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Mistake (Lectures, Other)

Expressions researched:
"mistake" |"mistaker" |"mistakes" |"mistaking"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: mistake or mistaker or mistakes or mistaking not commit*

Lectures

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, December 27, 1972:

Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, Kṛṣṇa says: mṛ tyuḥ sarva-haraś ca aham. At the... By death, everything is taken away by Kṛṣṇa. So the modern civilization, they do not believe in the next birth. That is the basic mistake of the present civilization, that we get information that tathā dehāntaraṁ prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati. Dehāntaram. Just like we are transmigrating, even in this span of life, from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to youthhood, from youthhood to old age body. Therefore it is natural to conclude that after this old body's finished, then we get another body, transmigration of the soul. But there is no education, no enlightenment about this transmigration of the soul. But we can, if we think, ponder very deeply on this matter, how transmigration of the soul is taking place, and it is authorized, authorized statement of Bhagavad-gītā: tathā dehāntaraṁ prāptir.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 6, 1973:

So the actually our desire is that "There must be easygoing life. I shall not work very much. I shall live in a comfortable house in a secluded place and live peacefully." That is his desire. But because he does not know how to get that desire fulfilled, he is trying to get that desire fulfilled on the bodily comforts of life. This is the mistake. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). They do not know. That is the svārtha. Because, as it is said in the Vedas, God... Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. He has nothing to work. God has nothing to work for His economic development. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Na tasya sama adhikaś ca dṛśyate. And because He is God, nobody is equal to Him and nobody greater than Him.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:

Always miserable and always in ignorance. Just the opposite. So Kṛṣṇa is not like that. If we think of Kṛṣṇa like that, then it is a mistake. That Māyāvādī philosopher, they are thinking of Kṛṣṇa like that, that Kṛṣṇa is like me. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā. They are rascals, mūḍha. They are thinking there is something above Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they are mūḍhas. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Because they have no knowledge, paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. They do not know the paraṁ bhāva, the bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, they have no idea, they have no knowledge.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:

So the, Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, even it is not properly composed, but because there is anantasya, anantasya guṇani, the glorification ananta, the Supreme, śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti sādhavaḥ. Those who are sādhus, actually, they accept it. It doesn't matter if there is little grammatical mistake or some poetical discrepancies. There are literary rules and regulation. So śāstra says, it doesn't matter, even there is not perfectly, Śaṅkarācārya also says, na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛṅ-kāraṇe. You cannot be saved by simply grammatical efficiency. No. The grammatical efficiency is secondary. Real thing is how much you are feeling for Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. Nāmāny anantasya yaśo 'ṅkitāni yat śṛṇvanti gṛṇanti gāyanti sādhavaḥ.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972:

When there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is no more inferior; that is superior. So Kṛṣṇa says, apareyam itas tu vidhi me prakṛtiṁ parā. After all, any energy, prakṛti... So the Māyāvādī philosophers mistakes to elevate the living entities to the standard of puruṣa, the Supreme. But actually it is not so. It is prakṛti. Prakṛti means predominated and puruṣa means predominator. And actually, that is our position. We are not predominator. Artificially I am thinking that I am predominator. That is my illusion. I am not predominator. Nobody's predominator. Predominator is Kṛṣṇa. Mattaḥ parataro nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya. He's predominator. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate (BG 10.8).

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.1 -- Mayapur, March 25, 1975:

The Lord, His devotee, His representative, everyone, they belong to the spiritual platform, living force. Caitanya-saṁjñakam. Caitanya means living. That personification of all living forces is Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. People mistake Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu because by misfortune they understand Kṛṣṇa Caitanya as a devotee or just like so-called sādhu or yogi, like that. That is mistake. Kṛṣṇa Caitanya means the original living force, Kṛṣṇa.

So Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he understood Him. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, he understood Him. Similarly, the followers of Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, and all the Gosvāmīs, they will understand Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.11 -- Mayapur, April 4, 1975:

The purpose is punar-janma-jayāya, to conquer over repetition of birth." This is the purpose. Similarly, our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is also meant for the same purpose, punar-janma-jayāya, for conquering over repetition of birth and death. You should always remember this. A little mistake will spoil the whole scheme, little mistake. Nature is very strong. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Very, very strong. So you all, boys and girls, those who have come from America, I am very much thankful to you. But don't be less serious. Be very serious.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.14 -- Mayapur, April 7, 1975:

So to achieve strength, Kṛṣṇa is prepared to help us in so many ways. That He is pañca-tattvātmakam, He is coming as Lord Kṛṣṇa, and ordering, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Still we are making mistake; we don't accept Kṛṣṇa's word. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is coming as Caitanya Mahāprabhu, along with His associates Nityānanda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, Gadādhara Prabhu, just to teach us the same process: how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. So our real business is that, how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. And if we take shelter of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, along with His associates, then the task becomes very easy. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ (SB 11.5.32). Very easy; not at all difficult.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.8 -- Vrndavana, March 15, 1974:

So when Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, wants to enjoy ānanda, so He expands His ahladini-śakti. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). This is Vedic injunction. He has got multipotencies. So when He wants to enjoy, He expands His internal potency, ahlādinī-śakti. That is Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. Don't think Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī a ordinary girl. No. Then you will mistake. How Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, can dance with ordinary girl? No. That is not possible. Cid-vilāsī. He is enjoyer of the internal potency. That is described by Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.8 -- Vrndavana, March 15, 1974:

He is the leader of the Vrajalalanā, damsels of Vrajabhūmi. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). These gopīs, vrajalalanā, they are not ordinary girls. Then you will mistake. They are ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency, expansion of pleasure potency. Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī is the direct pleasure potency, and the all the gopīs, they are expansion of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. Therefore He is called vrajalalanā-nāgara. So don't think... You have come to Vṛndāvana. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa had rāsa dance with ordinary girls or Kṛṣṇa was ordinary man. As Kṛṣṇa was not man, He's God, similarly, the gopīs and Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī, they're internal potency of God, or Kṛṣṇa. This is... This should be understood.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.106-107 -- San Francisco, February 13, 1967:

So when you at least become the controller of the senses, then you become īśvara. Now we are controlled by the senses, but when you become actually controller of the senses, then you become īśvara. Then there will be less mistake, less illusion, less cheating, and perfection.

The Lord, God... God is out of all these imperfections. And what are the scriptures? The scriptures are the words of God. In every scripture, you'll find, "God said." In Bible it is said, "God said, 'Let there be creation.' " So therefore why God..., we are bringing God for creation? Because that will be perfect. If God said "Let there be creation," that creation will be perfect. Don't you see how this creation is perfect? We require water, so much, a large quantity.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.106-107 -- San Francisco, February 13, 1967:

Maybe Dr. Radhakrishnan, Swami Nikhilananda... All rascals because they have made minus Kṛṣṇa. They want to interpret. Similarly, they interpret Vedānta and all this minus God, minus God. So Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu warns you that "Don't go to such rascals." There is no mistake. Try to understand Bhagavad-gītā or Vedānta-sūtra or any scripture as it is. Don't try to change it.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.107-109 -- San Francisco, February 15, 1967:

So any religion which is directing to obey the Supreme Lord, that is bona fide. And anything minus or "Not to Kṛṣṇa but to me," this is a nonsense rascaldom. You see. So before studying Vedānta, we should understand this fact. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is therefore stressing on this point, that there is no cheating, there is no mistake, there is no illusion, there is no imperfectness. Then we can make progress. If we are doubtful: "Oh, Bhagavad-gītā is spoken by some Kṛṣṇa, somebody. He was learned man, philosopher. So I can point out my own point..." No. Not like that.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.109-114 -- San Francisco, February 20, 1967:

That is His... He's eating by His transcendental body. We cannot see at the present moment, but He is eating. How He's eating? Because we have got the information, "Yes, I eat." Tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ: "Anyone who is My devotee and offers in love, I take them." So that cannot be... There is no mistake. But how He is taking, how He is eating, because we are in this material body, we do not see it, but He is taking. Therefore cid-vibhūti ācchādi' tāṅre kahe 'nirākāra'.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.118-121 -- San Francisco, February 24, 1967:

He has got many planets and there are many devotees, because those fools were not able to understand. Therefore he took for the time being. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, while criticizing, I mean to say, Śaṅkarācārya, He is always taking care that "It was not the fault of Ācārya Śaṅkara, because he's Lord Śiva, and he cannot make any mistake, but he was ordered to do so for the time being. Actually, Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His body is spiritual. He is person. The difference is that He's sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). And so far the living entities are concerned, they are His energies." Energies.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.118-121 -- San Francisco, February 24, 1967:

Nārāyaṇa is never poor. Nārāyaṇa is never under ignorance. Nārāyaṇa never becomes dog. We become dog. We become cat. You should always... Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore rejects, that "This sort of philosophy propounded by Śaṅkara is a great mistake because he has minimized the value of the Supreme Lord. By making a dog a god, he has insulted God. Therefore this Māyāvāda philosophy is the most offensive activities of the living being." So you should be very, very careful, very careful. Hena jīva-tattva lañā likhi' para-tattva. "And I have just studied the ordinary living entities, and I am speaking of the Absolute Truth? Oh, this is the greatest nonsensical activity." Ācchanna karila śreṣṭha īśvara-mahattva: "By this the glorification of the Lord has been diminished, and therefore it is a great offense."

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.149-50 -- Gorakhpur, February 13, 1971:

Now, here Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that Kṛṣṇa is person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is person, but He is not a person like us. That is difference. But less intelligent persons, they think Kṛṣṇa, as soon as He is a person, "He is a person like us." That is a mistake. He is not a person like any one of us. Therefore He is confirmed by the Vedas, apāṇi-pāda javano grahītā: "This Absolute Truth has no leg or hand; still, He can walk very swiftly and He can accept anything you offer." That means His hands and legs are not like ours.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.151-154 -- Gorakhpur, February 14, 1971:

"There is another, superior energy." What is that superior energy? Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). These jīvas. So jīvas are energies. How jīvas can claim that they are God? They are energy of God. There is the mistake of Māyāvāda philosophy. Energy and the energetic, although nondifferent, still, energy is not the energetic. Just like this light is emanating from the bulb. So the illumination is there both in the bulb and the light distributed. But you cannot say that this illumination is the bulb. So Kṛṣṇa says that "These are My bhinnā-prakṛti, material energy." The earth, water, air, fire, mind, intelligence, ego—the whole material material creation is out of these eight energies. And the living entity, jīva-bhūta, that is parā prakṛti, spiritual energy.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.102 -- Baltimore, July 7, 1976:

...like that, but there is no mistake. But the (laughs) technical. So it is finished? Kene? Finished? (laughter) There was one governor, a Mr. Carmichael. So in India, in British period, every officer had to learn the local language. We were students in the Scottish Church College. Our all professors were Europeans, but during their service they had to learn Bengali. So one governor, Mr. Carmichael, he was called for presiding over a meeting. So he wanted to speak in Bengali. So he said, dekhite dekhite kimbhasa kartiya gele. So the pronunciation is galo, but he said gele. So people were smiling. (laughter) The audience, they were smiling.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.102 -- Baltimore, July 7, 1976:

So one governor, Mr. Carmichael, he was called for presiding over a meeting. So he wanted to speak in Bengali. So he said, dekhite dekhite kimbhasa kartiya gele. So the pronunciation is galo, but he said gele. So people were smiling. (laughter) The audience, they were smiling. So there are some technical. Just like we pronounce something and not to the correct current pronunciation. So, but when we are reading Bengali, let us do it, as far as possible, as the Bengalis do. That's all. Otherwise there is no mistake. Finish? Go on.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.103 -- Washington, D.C., July 8, 1976:

The goal of life is, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu will explain, that we are intimately related with God. Someway or other, we are fallen down in this material world, and we are by mistake accepting this body as self, and we are being trained up also only to see the bodily interests just like cats and dogs. The animals also, they are interested with the body only. They have no other interest. But if a human being is kept in the same darkness, simply bodily interest, that is a great disadvantage.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.108-109 -- New York, July 15, 1976:

We are trying for something which we are not. We know this word, "struggle for existence," "survival of the fittest." So this is struggle. We are not master; still, we are trying to become master. The Māyāvāda philosophy, they also undergo severe type of austerities, penances, but what is the idea? The idea is that "I shall become one with God." Same mistake. Same mistake. He's not God, but he is trying to become God. Even though he has performed so much severe austerities, vairāgya, renunciation, everything... Sometimes they give up everything of material enjoyment, go to the forest, undergo severe type of penances. What is the idea? "Now I shall become one with God." The same mistake.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.108-109 -- New York, July 15, 1976:

So māyā is very strong, that these mistakes continue even one is very advanced so-called spiritually. No. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu touches the main point immediately with His instruction. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's philosophy. Where Kṛṣṇa says the last word, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja.. (BG 18.66). He is talking on the position; He is Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is asking, demanding, "You rascal, give up everything. Just surrender to Me. Then you'll be happy." This is the last instruction of Bhagavad-gītā.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.108-109 -- New York, July 15, 1976:

"I am the Supreme Brahman." But the Vedic literature says, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, but Kṛṣṇa, or God, is Param Brahman. In the Vedas there is no such thing as ahaṁ paraṁ brahmāsmi. No. They are misusing. The... Instead of understanding... Brahman, every one of us, we are Brahman. There is no doubt about it. But unfortunately, by mistake, by illusion, I am thinking, "I am this body." So spiritual education means first of all one has to understand that ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am Brahman. I am not this body." That is the beginning of spiritual education.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.108-109 -- New York, July 15, 1976:

So bhakti is not very ordinary thing. It begins after one is liberated. The Māyāvādī says that "By bhakti one can become one with God." No. That is not bhakti. That is Māyāvāda. That is mistake. Bhakti means to understand that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa." This conviction is possible when one is brahma-bhūtaḥ. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati. Brahma-bhūta means "I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa," as it is said, sūryāṁśa-kiraṇa, yaiche agni-jvālā-caya, svābhāvika kṛṣṇera... Oh... When one understands this, that "I am... My position is eternal servant," that is brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20). Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54).

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.108-109 -- New York, July 15, 1976:

So when we accept Kṛṣṇa as our master, then we are in the Vaikuṇṭha planet. And when we do not accept... That propensity we have got, sometimes by forgetfulness or sometimes by willingly. By forgetfulness if we think that "I am master," that is also mistake. And willingly, if we reply, "Why shall I serve Kṛṣṇa? Let me become Kṛṣṇa," this Māyāvāda philosophy, "Let me become God..." So all these things are māyā. Real position to become... Not become. We are. But to become sane. Now, in madness, we are talking all this nonsense that "I am one with God. I am God." We have to be treated. This treatment is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By hearing, by chanting—ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12)—all the mistakes within our the core of our heart is dispel... Then we come to the understanding.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110-111 -- Bombay, November 17, 1975:

So here the same kṣetrajña. Kṣetrajñākhyā tathā parā. The jīva-śakti, that is also spiritual. We are all spiritual, and this is our mistake, that I am thinking "I am this body." This is ignorance. The whole world is going on under this ignorance, that "I am this body," "I am this body." Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke, sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). If we study this verse, that anyone who is under the conception of..., bodily conception—"I am this body"—then he is no better than the animal. Sa eva go-kharaḥ. Go means cow, and khara means ass. But this is going on. The whole, the so-called nationalism, nations... So what is this idea of nation?

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.118-119 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

You have taken service from Rādhārāṇī? Ohhh. You have murdered me. We don't want to take any service from Kṛṣṇa, and He has taken the opportunity, sent us... We want to simply give our service, not any exchange. Oh, you have done a great mistake. Rādhārāṇī has taken this opportunity." So he began to cry that "We have taken service from Kṛṣṇa. We have given Her trouble." This is pure devotee. They were very sorry that "Kṛṣṇa was troubled to send me all these goods."

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.137-146 -- Bombay, February 24, 1971:

Acyuta. And He does not fall down. Acyuta means thing which does not fall down. So just like we are, we are living entities, we fall down in the clutches of māyā. But Kṛṣṇa does not fall down. The Māyāvādī philosophers mistake that. They think that as we come to this material world with a material body, similarly, Kṛṣṇa also comes with a material body. No. That is not the fact. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā manuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ (BG 9.11). Mūḍha. Mūḍha means those who are not intelligent. "They think that I am also ordinary man." Therefore there is controversy, "Why I shall worship Kṛṣṇa?

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.146-151 -- New York, December 3, 1966:

Now, these universes and the brahmāṇḍas, or the Vaikuṇṭhas, they are manifestation of the energy of the Supreme Lord. God is all-pervading. "God is all-pervading" does not mean God has lost His identification. This is the mistake of the impersonalists. "Because God is everywhere, God is all-pervading; therefore there should not be any particular existence of God." This is impersonalism. But this is material thought. They do not study Vedic literature properly. In the Vedic literature it is said, pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). Just like I have several times explained before you that in the spiritual absolute identity, one minus one equal to one and one plus one equal to one.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.298 -- New York, December 20, 1966:

He has got a paramparā, disciplic succession, which is called Viṣṇu Svāmī-sampradāya. There are four sampradāyas of great devotees of Lord: one from Brahmā, one from Śiva, and one from Lakṣmī, and one from the Kumāras. So Lord Śiva, although he is in charge of the department of the modes of ignorance, but he is not ignorant. You should not mistake that. Similarly, Brahmā is also in charge of this passionate department, creative initiation. This, whatever we are creating, the creative incentive, that is from Brahmā, passion. And ignorance, they neither create... They simply destroy.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.334-341 -- New York, December 24, 1966:

And this Kṛṣṇa consciousness was preached by Lord Caitanya. When you become a lover of Kṛṣṇa, then all your loving propensities, all your desires, all your hankerings will be satisfied. And so long we do not understand what is love of Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we will love false things, and at the end we shall be frustrated. That is the going on. At every step we are being frustrated; still, we do not leave that path. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). We are repeating the same mistake, same mistake, in every step.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.36-40 -- San Francisco, January 23, 1967:

When Kṛṣṇa was present five thousand years before, not that everyone could see Him, because they had no such eye. Suppose if President Johnson comes before us immediately, but if you have no acquaintance, if you have no information of the feature of President Johnson or something, even if he is present we cannot see. We'll think, "Oh, he may be an ordinary gentleman. As others come, he has also come." Similarly, unless we know about Kṛṣṇa by the symptoms... There are two mistakes: to understand God as common man or to accept a common man as God. Both things are mistake. So one has to understand. That understanding is there in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, April 30, 1970:

That he is forgetting. The modern civilization, they do not care for God because people are superior than matter. They are simply trying to exploit matter in different way. But they are forgetting that we, either we may be American or Russian or China or India, we are all subordinate to God. This is the mistake. Kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vāñchā kare. They have forgotten Kṛṣṇa, and they want to enjoy this material world. This is their disease. Now our duty is to invoke their Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that "You are superior." That's all right. But you are subordinate to Kṛṣṇa. You cannot enjoy, but you can... Just like we have decorated this temple not for our sense gratification.

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 9-10 -- Los Angeles, May 14, 1970:

"One who has accepted this combination of bile, mucus, and air as self, he is an ass." Yes. Actually, this is the fact. If we accept this combination of bile, mucus, and air as myself... So intelligent person, a very great philosopher, very great scientist, does it mean that he's a combination of bile, mucus and air? No. This is the mistake. He's different from this bile or mucus or air. He's soul. And according to his karma, he's exhibiting, manifesting his talent. So they do not understand this karma, the law of karma. Why we find so many different personalities? If it is a combination of bile, mucus, and air, why they are not similar? So they do not cultivate this knowledge. Why there are dissimilarities?

Festival Lectures

Gundica Marjanam Cleansing of the Gundica Temple, Lecture (the day before Ratha-yatra) -- San Francisco, July 4, 1970:

He is not born, but He appeared as the son. God is never born. Unborn. Therefore the Māyāvādī philosophers, they mistake to know Kṛṣṇa. They think that Kṛṣṇa is born, then how He can be God? But actually, Kṛṣṇa was not born from the womb of His mother. He appeared in four hands before His mother, and the mother was afraid that "My brother Kaṁsa, was awaiting to kill God, and now God is here in four hands. Immediately he'll kill."

Ratha-yatra -- San Francisco, June 27, 1971:

We have no information, but if we practice this bhakti-yoga system, gradually we understand what I am. I am not this body. This, generally even big, big scholars, big, big philosophers, scientists, they are also in the concept of this body. Everyone is thinking, "I am the body," but that is mistake. We are not this body. Just I explain. Body means the senses, but the senses are controlled by the mind, and the mind is controlled by the intelligence, and the intelligence is controlled by the soul. That you do not know. There is no educational system throughout the whole world how to understand the existence of soul, which is the prime necessity of understanding for the human being.

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Bhagavad-gita 7.5 Lecture -- Vrndavana, August 11, 1974:

Nowadays, by scientific advancement, they are making so many tunnels within the big, big mountain. Big, big ocean, they are making tunnel. They are drilling oil. Controlling. Therefore superior energy. But that does not mean they have become God. That is mistake. God is different. God is Kṛṣṇa, the supreme controller. He's controller of the material energy and the superior energy. This should be the conclusion. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). And the... Because... That will be explained in the next verse.

Because the superior energy is controlling the material energy... Or trying to control. Not controlling, but trying to control.

Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 30, 1968:

Do you think these lakṣmīs are material women? How Kṛṣṇa can take pleasure in the material women? No. This is mistake. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). In the Brahma-saṁhitā you'll find that He expands His ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, the mellow of transcendental pleasure potency. And these gopīs are expansion of His pleasure potency. And Rādhārāṇī is the center. Rādhārāṇī is the center. So Rādhārāṇī is not... Don't take that Rādhārāṇī is an ordinary woman like we have our wife or sister or mother. No.

Varaha-dvadasi, Lord Varaha's Appearance Day Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 31, 1977:

Kṛṣṇa is also enjoying with the calves. Sometimes with other animal also. Same thing is there. It is simply imitation here. Otherwise, everything is there in the spiritual world. We are mistaking, here, karma-phala-vadya (?). But here is no inebrieties, in the spiritual world. Here it is full of inebrieties. You'll see that Kṛṣṇa is enjoying with the gopīs but there is no inebriety. There is no pregnancy, there is no abortion. That is the beauty. And the material world the love turns into lusty desires and it entails so many difficulties. Yan-maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham (SB 7.9.45). Here sex life means entailed with so many sufferings.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Evening -- Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971:

So the Māyāvādī philosophers, they mistake that "Param Brahman or myself—all the same." No. That is not the fact. Therefore, without having shelter of the Param Brahman, he falls down again in this material world. Ārūhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta yuṣmad aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Because he has no information of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, he falls down again to the material platform. So just like pendulum, the clock pendulum, tock, tock, tock—sometimes he's renouncer and sometimes he's enjoyer.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

And I got a son also at that time, 1921. And in 1922 I met him. At that time I was manager in a big chemical factory. So I thought that "I am married man. I have got so many responsibilities. How I can join immediately? It is not my duty." Of course, that was my mistake. I should have joined immediately. (laughter) I should have taken the opportunity immediately. But māyā is there. So I thought like that. So that's a long history. Then in 1954, no, not 1954, 1968, when I was fifty-four years old... Nineteen fifty-four, yes. Nineteen fifty-four, I was at that time fifty-eight years. So I left home, and I was living alone. Then, 1958, I took sannyāsa, and then I decided to take up the responsibility of my Guru Mahārāja. I thought that "My other Godbrothers are trying, so I am not capable to do it. They are better situated."

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Lecture -- Los Angeles, June 29, 1971:

"And the land in which we have taken birth, that is worshipable." People are sacrificing their life in so many ways. The leaders are enthusing them, "Oh, you are national of this, national of that." Falsely they are working so hard. This is the basic principle, mistake, of the modern civilization—identifying oneself with this body, which he's not. So by Kṛṣṇa kīrtana, this bodily concept of life is..., in the beginning it becomes vanquished. A tacit example: you are all boys. You have forgotten that this body is Indian or American. You are Kṛṣṇa's. This is the first installment. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam (CC Antya 20.12). If this bodily concept of life is removed, immediately all the problems of the world solved. Immediately.

Arrival Lecture -- Los Angeles, June 29, 1971:

All these great writers, thoughtful men, philosophers, politicians, diplomats, and the United Nations, they are trying to solve the problems of the world, but they are increasing the problems. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās (SB 7.5.31). How they can mitigate? It is not possible, because the basic principal mistake is there.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam (CC Antya 20.12). Bhava, bhava means this material world. Bhava means to become. Bhava and abhava. You take some, accept some body, that is bhava: "I become." And keep myself in this body for some years, utmost hundred years. Then again abhava.

Arrival Address -- Detroit Airport, July 16, 1971:

It has become very satisfactory that so many devotees, boys and girls, are taking part in this great movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It is very important movement because it is correcting the human civilization. There is a great defect in the modern civilization, and people are accepting this body as self, and based on this mistake in the foundation, everything is going wrong. The basic principle of civilization—accepting this body as the soul—is the beginning of all problems. The great philosophers, scientists, theologists and thoughtful men, they do not know what is the defect. Recently I was in Moscow. I had a talk with a big professor of Indology, Professor Kotovsky. So he was speaking that "Swamijī, after this finishing, annihilation of this body, everything is finished."

Arrival Talk in Room -- Mayapur, March 23, 1975:

All of them are going to Russia to take birth. Yes. Not Russian people are bad. That is a mistake. Some of them. Some people are good. That I have experienced. Otherwise how... (aside:) Don't do that. Otherwise how that Anatole came to become my...? And there are many like that, mostly like him. It is by artificial suppression that it has been advertised, "The Russian people are all Communist." That's not fact. That's not fact. Simply some rogues and thieves and demons, by threats... It is a country of, what is called? Terrorism. A terror. People have decided to leave this country, but they cannot leave. Mostly Russians, they want to leave that country, and some of them already done so.

Arrival Address -- Denver, June 27, 1975:

As it sung by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, similarly, you know that Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, he also has sung many song, approved songs. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's songs are Vedic evidence. All Vaiṣṇavas, songs are like that, Vedic evidence. There is no mistake, cheating, imperfectness or illusion. Conditioned soul, they are manufacturing by mental concoction. That is another thing. They are full of imperfection, illusion, mistake and cheating. But when we hear songs by the Vaiṣṇava, that is for liberation.

Arrival Talk -- Aligarh, October 9, 1976:

Prabhupāda: Yes. At least, the children should be... Therefore I'm starting that Gurukula in Vṛndāvana. So you come, you manage that take the ideas, and make your children... Whatever mistake is done is done. Now why the mistake should continue? Rectify it.

Indian man: (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: Then kick out secularism. Kick out secularism. Science, it is science.

Indian man: Science is nothing. What is God, what is nature, what is soul.

Indian man (1): You don't give it the name of one particular way. You simply deal it with the basic idea of transforming the human...

Arrival Talk -- Aligarh, October 9, 1976:

"Take the whole mountain. Execute the order. And then Rāmacandra and Lakṣmana, They'll find out what is that medicine." So this is Vaiṣṇava. In one's own capacity he should give the best service to the Lord. That is bhakti. Bhakti is not laziness. If somebody thinks that "The bhaktas are lazy fellows and they are out of the worldly activity," that is mistake. It is mistake. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). Kṛṣṇa says personally, yat karoṣi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat tapasyasi yat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam: "Come on! Do it for Me." That is bhakti.. He does not say that "You become a lazy fellow, give up your occupational duty, and sleep, and snore, and become a great devotee." No. He never says. He says that "You are attached to this kind of work.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Satyabhama Dasi and Gayatri Initiation of Devotees Going to London -- Montreal, July 26, 1968:

Therefore the people are missing the center. They are trying to satisfy one another, but nobody is satisfied. And by illusion they cannot understand this mistake. Everyone is very much proud: "Oh, I am serving my country." And he does not know what somebody, his countrymen, will come and kill him. You see? He does not know that. This is māyā. So one should be intelligent to serve Kṛṣṇa. This prayer Hare Kṛṣṇa means "Kṛṣṇa, I am so much harassed by this service of this māyā. Now please engage me in Your service." This is our prayer. And as soon as I am engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, then I will be satisfied, Kṛṣṇa will be satisfied, and the whole world will be satisfied. So nobody should interpret any other way.

Talk, Initiation Lecture, and Ten Offenses Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 1, 1968:

So we should not place... Just like demigod, Lord Brahmā or Lord Śiva, Indra, Candra, they are demigods. So we should not place... In one sense, there is nothing except God, because everything expansion of God. But that does not mean I am equal to God. I am also expansion of God, that's a fact. Just like father and the son. Son is the expansion of father; still, the son is not the father. Don't mistake that. There is no difference between father and son because the same body is expanded as son, but still, the son is not the father. Father is father, son is son. This, I mean to say, variety, the Māyāvādī philosophers, they do not understand. Then?

Talk, Initiation Lecture, and Ten Offenses Lecture -- Los Angeles, December 1, 1968:

Then? But we should always accept the injunction of the scripture as truth. Just like there is a proverb, "Bible truth," "Biblical truth." Nobody can deny Bible. This should be the attitude. Bible is also part of Vedas. Therefore Vedic injunction should be accepted as it is, without any interpretation. Just like Bhagavad-gītā is Veda. Why Veda? The Supreme Personality of Godhead personally speaking; therefore it is Veda. There is no mistake. One should accept—no interpretation—as it is. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Yes. Go on.

Initiation Lecture and Bhagavan dasa's Marriage Ceremony -- New Vrindaban, June 4, 1969:

Because you have got American beautiful body... Sometimes I meet some American gentlemen. They are under impression that India is a starving country. Accepting that India is starving country, but does it mean that America is a very happy country? No. That is their mistake. They simply think that "Because we have got enough money, therefore we are in happiness." No. If there is happiness, why the young boys and girls become hippies? No. Happiness is different. So long you have got this material body, there is no question of happiness, either this American body or Indian body. That they do not know.

Initiation Lecture -- Hamburg, August 27, 1969:

Therefore immediately, if we try to understand Kṛṣṇa by His picture, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is embracing Rādhārāṇī or the gopīs," we shall mistake. Because unless our senses are purified, we shall accept Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī as ordinary young boy or girl and their dealings. But actually it is not. It is pure. Caitanya-caritāmṛta kar has distinguished that the loving affairs of the gopīs with Kṛṣṇa and the ordinary, these lustful dealings of human beings, there is a gulf of difference. He compares that the gopīs' love with Kṛṣṇa is gold, and our so-called love here is iron. As there is difference between gold and iron, similarly there is difference between the loving affairs of gopīs with Kṛṣṇa and these mundane, so-called lusty affairs between men and women or boys and girls. It is never equal.

General Lectures

Lecture at Engagement -- Boston, May 8, 1968:

God is great; you are minute. He is infinite; you are infinitesimal. Qualitatively one, but quantitatively different. So those who are simply accepting the feature of being qualitatively one, they are called Advaitavādis. They are mistaking that quantitatively they cannot be equal. If quantitatively the living entity is equal to God, then why he is fallen in this conditional life of material existence? That means being his constitutional position very infinitesimal, he is prone to be caught up by the influence of māyā. And if you say that you are also the Supreme, then how you are caught by the māyā?

Lecture at a School -- Montreal, June 11, 1968:

So the basic principle of mistake... Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke. According to Vedic literature, this body is prepared in three elements: fire, water, and clay. So I am not the combination of fire, water, and clay. Then I am this house, I am this room. So yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). So basic principle of my knowledge is false, that I am considering this material body as "I am." And if the basic principle is wrong, then, in relationship with this body, because I am born in this land of America... "I am born" means my body is born.

Lecture -- Montreal, June 26, 1968:

So he jumped on the water, and when coming out of the water he brought the shirt and coat: "Now I have saved the man." The so-called service, or any service which is going on, that is serving the shirt and coat. Nobody is serving the soul. That is the mistake of modern civilization. There are many hospitals to cure the bodily diseases, but there is no hospital to cure the disease of the soul.

Lecture Excerpt -- Montreal, July 18, 1968:

The... Just like the same example, the sunshining, sun and the sun-god, they are one and the same. But when you are in the sunshine, you cannot say that you are seeing the sun-god. That will be mistake. But one who is in association with the sun-god, he's already in the sun planet, he is in front of the sun-god, and he is in sunshine. Is that clear? Yes. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Advaya-jñāna. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam (SB 1.2.11). Advayam, that light, is everywhere. Either sunshine or sun planet or sun-god, there is light. There is no darkness. Similarly, either you remain in the impersonal Brahman or absorbed in Paramātmā or in association with the Supreme Personality, it is all spiritual stage.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 4, 1968:

So He went, and when He went He went to Advaita's home. Then He saw, "You have misled Me. You have brought Me at Your home. It is not Vṛndāvana. How is that?" "All right, Sir, You have come by mistake, so...," (laughter) "please remain here." So He immediately sent one man to His mother. Because He knew that Caitanya Mahāprabhu has accepted sannyāsa; He's never coming back again to home. So His mother is mad after the son. He was the only son. So He gave a chance to His mother to see Him for the last time. That was arranged by Advaita. So when mother came, Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately fell down on the feet of His mother.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 4, 1968:

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu tried to pacify her with very nice words. He said, "My dear mother, this body is given by you, so I should have engaged My body in your service. But I am your foolish son. I have done some mistake. Please excuse Me." So that scene is very pathetic—separation between mother and son. (long pause) All right, chant. Chant loudly. Loudly. (kīrtana) (prema-dhvanī) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Today's kīrtana?

Class in Los Angeles -- Los Angeles, November 15, 1968:

All these material varieties, they want to make it zero. That is Buddha philosophy. Māyāvāda philosophy is more or less like that. It is a second edition of Buddha philosophy. Zero, but that zero is without life. Māyāvāda philosophy says, "Yes, that zero, but with life." That is the mistake. If there is life, then there must be varieties. Life without variety is not possible. Dead body without variety, not life without variety. So these are the defects of all other philosophies. They're not defects, but the class of people amongst whom the philosophy was taught, they could not understand more than that. That's all.

Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969:

"What is the significance of the food that is eaten at ISKCON kīrtanas?" The significance of our food: not exactly vegetarian or nonvegetarian. Don't mistake. We simply take what is offered to Kṛṣṇa. That's all. So Kṛṣṇa can be offered anything? No. Just like if some guest comes to your house, you ask, "How can I serve you? What foodstuff you'll like to eat?" He says, "I like this." "All right." Similarly, we are order-carrier of Kṛṣṇa. We ask Kṛṣṇa, "What do You want to eat?" And Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "Give me vegetable, fruits, liquids. I shall be very much pleased." So we offer Kṛṣṇa fruits, grains, milk, and their preparation. They're very nice. If you come here and eat with us, you'll forget meat-eating. You see? It is so nice. So our proposition is not that vegetarian-nonvegetarian.

Lecture 'Nobody Wants to Die' -- Boston, May 7, 1968:

Young woman: ...mistakes.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Young woman: No one, but she may also make mistakes.

Prabhupāda: That is your misfortune. If your mother misleads you, gives you misinformation, then that is your misfortune, but there is no other way to know who is your father except your mother.

Lecture at Krsna Niketan -- Gorakhpur, February 16, 1971:

Similarly, as the Deity is arcā-vigraha, incarnation... This Deity which you are worshiping as the arcā-vigraha, arcā means worshipable incarnation. Because we cannot see Kṛṣṇa with our present eyes, material eyes; therefore it is Kṛṣṇa's mercy that He has appeared before us in a form which we can see. That is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. It is not that Kṛṣṇa is different from this Deity. That is mistake. Those who cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa's potency, they think that this is idol, and therefore they say "Idol worship." It is not idol worship. The same example, as I have given many times, that the postbox, or mailbox on the street, it is post office.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 6, 1971:

And there were two great battles: fight with Rāvaṇa and Kurukṣetra fighting. In these two fightings the heroes were Vaiṣṇavas: Hanumānjī and Arjuna. They are still worshiped as the great Vaiṣṇavas, Vajrāṅgajī and Arjuna. So it is a mistake. Here is the definition of bhakti: tat-paratvena nirmalam, "When your senses are purified by devotional service." Not that your senses are wiped out in mukti. No. The senses are there. It cannot be wiped out. Simply it is purified. Just like if you have got some disease—the same example—in your finger, it is painful.

Lecture -- Detroit, July 16, 1971:

That is perfection of life." The whole world, especially the Western country, their ideology, philosophy, is this, hedonism. "Enjoy this life very comfortably, as nicely as possible." But that is a great defect and great mistake. Those who are in gross sense enjoyment platform, it is very difficult for them to understand. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayāpahṛta-cetasām (BG 2.44). Those who are too much attached to material sense enjoyment, bhoga... Bhoga means material sense enjoyment. And roga, roga means which puts impediments to sense enjoyment, or diseased condition.

Lecture -- Visakhapatnam, February 18, 1972:

It is not very difficult. Anyone can do provided he does not make the mistake adulterating the statements of Bhagavad-gītā. Those who are adulterating, interpreting in a different way this Bhagavad-gītā, they are very mischievous. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa has already declared, na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). Duṣkṛtinaḥ. Those who are not surrendered to Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, they have been described by Kṛṣṇa Himself as Duṣkṛtinaḥ, mischievous. Narādhama, the lowest of the mankind. Mūḍhā, asses, rascals.

Lecture -- Tokyo, May 1, 1972:

What is that? Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ: "I am the supreme enjoyer of everything." Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka maheśvaram: "I am the proprietor of everything." Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam: (ISO 1) "God is the proprietor of all planets." But we are claiming that "I am proprietor. We are proprietor, nationally." That is our mistake. Actually, everything belongs to God. Now, the Japanese claiming that "Japan is our country." Indians are claiming, "India is our country." But nothing belongs either to the Japanese or to the Indians or to the Americans. Everything belongs to God. This consciousness is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If we understand three things only, that God is the only proprietor, Kṛṣṇa is the only proprietor, He is the only enjoyer, and we are simply servant to help Him in His enjoyment... The highest perfection is found in Vṛndāvana.

Lecture -- Laguna Beach, September 30, 1972:

So there was no difference. It would have taken little more time. But we are thinking, because we have got this motorcar instead of a bullock cart, we are advanced in civilization. That is the mistake. Because either you travel on a bullock cart or in a motorcar, your business is to transport from one place to another, that's all. It may save some time. You may feel some extra pleasure. No pleasure actually. Rather, bullock cart is comfortable because this motorcar, you are always thinking, "There may not be any accident." Yes. Always they are afraid. And there is happening accident. Recently one of our devotee has died. So many people are dying.

Lecture -- Laguna Beach, September 30, 1972:

You, me—every one of us—is encaged within this body. I am spirit soul; you are spirit soul. That is the Vedic injunction. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am Brahman." That means spirit. Not Para-brahman. Don't mistake. Para-brahman is God. We are Brahman, part and parcel of God, fragments, but not the Supreme. Supreme is different. Just like you are American, but the supreme American is your president, Mr. Nixon. But you cannot say that "Because I am American, therefore I am Mr. Nixon." That you cannot say. Similarly, you, me, every one of us, Brahman, but that does not mean we are Para-brahman.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 5, 1972:

Then where is the distinction...? Just like animal eating on the floor. We are eating on the chair and table our nicely prepared foodstuff. But you are eating. So at the present moment, we are thinking that because we are eating on tables and chairs, we advance. That is our mistake. That is no advance. Eating... The benefit of eating, whatever you eat or the animal eats, it is the same. Eating means to maintain the body and soul together. So by advancing in the modes of eating, that does not mean advancement of civilization. Advancement in the modes of sleeping, that does not mean advancement of civilization. Similarly, advancement in the modes of sexual intercourse, it does not mean the advancement of civilization.

Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce 'Culture and Business' -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973:

Next life there is no guarantee that I'm going to be Birla or this man, Tata. No. There is no such guarantee. That we do not take care. We are taking care of the small span of life, but we are not taking care of our life eternal. That is mistake. Suppose in this life I am a very great businessman. Next life, by my karma, if I become something else... There are 8,400,000 species of life, forms of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Nine lakhs of forms of life in the water. Then there are insects. Sthāvarā lakṣa... There are trees, plants, two million forms of trees and plants. Kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Eleven lakhs' species of insects, reptiles. Then birds.

Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce 'Culture and Business' -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973:

"Please engage me in Your service. I am serving māyā. I am not happy. Therefore, please engage me in Your..." My, my constitutional position is to serve. Just like you're all sitting here. Every one of you are servant. If you consider that you are master, that is a mistake. That is māyā. Every one of you are servant. So "I am serving, but now I am serving māyā. I'm not happy. Let me serve You." This is the meaning of Hare Kṛṣṇa. So if it means that, there is no objection. It is a question of language. It does mean (indistinct). Of course, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says the, the person whose name we chant, holy name, in each, in each holy Allah, or something like that, that is not objected if it is actually meaning the Supreme.

Lecture -- Jakarta, February 26, 1973:

There cannot be any existing. It is only perverted reflection of that pleasure potency of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. It is only perverted reflection. It is not false. It is temporary, perverted. Just like the example is sometimes given to mistake a rope as snake. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they give. They say it is māyā. But it is not māyā. When you mistake a snake as..., mistake a rope as a snake, that is not māyā. That is illusion. You can call it māyā. But the snake is there. You cannot say, because it is rope, therefore there is no snake. No. Snake is there. Otherwise, how it comes to the idea of snake? The snake is a fact, but you are mistaking the rope as snake. That is your mistake.

Lecture -- Jakarta, February 28, 1973:

He's also living entity, just... Kṛṣṇa comes just like ordinary human being, and He works also with us, but that does not mean that Kṛṣṇa is like us. No. That is a mistake. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ, paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ (BG 9.11). This is stated, that "Those who are mūḍha"—mūḍha means rascal or asses—"they think that I am also equal to them or they're equal to..." Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā. They deride, they think "Kṛṣṇa is as good as I am."

Lecture -- Jakarta, February 28, 1973:

God is Brahman, Para-brahman, and you are Brahman also. Just like your part and parcel of the body, finger, that is of the same material as your whole body, the same blood, same skin, same bone. Similarly, we are already all Brahman. There is no mistake. Actually you want to be situated in His position. He knows that "I'm Brahman." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. So 'ham. So 'ham means "I'm as good as Kṛṣṇa and God." That we know. Simply by our material understanding we cannot realize it. Actually we are Brahman. Therefore this Brahman realization is being explained by Kṛṣṇa. This is Brahman. Brahman means sanātana, eternal. "My dear Arjuna, you also existed, I also existed in the past, because we are Brahman." Otherwise matter does not exist eternally.

Pandal Speech and Question Session -- Delhi, November 10, 1973:

When people are become like cats and dogs, the bodily concept of life, and working whole day and night without any spiritual understanding, without the aim of life... So this human life is not meant for that purpose. This is the mistake. It is not that the dogs and cats are eating in a different way. Now we eat in a nice table, in nice plate, and very nicely dressed, and you are eating... But eating process is there. Either you nicely eat or wrongly eat, but you have to fulfill your bell(y) and satisfy your hunger. That is not advancement of civilization. To eat nicely, to sleep nicely, to defend nicely and to have sexual life nicely, that is not advancement of civilization. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca sāmānyam etat paśubhiḥ narāṇām. Sexual intercourse with beautiful woman and sexual intercourse with the female dog, the pleasure is the same.

Public Lecture -- Konigstein, Germany, June 19, 1974:

...because it is full of cheating, full of mistake, full of illusion, imperfectness, then how you can understand the thing or the person who is beyond your perception? That is not possible. Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. This is Vedic instruction, that "Things which are beyond your perception, don't try to understand by this foolish argument and logic." Don't try to understand. Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā. Acintya means beyond your conception. Cintya means within you perception, and acintya means beyond your conception. Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa.

Lecture at St. Pascal's Franciscan Seminary -- Melbourne, June 28, 1974:

We are requesting only, "Please be God conscious." So God's propaganda is going on in so many ways to recall all these, I mean to say, bewildered sons of God, those who have forgotten. Naturally... Just like the father. He loves the son more than the son loves the father. Because as father, if one son has gone out of home, madness, he wants to live independently of the father, so he may think like that, crazy. But father, he says that "This rascal has gone. Some way or other, bring him. Let him live peacefully here. I have got immense property. Why he goes outside to live independently?" So that is his mistake, the son's mistake. The father is always anxious to get the son back to home, back to Godhead.

Lecture on Science of Krsna -- Hyderabad, April 14, 1975:

That I am pointing out. That is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ourself. We are bound up by the laws and regulation of karma. But Kṛṣṇa is not like that. Yes. That is the difference. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spṛhā (BG 4.14). He's not bound up by the karma. But we take sometimes, mistake, that Kṛṣṇa is like us. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). They are mūḍhas. They do not know it, what is Kṛṣṇa. They think Kṛṣṇa as a human being like us. That is mūḍha. Therefore they do not surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mudhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). So they remain narādhama. They do not make any progress.

Lecture on Science of Krsna -- Hyderabad, April 14, 1975:

Prabhupāda: That's all right. If there is sense... If there is sense that Lord Śiva is Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel, then it is all right. But if he thinks Lord Śiva is separate authority, then it is mistake. Kṛṣṇa says... What is that śloka? Verse, you recite? Ye yathā mām...

Guest: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: That is "I," Kṛṣṇa. That is "I," Kṛṣṇa. If you understand this demigod... Just like this finger. If you understand this finger belongs to Swamijī, then you are correct. And if you think that this finger is separate power, that is incorrect. This finger is powerful so long attached to the body.

Address to Rotary Club -- Chandigarh, October 17, 1976:

So our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to rectify this mistake. Bhagavad-gītā is the most authorized scripture in the Vedic literature. Vedic literature means it is not spoken by any ordinary human being. Apaureṣaya means this literature, Vedic literature, is spoken directly by the Supreme Person or Lord. So it was instructed through Brahmā, Lord Brahmā. Tene brahma hṛda ādi-kavaye. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Oṁ namo bhāgavate vāsudevāya. These are the Vedānta philosophy's beginning. The Vedānta philosophy begins with the word athāto brahma jijñāsā. This human form of life is meant for inquiring about Brahman.

Morning Lecture -- Allahabad, January 15, 1977:

So you'll get so many mahātmās who are declaring atheism: "There is no God. I am God. You are God. Where you are searching out God? The God is loitering in the street, the daridra-nārāyaṇa." If you associate with such mahātmā, so-called... They are not mahātmās. They are durātmās. So be careful that you may not mistake who is mahātmā. Mahātmā, very simple thing: mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (BG 9.13). Mahātmā has nothing to do with this material world. They are under the care of daivī-prakṛti, spiritual world. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivī prakṛti... (BG 9.13), bhajanty ananya-manaso. The symptom is that he's fully engaged in serving Kṛṣṇa. Mām. Kṛṣṇa is original, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

General Lecture -- (location & date unknown):

It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, ajo 'pi. Ajo 'pi: "I am never..." You are also not born, every one of us. Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, spirit soul, so nobody is born. Na jāyate na mriyate vā: "Nobody takes birth; nobody dies." Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit: "At any time." These things are there. And Kṛṣṇa, about Himself, He says, ajo 'pi: "Although I am unborn." Ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san: "Although I am unborn." So Kṛṣṇa is never born. Just like in the morning there is sunrise. If you say the sun is born, that is mistake. Sun is seen. He is not born.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: My point is that he says that there are two types of truth. No. There cannot be two types of truth. That is my protest. I say there is only one truth. When you think two types of truth, then you are mistaken. Then same thing: when you think that two plus two equals five, then you are mistaken. Two plus two is always four. That is truth. Similarly, snow is white always. That is truth. When you think it is red, it is untruth. But you cannot say it is another type of truth. Mistake cannot be accepted as another type of truth. Mistake is mistake.

Philosophy Discussion on David Hume:

Śyāmasundara: He says that there is no such thing as a cause-and-effect relationship. Just like, for example, we associate friction with heat, but he says that it's a mistake to assume that friction causes heat or possesses any power which must inevitably produce heat. He says that it is a mere repetition of two incidents, so that the effect habitually attends the cause, but it is not necessarily a consequence of it. So the fact that I rub my hands together and there is heat produced, I am used to assuming that the friction causes heat, but he says that it is not necessarily so. Whenever there is friction, there is heat, but that is only because they are associated with each other, not that one causes the other.

Prabhupāda: Then how are they associated?

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Śyāmasundara: He says but the mind makes a mistake to apply these categories of reason to achieve transcendental knowledge. Because it realizes the futility of this...

Prabhupāda: This must be. One who goes with mental speculation, he must fail. Therefore our process is not mental speculation—to receive knowledge from the perfect.

Śyāmasundara: So he says that man tends to create ideas about the universe which transcend the bounds of experience, and this is what he calls the third stage, or the transcendental dialectic. He says these ideas which transcend the bounds of experience are the realm of pure reason. He calls it pure reason, or transcendental reason. And these are not fictions, but these spring from the very nature of reason itself, these transcendental ideas.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: That is the nature. Even a hog, pig, he is living so abominable. Still, when he is captured for being killed, he cries. He does not think that "My body is so low-grade that I have to eat stool, I live in filthy place, in a very bad smell, and I am trying to save my, this body?" But he cries. So this is called māyā. Although his body is so abominable, he wants to protect it perpetually. This tendency is there because the living entity has actually..., he is perpetual living condition. He wants that, but he wants that in this material body. That is his mistake.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: If you are not going right in the angle, say for example he has to go..., he's coming down so he has to go at 45-degree angles, slanting; he has to go 45-degree angle, but it changed by mistake, say 47 degree angles, then it will never come down. He'll be just circulating around, floating.

Prabhupāda: So, in the (indistinct) stage, we are dependent on the laws of nature, and we still, we are declaring we are free from any control. We are making our own proposition and theories.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: But where is the conquest of nature? Now if there is a mistake of two degrees, you have to go round forever. What is the independence? Vikathante. The exact word used in this connection in the Bhāgavata, that these people talks all nonsense, vikatha. Under the influence of illusory energy they have become mad, and they are talking all nonsense.

Śyāmasundara: I didn't know we were going to have a class today, but for the next class I wanted to read that article about heredity, genetics, how they think that they might be able to reproduce life in the future.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: "Oh, you will see there are so many. What is yours you can take back." And he picks up, "Sir, this is my bundle," "All right, take it." He's unknown, but simply he comes and says that "I dropped one bundle here which does not belong to you. By mistake I dropped it," and I say, "Yes. So many bundles there are, you can take whatever is yours." This was the transaction. Then on the due payment day, those who supplied the cloths, they come to take payment and they say, "Sir, on such and such day, such and such cloth was supplied to you." No voucher, nothing. I open my book: "Yes, yes. That's all right." So he says that "This is the price and so much money is due payment." So he calculates, "Yes." So he pays the money and then, when taking money, he puts a stamp and he signs on the book. Now in the meantime, so many transactions we'll see, how much faithfully it was going on.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They never think about that. That's why they are trying to find out so many things, because they think that when somebody tries to make something medicine or some compound, they try so many ways and means, and sometimes, when they are at a loss, they say, "O God, please give me (indistinct)." They do not know where it comes from, how this can be made. They try so many ways in making a compound. Sometimes they have to take a hundred or two hundred mistakes, and sometimes they will never get the compound. Ultimately when they are all disappointed, they say, "O God, please help me." So ordinarily the final conclusion is everybody (indistinct) supreme being.

Prabhupāda: And that is natural because, after all, God gives him his intelligence. It is stated in Bhagavad-gītā: mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: (BG 15.15) "It is from Me." Apohanaṁ ca. He was forgetting. That was also..., God was not giving the chance, and he prays to God, then God is kind: "All right, do it like that." That is the statement in Bhagavad-gītā.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Just like a computer cannot correct a mistake. They'll just give a message that it's wrong. That's all.

Śyāmasundara: No. They have correction. They have correction.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. Even they... But ultimately the mechanic (is) able to work on the computer machine.

Śyāmasundara: But what about this artificially changing bodies before they are born, before they are growing?

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Hayagrīva: From this, Bergson concludes that we are evolving, that we learn from an accumulation of experience, that we cannot, in a sense, repeat the same mistake twice. He writes, "From this survival of the past, it follows that consciousness cannot go through the same state twice. Circumstances may still be the same, but they will act no longer on the same person since they find him in a new moment of his history. Our personality, which is being built up each instant with its accumulated experience, changes without ceasing. Thus our personality shoots, grows and ripens without ceasing."

Prabhupāda: No. There is no cessation because the soul is eternal, so his consciousness is also eternal. But it is changing according to the circumstances, association, time, place, and the party changes.

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Prabhupāda: So this is going on. So-called philosophy, scientific advancement, but the central mistake is there that he is thinking in terms of his body. That has to be corrected. Then it will be pure consciousness and normal life.

Hayagrīva: Now let me get this right. He doesn't say that it's a machine for the making..., that man becomes... He's not saying that man becomes God. He never says that.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Prabhupāda: Oh! That's all right. No. I thought if it's dropped somewhere.

Devotee: She said Karandhara had made a mistake. She told him $400 and he said $500.

Prabhupāda: Oh. That's all right.

Śyāmasundara: Today we will finish up John Stuart Mill, by discussing his ethical, social and political philosophy...

Prabhupāda: Somebody was typing this, you told me, this philosophy?

Śyāmasundara: Two girls.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Prabhupāda: No, sex life is animal. That is not love; that is lust. We always repeatedly say, sex life is lust. That is not love. Here is real love, that "They are suffering for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Let us do something so that they may understand the values of life." Here is love. Sex, simply means you satisfy your senses and the other party satisfies her senses. That is sex. That is lust. You are lusty, she is lusty, that is all. There is no love. That is going on in the name of love. Rascaldom. That is not love. It is lust; they do not know it. Lusty thing has been accepted as love. Mistake. Bhrama, pramāda. Bhrama, mistake. Illusion. Illusion is accepted as something else. Lust is accepted as love. This is illusion.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Śyāmasundara: He says that human life must be some kind of mistake, that the greatest crime of man is that he was ever born.

Prabhupāda: So that's all right, there must be somebody who punishes him for his crime. Is it not? The greatest crime, he is suffering, then there must be somebody who is judge that "You are criminal, you must suffer."

Śyāmasundara: You must be born.

Prabhupāda: "You must take your birth." So who is that?

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) (indistinct) ...anaesthetic, when the medicinal effect is lost, it comes. Zero mistake. (indistinct) come. These are three stages: consciousness, dream, and unconsciousness. So he does not know suṣupti. He simply considers the dreaming unconsciousness. When he sees dream, he thinks (indistinct).

Śyāmasundara: Not really... But because there are so many unconscious factors that govern our personality, our behavior, that unless a person becomes aware of these unconscious factors, then he is more or less a slave to them, to his unconscious life. So the whole point of psychology is to point out to a person all his unconscious contents, that he becomes aware of them and faces them face to face.

Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the whole Vedic literature—the heaven and hell. If you do like this, then you go to heaven, and if you do like this, you go to hell. If you do like this, you go to Godhead. That is the Vedic literature. It is already there. (Sanskrit). (Sanskrit), therefore if one chants like this, he goes back to home, back to Godhead. And this morning I was speaking, "If you want to be naked, then you become tree." (indistinct) servant, and if he wants to serve Kṛṣṇa, (indistinct). These things are there the Vedic literature. They are controlled. That is real conditioning. Real controlling means there is no mistake. If these rats and cats are controlling, then maybe you take rats' and cats' authority, and others may take tigers' and others' authority. This is stated already. The authority must be (indistinct).

Philosophy Discussion on Mao Tse Tung:

Śyāmasundara: Mao Tse Tung uses this as the basis of his...

Prabhupāda: Basis is that you are controlled. That is mistake.

Śyāmasundara: His methodology is to present slogans to the people...

Prabhupāda: But you may manufacture slogans. First of all, let us talk on the principles. Everyone is controlled. How Mao can deny it?

Śyāmasundara: He wants to be the controller. He can control everyone's...

Philosophy Discussion on Johann Gottlieb Fichte:

Prabhupāda: No. That is his mistake. He, he is thinking God is like himself, as he is finite. That is Dr. Frog.

Hayagrīva: Yes, he says...

Prabhupāda: That, if there is water, that water is this well. How can there be more than this? And maybe big well, that's all. But that is his conception. So this conception will not help. You cannot create God. Just like we have got God, Kṛṣṇa. As soon as there was necessity to give protection to the inhabitants of whole Vṛndāvana, the torrents of rain, and it requires a big umbrella, and immediately He lifted the whole mountain: "Come on, under this, let Me see how long this torrents of rain go on. I shall hold." That is God. He... So He was seven-years-old boy. He was not a meditation God. Nowadays that the rascals are becoming God by meditation. What is meditation God?

Philosophy Discussion on Plato:

Prabhupāda: Yes, Vedic civilization is that, that putrārthe kriyate bhāryā. A man should accept a wife for putra, for son. Why son? Putra-piṇḍa-prayojanam: a putra should be responsible for offering piṇḍa, so that after death, even by mistake or somehow or other I am in a wrong position, by the piṇḍa I am elevated. This is idea. So marriage is for having good son, that's a fact, who will deliver me even if I am in the hell. Therefore the śraddhā ceremony in there. So even the father is in hell, by this śraddhā ceremony he will be delivered. This is the idea. So unless one has got son, nobody is going to offer him śraddhā oblation, and even one may be very benevolent, but it is not expected. But it is the duty of the son, as it is said, putra. Pu means there is a hell pundama (?). The hell's name is pundama, pun.

Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Aquinas:

Hayagrīva: This is a continuation of Thomas Aquinas. We've been discussing sacred doctrine, which is the same as scripture. He states that the only author of sacred scripture is God Himself, within whose power is not only to adjust words to their meaning, which even man can do, but also to adjust things themselves. In reading the scripture, one should avoid two mistakes. 1) One should not think that they can be false in any way.

Prabhupāda: False?

Hayagrīva: That there's no falsity.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Aquinas:

Hayagrīva: Falsity cannot form the basis of Divine scripture, which has been handed down by the Holy Spirit. That's one mistake one can make in reading scripture. Another, he says, "No one should try to restrict scripture to one meaning to such an extent that other meanings containing some truth and quite possible in relation to the context would be excluded. In fact it belongs to the dignity of Divine scripture to contain many meanings in one text, so that in this way it may be appropriate to the various understandings of men."

Prabhupāda: Meaning is one, but interpreter are different. Just like even in the Bible it is said, "God created the universe." So that is a fact, God created. So unless you interpret in a different way, how you can say that the universe is created by some chunk and this way and that way?

Philosophy Discussion on Rene Descartes:

Prabhupāda: Now in this connection, regarding the soul, if he has received the knowledge of soul from God, therefore at that time there is no chance of he is thinking. If, as soon as he thinks in his own way, then there may be mistakes, because he is imperfect, finite. But when Kṛṣṇa says directly that "Within this body the soul is there," so if we accept God's instruction, then immediately we understand that the soul is different from this body. Exactly just like if somebody inquires, "Where is Prabhupāda?" If somebody says that "He is in this room," it does not mean this room is Prabhupāda; Prabhupāda is within this room. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa says that this, the owner of the body, the soul, is within this body.

Philosophy Discussion on George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:

Prabhupāda: Ah. (indistinct) That does not mean the..., Her Majesty is there. The Majesty, Her Majesty's power, order, is everywhere. Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni. The government is acting with the seed on Majesty's service, but that does not mean Her Majesty is there. This is simultaneously one and different, acintya-bhedābheda. Majesty is there because the order is there, but still personally he is not there. So the, another, that begun already, is that daridra, in daridra Nārāyaṇa is there, but not that daridra is Nārāyaṇa. But he has no vision. He is talking of this daridra-nārāyaṇa. This is mistake. Nārāyaṇa is there undoubtedly, but not that daridra is Nārāyaṇa. This is impersonalism, Māyāvāda mistake. That is pantheism.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: That is his mistake. As you have explained that the sky is also with reference to God... The sky is explained as the heart of God, and the water is explained as the semina of God, the moon is explained as the mind of God, the sun is explained as the eyes of God, the land is explained as the foot of God. So everything is with reference to God. So for a person who understands God, there is nothing existing without God. So how God can be separate? That is the fact. So pantheism or any "ism" you take, it has reference with God. What he says?

Page Title:Mistake (Lectures, Other)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:23 of Nov, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=108, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:108