Modern means

Expressions researched:
"Modern means"

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Modern means in this age it is, excessively has increased, but this process was existent. This is the way of material life.

Lecture on SB 7.6.6 -- Vrndavana, December 8, 1975:

So we are trying to save people from this modern civilization. This is... Modern means in this age it is, excessively has increased, but this process was existent. This is the way of material life. So in the Satya-yuga it was less, in the Tretā-yuga it was more, and the Dvāpara-yuga, it is still more, and Kali-yuga, it is full. This is the difference of ages. Therefore kalau, in this age, nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). Kalau saṅkīrtanaiḥ prāyaiḥ yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ. There is no hope for liberation from this material bondage except chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Other things, it is not possible. If you want to revive the old Vedic civilization, brahmacārī and gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya... These are all spoiled. Everything is spoiled. Then what is the position? Kalau śūdra samabhavaḥ. In this age simply they are śūdras. "So how the śūdras will be delivered? By your Kṛṣṇa conscious..." Yes. They'll be. Not only śūdras, those who are less than śūdras. Kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ ye 'nye ca pāpā (SB 2.4.18). Not only śūdras, the less than the pañcamas, the fifth-grade, sixth-grade, seventh-grade, tenth-grade, all rascals and all sinful men, they will be all delivered simply by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Pāpī tāpī yata chilo hari-nāme uddhārilo. Take this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa and your life will be saved.

General Lectures

Modern means within two thousand years.

Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:

So point is that every word of Bhagavad-gītā, that is fact, historical, and very nicely composed and spoken by the greatest authority, Kṛṣṇa, who is accepted by all parties as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are parties of spiritual life in India. Just like Śaṅkarācārya's party, they are coming from very old time. I am speaking of the recent, modern age, say, within two thousand years. Modern means within two thousand years. Śaṅkarācārya age is about fifteen hundred years. Similarly, Rāmānujācārya about eleven hundred years; Madhvācārya about seven hundred years. In this way there are, they are coming from that paramparā system. One paramparā system is coming from Brahma. Another paramparā system is coming from Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune. Another paramparā system is coming from Lord Śiva. Another paramparā system is coming from the Kumāras—they were unmarried, brahmacārīs, sons of Brahmā. So those paramparā system, line of disciplic succession, are still existing in India. Practically, India's spiritual life is still being controlling by these lines of disciplic succession. So all these ācāryas, according to the Vaiṣṇava ācārya... Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, there are four ācāryas. Śrī Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka, and Viṣṇu Svāmī. And those who are not Vaiṣṇavas, impersonalists, they are represented by Śaṅkarācārya. Even Śaṅkarācārya, from whom we differ in philosophical discussion... Not very much different—so far the procedure is concerned, the regulative principles are concerned, they are all the same. The only difference is that Śaṅkarācārya's sampradāya, they take the ultimate Absolute Truth as impersonal, and we Vaiṣṇavas, we take the Absolute Truth as person. But Śaṅkarācārya, in his later stage, he also admitted in a different way.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Modern means rascals.

Room Conversation with Scientists, Svarupa Damodara, and Dr. Sharma -- March 31, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So we say that the soul is in the heart. So how can we convince the other doctors, for example, of the presence of the soul within the body and especially within the heart?

Prabhupāda: They do not know that the soul is there. Because they have misunderstood. So when the soul goes away, they think their heart has pain. Material cause. They do not know because the soul has left, the heart is not working. They take it on the other way, that because the heart is not working, therefore he's lying down.

Dr. Sharma: Some of the ancient Indian medical texts, they do describe that heart is the seed of consciousness. (Hindi) The Suśruta Saṁhitā says that the heart is considered the consciousness. But the modern medical texts, they are actually...

Prabhupāda: Modern means rascals.

Dr. Sharma: Yes. Actually, they are only two hundred years old.

Prabhupāda: Say, rather, modern rascals. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61).

Dr. Sharma: Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (BG 15.15). And the (Sanskrit) says that the heart is the most important organ because it is concerned with ātmā and...

Prabhupāda: Santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu (Bs. 5.38). Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1).