate (BG 3.21). Just like you'll find in our temple it is always crowded to the fullest extent. We require a more spacious home. But not all of them our initiated students. Out of them say ten percent may be our initiated students. But still people are coming to see. They are following. Gradually they will also become student. So it is a very important movement, scientific movement. I therefore request learned scholars like you, government, scientist, philosopher, they should study. For them we have written so many books. Not only that. It is not that we are simply chanting and dancing. If you are philosopher, if you are scholar, if you are scientist, we can give you proof in a scientific way, in a philosophical way, scholarly way; therefore these books are there. So my only request is that all the leaders of the society, they should come forward, study this movement and take to it. That will be beneficial. We don't ask blindly, just like one follows some faith or type of religion blindly, and after sometimes they give it up. No. We say, our predecessor Lord Caitanya says, caitanyer dayār kathā karaha avicara(?). You just put your judgment about the mercy of Lord Caitanya, and if you do that then you will find wonder in this movement. (aside) So, you put little ice. Ice, bring little ice. (devotees enter and offer obeisances) Hare Kṛṣṇa, come on. Yes. Thank you very much. (to guest) So you accept this definition, of religion, that religion means the law given by God. Simple point. Have you got any objection, or do you accept it?

Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Anyone. All these rascals come as guru. They say, "I am Kṛṣṇa." Therefore, he has got his own interest. That is immediately disqualification, that he is a rascal. Kick him in his face, as soon as he says.

Jayatīrtha: If a person is surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, he won't take over Kṛṣṇa's post.

Prabhupāda: That's it.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: (indistinct) by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa one gets this bona fide spiritual master.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is always merciful. He comes Himself also and demands surrender, but we do not do that. That we cannot do.

Jayatīrtha: As you were saying last night, if we had no independence, then there wouldn't be any question of... We'd be just like dull matter. There'd be no difference. So we have that independence.

Prabhupāda: By our misuse of independence, we do not surrender. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa says, "You surrender!"

Jayatīrtha: The spiritual master teaches how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 17, 1973, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Yes, he was afraid.

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He asked you.

Prabhupāda: Prabhupāda gave me some money, that he is afraid, "You keep this money. When they need you can..." So, by guru Vaiṣṇava, and whatever position I have got it is by guru's mercy and the Vaiṣṇavas' blessings, otherwise I am insignificant. So I wish that Śrīdhara Mahārāja may bestow his blessings as he was doing always, and my Guru Mahārāja may help me. I can give some service (?).

Śrīdhara Mahārāja: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Yes, I thought that (indistinct) Guru Mahārāja wanted and these Gauḍīya Math people did not do anything, so let me try in this old age. The inspiration came, and I went. By his grace it has become little successful, that's all. I have no credit. It is all the blessings of guru and Vaiṣṇava, that's all. I have no credit. I do not know how things are happening, because I am not at all bona fide position. But it is truly chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra pāyeche kebā.

Morning Walk -- May 1, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, energy. Yac cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala grahāṇām. Sun is working under the order of... Just like if you don't see the managing director or the proprietor of a firm, the immediate boss who is controlling you, you have to obey. In the office or in the factory. Similarly, you cannot see directly God, but God's agent is working. Why don't you obey? God's agent is working? How it is working? Yasyājñayā bhramati saṁbhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ, exactly in time by the order of Kṛṣṇa, rising exactly in the time, without any deviation even by 1/10,000th part of a second, astrological calculation. Is it not? So how it is working? Under whose order it is working? Śāstra says, "By the order of Kṛṣṇa." Yasya ājñayā. "Under whose order he is working," govindam ādi-puruṣam, "I worship that Govinda." The śāstra is giving you information, that he is working under, he must be working under... Otherwise why it is so accurate, so punctual, unless there is some direction? Unless there is order of God, why this big ocean is so obedient, it is not coming here? Why don't you study like this? Where is the difficulty? There must be some direction that "You Pacific Ocean, you are so big, that's all right, but you cannot come here. Remain up to this." Otherwise why you are feeling so safety although in the front of a big ocean. If the ocean likes, within a second, he can finish us immediately. But she will not do, because there is order. Similarly sun. Sun is also moving under the order. You have to study like that. If you do not see God, see how God's order is being carried out. Then you will understand. Just like we do not see President Nixon. But you know there is direction, and the government is going is going on under his direction. That we can know. This is seeing of God to see how things are going on under His order. That is seeing of God. Just like from long distant place like this hills, we are seeing, but at the same time not seeing distinctly. You are seeing those, but you do not see the detail. Similarly you are seeing God by these things, but because you are not so powerful, you are not seeing Him in detail. But you are seeing God. You cannot say that "I don't see God." How can you say? These are the directions. You are seeing that things are going on under direction. Yasyājñayā. Therefore you have to... śāstra yonitvāt. The Vedānta says, "You have to understand God through śāstra;" by the scriptures you have to understand. śāstra yonitvāt. Everything is there. The śāstra gives you direction. Therefore human being is meant to study the śāstras. The śāstras, Vedic literature, is meant for the human being, not for the cats and dogs. If you don't consult the śāstras, then you remain a cats and dogs. That's all. Why you are taking so much trouble, writing śāstra, explaining to you? So that you may come to the real platform from the platform of cats and dogs. That is our mission. That is the duty of the spiritual master. Nānā-śāstra-vicāraṇaika-nipuṇau sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau. The spiritual master is the most beneficent friend, he is giving you direction from the śāstra. Lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau: "He is the real welfare worker for the human society." Lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau tri-bhuvane mānyau śaraṇyākarau, rādhā-kṛṣṇa-padāravinda-bhajanānandena mattālikau vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau. You see śāstra is giving direction. So many lawyers are going to the school colleges to learn the government laws. Why they are taking so much trouble? Just to give people the direction that "You work under this direction, you will not be in difficulty." Similarly the spiritual master is the lawyer. He knows things as they are. He gives direction to the disciple so that he'll be happy. He will not be in trouble. This is guru-śiṣya-sampatti. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. By the mercy of guru everything is... Bhagavat-prasādaḥ, immediately, mercy of God. Oh, it is coming. No. Now, one should study the sprinkler. We'll give credit, "Oh, who has manufactured this sprinkler?" But there is no glorification for the original sprinkler, who takes all the water in the sky and sprinkles all over. There is no appreciation, rascal. You appreciate this thing.

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Mahāprabhu?

Prabhupāda: Yes, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. By mercy of spiritual master, the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, he gets the seed of devotional service, and if he cultivates, then his life becomes successful. Otherwise he has to rotate, sometimes up, sometimes down. Sometimes this grass, sometimes lion.

Paramahaṁsa: But ultimately if we come to Kṛṣṇa, there's no return. But nevertheless, Jagāi, and..., the two gatekeepers, they returned?

Prabhupāda: There is return, that is voluntary. Return there is.

Paramahaṁsa: If we want.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Paramahaṁsa: So we can come to the spiritual world and return?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation With David Wynne -- July 9, 1973, London:

Śrutikīrti:

naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā
tvat-prasādān mayācyuta
sthito 'smi gata-sandehaḥ
kariṣye vacanaṁ tava
(BG 18.73)

"Arjuna said: My dear Kṛṣṇa, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy, and I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions."

Prabhupāda: There it is. "I am prepared now to act according to Your whims." That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When he was trying to act according to his whim, the necessity of instruction of Bhagavad-gītā was there. And when he heard Bhagavad-gītā, he's changed. "Now this is..., all doubts are gone. At last I will act according to your..." This is... Very important verse. Changing. Changing the whole picture. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Same Arjuna, same fighting, same battlefield, everything same, but still everything changed. The consciousness is changed. Externally nothing changed; internally changed. This change is equal for perfection.

Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

Śyāmasundara: Because it went on so long, we didn't stop. (break)

Prabhupāda: Utilize His mercy. Then your life is perfect. He is ready to help you, from within and from without. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. The kindness, the mercifulness of Kṛṣṇa, nobody can repay. In every birth, He is with me, canvassing: "Why you are acting whimsically? Just turn towards Me." Therefore He's going along with the living entity in every kind of body, either as demigod's body or hog's body, still, Kṛṣṇa is there. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭhaḥ (BG 15.15). (pause) Give him some prasāda.

Śyāmasundara: They said it would be coming any moment.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Śyāmasundara: They're bringing some prasāda.

Prabhupāda: Is there any other paper? No, it is a very impressive picture.

Room Conversation with Indian Guests -- July 11, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: Yes, lucky.

Guest (9): He is lucky. For some of them, half of them, they go here, half of them go there. Prabhupāda: He has good wife, good children, all favorable for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He does not... Guest (8): This is Prabhupāda's mercy really. Guest (1): No, but, that I'm saying... Guest (8): We have been living fourteen years in this country. They were brought up here, and they never touched tea. They were brought up here, school education and all that, fourteen years... Prabhupāda: Yes, in England, in London. Guest (8): And I must say they are advancing more than me, really. I am still the same stage; by Prabhupāda's grace, they are advancing more, get up early in the morning, four o'clock, take bath... Prabhupāda: No, this kind of family life is very suitable. This is wanted. All the wife... His wife is very nice girl. And she is good devotee. So if wife is favorable, then everything is favorable. Household life means cooperation with wife. Na gṛhaṁ gṛham ity āhur gṛhiṇī gṛham ucyate. Just like we are also living within a room, gṛha. But we are sannyāsī. What is the difference between gṛhastha and sannyāsī? He lives with his wife. Gṛhiṇī gṛham ity āhuḥ. Gṛhiṇī means "the wife is gṛha." So if the wife is favorable, devotee, then there is no use of giving up family life. That's all. We have got so many married couples. Just like this boy. He's married. His wife is there. They are favorable. Both husband and wife, they have dedicated life for Kṛṣṇa.

Room Conversation with Indian Guests and Devotees -- July 11, 1973, London:

Guest (1): You want to ask anything? (pause)

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) It is very difficult to, to guru, but when guru comes, they also do not accept him. What can be done? They are so fallen. Only fortunate. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). So to go to guru, to Kṛṣṇa, that requires fortune. Kona bhāgyavān jīva. Some fortunate person. Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). By the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa, he gets the seed of this bhakti. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). And when he's a bhakta, then he can understand what is God. (To disciple:) Get the light. Bhaktyā mām abhijānā... No, there. That's all right.

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Haṁsadūta: One small point. A simple point is that the slaughterhouse activity necessitates to raise them in that way. As soon as there is a question of animal killing, then naturally, you want to be as expedient as possible. So if you abolish the animal killing, automatically this breeding animals in this fashion will also automatically stop.

Popworth: But the slaughterhouse becomes a temple of mercy given these conditions in which the animals are...

Haṁsadūta: Yes. As long as you maintain a slaughterhouse, then there'll be people to breed animals to supply to the house of slaughter.

Prabhupāda: It is nice.

Room Conversation -- London, August 24, 1973 :

Man: (indistinct), is it?

Prabhupāda: ...in this way a living entity is wandering, but by fortune, if he gets in touch, guru-kṛṣṇa, a bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa, a guru, by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, because Kṛṣṇa is in everyone's heart, then he gets the seed of devotional service. And if he cultivates that devotional service, then he goes. This is the process. Not that because one has suffered so much, therefore automatically.

Woman: No, no.

Prabhupāda: No, not that.

Man: Swamiji, my wife is tired, I think. She's had a long day today. May I have your permission...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Man: ...to take her home?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Room Conversation with Cardinal Danielou -- August 9, 1973, Paris:

Cardinal Danielou: Yes, yes. Spiritual master.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Cardinal Danielou: Spiritual master is very important. The guru, you say, yes.

Prabhupāda: Guru, yes. That is the very word used. Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). One revives his God consciousness by the mercy of God and guru.

Cardinal Danielou: Yes, in Christianity, we speak of spiritual fathers.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Cardinal Danielou: Spiritual father, spiritual father. We... He is a man who has a good experience of spiritual things and communicate his experience to others.

Prabhupāda: Yes, oh, yes. (etc.)

Cardinal Danielou: You know. We are in Christianity monks, monks. We live in monastery.

Prabhupāda: Ah, monks.

Room Conversation with Cardinal Danielou -- August 9, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Where he has gone to take the water from, Arabian Sea?

Cardinal Danielou: (French)

Yogeśvara: Kṛṣṇa's mercy. I can change the tape. (break)

Cardinal Danielou: ...leader of the Kṛṣṇa community?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Cardinal Danielou: Yes, yes. But there are in India other community of Viṣṇu...?

Prabhupāda: The same, the same.

Cardinal Danielou: The same.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu, the same.

Cardinal Danielou: The same.

Yogeśvara: Here's some water.

Cardinal Danielou: Water.

Yogeśvara: That's O.K. Would you like some water yourself?

Cardinal Danielou: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: So material world is meant for persons...

Cardinal Danielou: Thanks.

Room Conversation with Anna Conan Doyle, daughter-in-law of famous author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: You may not, but nature is different. Just like a child does not hope that if he puts his finger in a fire, it will not burn. But nature is so strict, it doesn't care for the child or the old man. It will burn. I may prove very innocent, but nature doesn't care for that. Nature doesn't care for that. Nature will not show any mercy for the innocent child. No. That is nature. Is it not fact? If a child puts his finger on the fire, nature will not consider that: "Here is a innocent child. He may not be burned." No. Equally. Therefore nature is very strong. We cannot avoid the control of the nature. If you do something, it must acting, react in the same way. The same... If you put your finger in the fire, it must react, burn it. Nature is so strong. So as soon as you violate any law of nature, you'll be punished.

Room Conversation with French Nun -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Yogeśvara: There was this gentleman this afternoon who was asking you about people who are constantly, constantly being tested by all kinds of miserable circumstances. She asks: Is it not a sign of a soul that God has chosen to favor that he sends them such miserable conditions of material life?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Devotee, in miserable condition, they accept it as a favor of God. (break) ...in the Bhāgavata:

tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo
bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam
hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk
(SB 10.14.8)

We are put sometimes in difficult position. But a devotee takes the difficult position as mercy of God.

Yogeśvara: She, she asks you for an explanation of an event that happened to her sister. Her sister died at the age of five and a half years. And just before her death she apparently was able to explain some of her past lifetimes to her mother, that she had formerly been a princess or of noble birth and that now she was being called. Is there some explanation for that?

Prabhupāda: Yes, she remembers of her last birth. That is quite possible. Because we are changing body. So one who can remember about his past life, they are called jāta-smaraṇa.

Room Conversation with Officer Harry Edwards, the Village Policeman -- August 30, 1973, Bhaktivedanta Manor, London:

Śyāmasundara: Eh?

Revatīnandana: If necessary, we would.

Śyāmasundara: Oh yeah.

Harry: Well, that would be Kṛṣṇa's will, mercy.

Guest (English Man): No, it depends, you know, if it's just some minor thing, you know.

Śyāmasundara: (talking over) ...maliciously try to take our property or something valuable, we have to defend.

Harry: Yeah. And how would you defend by? Yeah. (laughs) Yes, that's it, how would they defend?

Revatīnandana: That's where you come in. (laughter)

Harry: 'Cause that's right, you were the one who said that we could move in with a gun and shoot them, didn't you?

Revatīnandana: No, I didn't say that. I'm the one who hit him with a big piece of wood. Yeah.

Harry: Oh, you are? Well, they said they'd, "Why... Shoot them?" I said, "This is England, not America." (laughter) That was the cows, you know. Remember the cows?

Śyāmasundara: Well, in America, we're used to shooting rustlers, you know.

Harry: Yeah, but, uh...

Śyāmasundara: String him off the nearest tree.

Revatīnandana: Lynchings.

Harry: But what are you going to do about your security? Can I talk to this about this, you know?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with British Man -- August 31, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: So this Kalki, this incarnation of Kṛṣṇa which comes at the end of this age, He's described, He will come and ride on a white horse all over the world, and He will...,

Prabhupāda: Kill.

Haṁsadūta: Kill. Because at that time the people will be so degraded, they will not be able to accept any instructions. So the only mercy He can bestow on them is just to finish the whole business. And by that killing in the presence of the Lord they also achieve salvation. This is the mercy of God. Absolute.

Guest (1): Yes. That, in some way, to me at this moment, it seems to be an echo of the Old Testament prophetic promises of the end of the last age and also the revelation in the New Testament. Can this be the son of God revealing Himself to the East and the West in different forms but the same personality? I'm presuming that...

Haṁsadūta: God is meant for everybody. Doesn't matter East or West. Just like Kṛṣṇa appeared in India, but we are not Indians. We are all Americans and Europeans, so... Just like the sun. The sun may appear over London or England, but it's not English sun. Everyone's sun. Similarly, when God appears or God's representative appears, it's meant for everyone.

Guest (1): Yes. So, forgive me if I talk across you, please, won't you.

Prabhupāda: That's all right, yes.

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Guest (1): Kṛṣṇa says, yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (BG 9.22).

Prabhupāda: Yes. Here it is. Kṛṣṇa is giving opportunity of eating for the cats and dogs, the birds and beasts, and I am engaged in His service, He'll not give me food? Because we are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, therefore we are thinking, "If I do not work like these cats and dogs, I'll starve." That is my imperfect Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And perfect Kṛṣṇa consciousness means he knows that "I have engaged my life in Kṛṣṇa's business. Kṛṣṇa is..., Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He's feeding millions and millions of living entities. And he'll keep me starving?" Is it possible? That means he, he does not know what is Kṛṣṇa. He's thinking Kṛṣṇa is a fictitious thing. That is his position. He does not know what is Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...then they would have been confident, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is feeding everyone. Why not me? What I have done? Because I am engaged in His service, therefore I shall starve?" And the devotee has no such question also, whether he'll starve or eat. It doesn't matter if he starves. It doesn't matter. He thinks, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa has put me in this position, to starve." Just like in hospital. A patient is ordered by the physician: "You should not eat anything." So he knows, "It is good for me." Similarly, a devotee, when he's starving, he knows, "Kṛṣṇa has put me in this starving condition. It is good for me." He never complains.

tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo
bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam
hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk
(SB 10.14.8)

Anyone lives in that way, that "Kṛṣṇa has put me in this distressed condition of life. It is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. I would have been put into more severe condition of life, but He is a little, giving me little pain. So I must be very much obliged to Kṛṣṇa that He's so kind upon me." So if one lives like that, mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk, he has got the claim to become liberated. Just like a son has got the right to claim the property of father, similarly, one who lives like this, he has the claim to become liberated. Mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk. That is... This is Bhāgavata's statement. And similarly, in the Bhagavad-gītā, also it is stated... Sit down. Yes. Why you are late? We have talked so many things.

Room Conversation with Banker -- September 21, 1973, Bombay:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Even the doctors are going on strike now.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are śūdras. Therefore, because it is the society of śūdras everywhere, there is confusion. No brain. Simply śocati, "want, want, want, want, want." And in brahminical culture, you will find even he is very poor brāhmaṇa, no source of income, no fixation of foodstuff even, but he is happy. He is happy. He is happy by his knowledge. He'll satisfy himself. If he does not get his food, then he will think that "This day Kṛṣṇa desired that I should not have my food. Oh, it is Kṛṣṇa's pleasure. It is Kṛṣṇa's mercy." Therefore in Vedic culture, other section, the kṣatriyas and the vaiśyas, they would call the brāhmaṇas to take food. Brāhmaṇa-bhojana. Because they know, "The brāhmaṇas, they will starve; still they will not ask anybody to give him food." Therefore brāhmaṇa-bhojana. And now they have discovered daridra-nārāyaṇa-bhojana. There are so many things. Vedic culture is the perfect for human society, perfect culture. And this is not bogus humbug, go into the darkness and do something nonsense. It is everything open, in the śāstra, in the book. You have to adopt it. Then you become happy. The whole society, the whole human society becomes happy, never mind where it is. It is science, how to live just like human being, not like cats and dogs. That is Vedic culture. Everyone is happy. Still, those who are following Vedic principles, they are happy than others. These Arya-samajis, they say, the Vedic culture, but they are not happy as the strictly followers of Vedic culture.

Room Conversation -- November 2, 1973, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: ...for others it is said. For Kṛṣṇa, it is mercy. The gopīs came with lust. They became purified with Kṛṣṇa's association. Gopīs actually, superficially, externally, they are, means, nitya-siddha, ever-liberated expansion of Kṛṣṇa's energy, internal energy. But apparently, they left their father, husband and came to Kṛṣṇa. So that is, from Vedic principle, it is wrong. One young girl cannot go to other young man, giving up the protection of father, brother, and... So they did it. So they, according to Vedic principle, it is sinful. But because it was related with Kṛṣṇa, they became purified. That means any way, if one comes in contact with Kṛṣṇa, he becomes purified. Even though he's sinful. That is Kṛṣṇa's... That is the benefit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sun is never infected. Rather, the infected area becomes sterilized by the sunshine. This is the process. That is explained. Tejīyasāṁ na doṣāya (SB 10.33.29). One who is very powerful, he has no fault. So how your temperature is going on?

Room Conversation -- November 4, 1973, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo (Sanskrit)... This is another verse (?).

Guest: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Simply because you have good brain substance, you'll be a devotee?

Guest: No, no. Bhāvanaḥ(?).

Prabhupāda: Bhāvanaḥ(?) means it is, it is by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. If one is sincerely surrendered soul unto Kṛṣṇa, then He gives the intelligence how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. It is not a mechanical way.

Guest: No.

Prabhupāda: It is not a mechanical way. Simply one has to become very serious and sincere, then you develop. yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deva tathā gurau, prakāśaḥ (ŚU 6.23). He becomes revealed. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25). He is not revealed to everyone. It requires the qualification how to become a devotee, surrendered soul. (Hindi) Your daughter, as soon as there was kīrtana, how she was dancing?

Guest: Hm.

Morning Walk -- December 4, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is Kṛṣṇa's special favor. Because by your free will you are going to hell. If Kṛṣṇa interferes, that is Kṛṣṇa's special favor. Just like a child is going to touch fire by free will, and father, "Eh, don't do it." That is his special favor.

Devotee: Jaya.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But it's called causeless mercy.

Prabhupāda: Ah? Causeless mercy. His mercy is already there, but we are denying the mercy. That is the defect of material existence.

Yaśomatīnandana: Spiritual master is the mercy of God?

Prabhupāda: Yes. God is distributing His mercy from within and from without. Without mercy is the spiritual master. Without means externally, just in front of you.

Devotee: Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpā...

Prabhupāda: Ahhh!

Morning Walk -- December 4, 1973, Los Angeles:

Devotee (2): ...we have to defeat them by prasādam.

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, we have to show them mercy. It is not a question of defeat. Just like a diseased person is talking nonsense, so doctors takes care, "All right, go on talking nonsense. Take this medicine." (devotees laugh) That is hospitalization.

Yaśomatīnandana: They're already defeated.

Prabhupāda: Yeah, already defeated by nature. Māyayāpahṛta-jñāna. That is stated, apahṛta-jñāna. Māyā is taking their all knowledge, and because māyā is taking their all knowledge, the preaching is required. (break)

Yaśomatīnandana: So why wouldn't, why couldn't they accept that such simple thing?

Prabhupāda: They're not wise. Mūḍha. Na māṁ prapadyante mūḍhāḥ (BG 7.15). Because they always engage in sinful activities. These are the sym..., cause of their disease. They're sinful, they're rascal, lowest of the mankind, and whatever knowledge they are proud of, that is māyā, and the basic principle is they're asuras, atheists.

Morning Walk -- December 9, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prajāpati: But later, lately, we've been reading in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam how Arjuna's potency was gone. He was not even able to protect Kṛṣṇa's wives. What was missing there?

Prabhupāda: No, that, that, that is a example, that without Kṛṣṇa's help, everything is useless. Otherwise, how Kṛṣṇa's wife can be stolen away by others, the plan was different. But the outward show is that without Kṛṣṇa's mercy, nothing can be successful. Even you have got the same bow, same arrows, same man. But Kṛṣṇa... We must depend... That is trust. We have to depend on Kṛṣṇa's mercy. At the same time, we have to work. That is required. It may be Arjuna was proud that "I am Arjuna. I am taking them. Who can touch them?" That proudness. You see? And might be. It is quite natural.

Morning Walk -- December 10, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Is it, is it also not the mercy of Kṛṣṇa that He has descended to incarnate(?) and...

Prabhupāda: Yes, therefore guru is called the, Kṛṣṇa's mercy-incarnation. Kṛṣṇa's mercy-incarnation is guru. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). Kṛṣṇa is so merciful, He's trying to educate from within, and outside He sends His representative to teach. So He's trying to bring all these living entities back to home, back to Godhead. Two ways, from inside, and outside. His propaganda is going on. His propaganda is going on.

Govardhana: You are just like the reservoir of mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: No mercy reservoir is Kṛṣṇa, but we are servant of Kṛṣṇa. We have to abide by his orders. That's all. Real mercy is Kṛṣṇa's. (break)

Morning Walk -- December 15, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: When? Guru or... First of all, try to understand what is the meaning of guru. Guru means heavy. So one who knows more than you, or one who knows perfectly, that, he is guru. So if you know anything perfectly, then you are guru. But if you do not know anything perfectly, then you are not a guru. You are rascal. So guru means one who knows perfectly. So if you find out somebody, that he knows everything perfectly, then he is guru. That is the first prayer of Gurvaṣṭaka. Saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam **. Everyone is in the blazing fire of this material existence. It is just like forest fire. Just like if there is fire in the forest, all the inhabitants of forest, all the animals, they become so much in perturbed condition. So guru means to rescue from this forest fire. So therefore it is said, ghanāghanatvam. A forest fire can be reduced or can be extinguished... Fire, there must be water. But wherefrom the water will come? Your fire brigade, bucket full of water, will not save. The water must come from cloud. So therefore guru is the cloud. He has taken the mercy from the ocean, or from God, and he pours the mercy. Immediately the fire is extinguished, and you are saved. This is the saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam, prāptasya... **. One who has received mercy from the Supreme, he can save. Nobody can save. Your so-called fire brigade bucket or bucket full of water will not save. That is not possible.

Morning Walk -- December 15, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prajāpati: ...śaktyāveśa-avatāra?

Prabhupāda: Guru is the mercy incarnation of God, mercy incarnation. God is kind to everyone, so He is teaching everyone from within, but still, to make it still more explicit, He sends His mercy in the form of guru.

Prajāpati: The śaktyāveśa-avatāra means Kṛṣṇa coming in a form of a living entity empowered by him for some special purpose.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Candanācārya: Guru is greater than śaktyāveśa-avatāra.

Prabhupāda: No, guru is considered as Kṛṣṇa Himself. Guru-rūpa kṛṣṇa hana avatāra. Just to teach the conditioned soul, guru comes himself, er, Kṛṣṇa comes Himself in the form of guru. Therefore we sing in the Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura's prayer, sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ: "In every śāstra, guru is accepted as directly Kṛṣṇa." Sākṣāt. Sākṣāt means directly. Sākṣād-dharitvena: As Kṛṣṇa, is accepted in every śāstra, sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktaḥ **, it is said, uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ **, and this statement is accepted by advanced devotees. It is not only statement, but it is accepted. But the next question is: "Does it mean that guru is Kṛṣṇa? Therefore no more Kṛṣṇa wanted?" No. Kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya: "Guru is exalted because he is very confidential servant of Kṛṣṇa." Here it is clear. Not that he is respected as Kṛṣṇa, therefore he has become Kṛṣṇa.

Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: By their theory of evolution, selectivity, that whatever develops, develops out of necessity, but not out of design.

Prabhupāda: No, there is design. They do not know it. Mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10). It is said in the Bhaga... Adhyakṣeṇa means "under My superintendence." That means under some plan. What is the plan of this material world? The plan of material world is that some rascals, living entities, they wanted to enjoy. So God has given this plan, "All right, you enjoy." This is the plan. And not only enjoy. "You enjoy; again come back." This is the plan. Pravṛtti-nivṛtti. First of all he is given that "All right, you take all facilities of enjoyment." Therefore Veda is that "You enjoy like this, and after you have fulfilled your enjoyment, come back again." This is God mercy.

Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It is just like the concept that if God is all-merciful, why He is so impartial, somebody making happy, somebody making suffering?

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is mercifulness. Just like when doctor says, "You don't take anything today. You fast," that is mercy. That is mercy. It is good for him. By starving, he will be cured. That is mercy. And according to Manu-saṁhitā, when a man is hanged, that is mercy. If he is hanged... He has committed murder. He should be hanged so all his sinful reaction finished. Otherwise next birth, he has to suffer. He has to be killed by somebody else.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But the tendency is that the sufferer wants to complain.

Prabhupāda: No, that they will complain. Just like when a man is ordered to be hanged, he will complain, "Just see the police, judge. He has ordered me to be hanged." That complaint will go on. Just like a child. When the doctor says, "Don't eat anything." He will complain. He will cry, "Why doctor says like that?" But it has to be done.

Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles:

Śrutakīrti: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Oh, there was big meeting of the prisoners. Kīrtana, everything, yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So by lacking the understanding, they say that God is not merciful. The sufferers. People, who are suffering, but by not knowing that it is the mercy of the Lord, we complain that God is not merciful. But he is impartial.

Prabhupāda: No, God is merciful, but this fool does not know because he is ignorant. The same thing, mother says. One child, she is feeding very sumptuously. Other one, "Oh, don't take it. You go away." Does it mean the mother is merciful to one child and not to the other? The child does not know it, he cries, "Why shall I not...? Why I shall not eat? Why I shall not eat?" So these foolish questions will be stopped as soon as one becomes God conscious.

Morning Walk -- December 20, 1973, Los Angeles:

Hṛdayānanda: Then his argument would be that he is trying to teach a lesson that the higher...

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. He may say nonsense. The fact is this. That if he is sama-darśinaḥ, equal, then why he is particularly aiming to the lower class? That means he is not sama-darśinaḥ. He has not come to the stage. He is simply talking nonsense. Sama-darśinaḥ means he is equal to everyone. That is sama-darśinaḥ. Sama-darśinaḥ does not mean to get a cheap adoration, popularity, I go to the poor. That is their Ramakrishna Mission. They also are doing that same thing. Daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā, like that. Why daridra? Why not real Nārāyaṇa? Just like this morning we read nārāyaṇa-pade. Never said daridra-nārāyaṇa-pade. To the great. Surrender does not mean to the lower. Does it mean surrender? Surrender, this relationship means that to whom I surrender, he is greater than me. And to the lower, mercy. These two words. One who is lower than me, I may show my mercy, but one who is greater than me, there is the question of surr... (break) (end)

Page Title:Mercy (Conversations 1967 - 1973)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Mayapur
Created:07 of Mar, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=50, Let=0
No. of Quotes:50