Motherland

Expressions researched:
"motherland"

SB Canto 1

As soon as a male is combined with a female, the material bondage of the living being is at once tightly interlocked by sex relation, and as a result of this, both the male's and female's attraction for sweet home, motherland, bodily offspring, society and friendship and accumulation of wealth becomes the illusory field of activities.

SB 1.11.36, Purport:

The whole universe is moving being agitated by Cupid's arrow. The activities of the world are being carried on by the central attraction of male and female. A male is searching after a mate to his liking, and the female is looking after a suitable male. That is the way of material stimulus. And as soon as a male is combined with a female, the material bondage of the living being is at once tightly interlocked by sex relation, and as a result of this, both the male's and female's attraction for sweet home, motherland, bodily offspring, society and friendship and accumulation of wealth becomes the illusory field of activities, and thus a false but indefatigable attraction for the temporary material existence, which is full of miseries, is manifest. Those who are, therefore, on the path of salvation for going back home back to Godhead, are especially advised by all scriptural instruction to become free from such paraphernalia of material attraction. And that is possible only by the association of the devotees of the Lord, who are called the mahātmās. Cupid throws his arrow upon the living beings to make them mad after the opposite sex, whether the party is actually beautiful or not. Cupid's provocations are going on, even among beastly societies who are all ugly-looking in the estimation of the civilized nations. Thus Cupid's influence is exerted even amongst the ugliest forms, and what to speak of the most perfect beauties. Lord Śiva, who is considered to be most tolerant, was also struck by Cupid's arrow because he also became mad after the Mohinī incarnation of the Lord and acknowledged himself to be defeated. Cupid, however, was himself captivated by the grave and exciting dealings of the goddesses of fortune, and he voluntarily gave up his bow and arrow in a spirit of frustration. Such was the beauty and attraction of the queens of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Yet they could not disturb the transcendental senses of the Lord. This is because the Lord is all-perfect ātmārāma, or self-sufficient. He does not require anyone's extraneous help for His personal satisfaction. Therefore, the queens could not satisfy the Lord by their feminine attractiveness, but they satisfied Him by their sincere affection and service. Only by unalloyed transcendental loving service could they satisfy the Lord, and the Lord was pleased to treat them as wives in reciprocation.

SB Canto 3

Conditioned souls are devoted to the motherland in which they take their birth, but they do not know their father. The mother is not independent in producing children.

SB 3.13.42, Translation and Purport:

O Lord, for the residential purposes of all inhabitants, both moving and nonmoving, this earth is Your wife, and You are the supreme father. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You, along with mother earth, in whom You have invested Your own potency, just as an expert sacrificer puts fire in the araṇi wood.

The so-called law of gravitation which sustains the planets is described herein as the potency of the Lord. This potency is invested by the Lord in the way that an expert sacrificial brāhmaṇa puts fire in the araṇi wood by the potency of Vedic mantras. By this arrangement the world becomes habitable for both the moving and nonmoving creatures. The conditioned souls, who are residents of the material world, are put in the womb of mother earth in the same way the seed of a child is put by the father in the womb of the mother. This conception of the Lord and the earth as father and mother is explained in Bhagavad-gītā (14.4). Conditioned souls are devoted to the motherland in which they take their birth, but they do not know their father. The mother is not independent in producing children. Similarly, material nature cannot produce living creatures unless in contact with the supreme father, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam teaches us to offer obeisances unto the mother along with the Father, the Supreme Lord, because it is the Father only who impregnates the mother with all energies for the sustenance and maintenance of all living beings, both moving and nonmoving.

Actually, the conditioned souls, in ignorance in this material world, are simply guided by sex life, and as soon as they get the opportunity for sex life, they become attached to so-called home, motherland, children, wealth and opulence.

SB 3.20.18, Purport:

This andha-tāmisra ignorance is due to tamas. The condition of not knowing anything about the spirit soul is called tamas. This material world is also generally called tamas because ninety-nine percent of its living entities are ignorant of their identity as soul. Almost everyone is thinking that he is this body; he has no information of the spirit soul. Guided by this misconception, one always thinks, "This is my body, and anything in relationship with this body is mine." For such misguided living entities, sex life is the background of material existence. Actually, the conditioned souls, in ignorance in this material world, are simply guided by sex life, and as soon as they get the opportunity for sex life, they become attached to so-called home, motherland, children, wealth and opulence. As these attachments increase, moha, or the illusion of the bodily concept of life, also increases. Thus the idea that "I am this body, and everything belonging to this body is mine" also increases, and as the whole world is put into moha, sectarian societies, families and nationalities are created, and they fight with one another. Mahā-moha means to be mad after material enjoyment. Especially in this age of Kali, everyone is overwhelmed by the madness to accumulate paraphernalia for material enjoyment.

CC Adi-lila

There are two kinds of bhauma ijya-dhīḥ: those who worship the land of their birth, such as nationalists, who make many sacrifices for the motherland, and those who condemn the worship of the form of the Lord.

CC Adi 5.226, Purport:

The Padma Purāṇa specifically mentions that anyone who thinks the form of the Lord in the temple to be made of wood, stone or metal is certainly in a hellish condition. Impersonalists are against the worship of the Lord's form in the temple, and there is even a group of people who pass as Hindus but condemn such worship. Their so-called acceptance of the Vedas has no meaning, for all the ācāryas, even the impersonalist Śaṅkarācārya, have recommended the worship of the transcendental form of the Lord. Impersonalists like Śaṅkarācārya recommend the worship of five forms, known as pañcopāsanā, which include Lord Viṣṇu. Vaiṣṇavas, however, worship the forms of Lord Viṣṇu in His varied manifestations, such as Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, Sītā-Rāma and Rukmiṇī-Kṛṣṇa. Māyāvādīs admit that worship of the Lord's form is required in the beginning, but they think that in the end everything is impersonal. Therefore, since they are ultimately against worship of the Lord's form, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has described them as offenders.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has condemned those who think the body to be the self as bhauma ijya-dhīḥ. Bhauma means earth, and ijya-dhīḥ means worshiper. There are two kinds of bhauma ijya-dhīḥ: those who worship the land of their birth, such as nationalists, who make many sacrifices for the motherland, and those who condemn the worship of the form of the Lord. One should not worship the planet earth or land of his birth, nor should one condemn the form of the Lord, which is manifested in metal or wood for our facility. Material things are also the energy of the Supreme Lord.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

"And where this body is produced, that land is my land, motherland." "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am German," "I am this." And we are mad after this, this, these nationalists.

Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Los Angeles, May 9, 1973:

Anyone who is thinking this bag of bones and flesh as the "I am," "I am this body," and out of this misconception, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke, sva-dhīḥ, "Out of this body or in relationship with this body, the persons, men and woman, they are my kinsmen. They are my nationality, they are my society..." Sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ (SB 10.84.13). "And where this body is produced, that land is my land, motherland." "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am German," "I am this." And we are mad after this, this, these nationalists. In this way, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ, yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicit. They go to the place, holy places of pilgrimage, and they take their bath. In India you will see, so many people are going to Haridwar, Vṛndāvana, and take their bath and shave their head, and then come back: "I went to tīrtha, holy place." That is not tīrtha. Tīrtha means to meet a high-grade saintly person. Tīrtha. Tīrthī-kurvanti tīrthāni. They make tīrtha holy place. Anywhere a saintly person is there, that is tīrtha. That is holy place. Not that I have to go Haridwar, five thousand miles from here. Wherever there is experienced holy persons, that is tīrtha. But they do not know. They go five hundred, five thousand miles away. Sometimes from your country they go to find out a guru in India. (laughs) And the guru who is canvassing here, he is useless. He is useless. So these things. Anyone who is of such conception of life, they have been described as asses and cows, means an animal.

Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. Kṛṣṇa never says, "I am for Indian" or "for American." Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 11, 1975:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is stated in the Prema-vivarta:

kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare

nikaṭa-stha māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare

(Prema-vivarta)

As soon as... We are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. As soon as we want to become master, that is the beginning of our first birth in the material world. We have got independence. Because, Kṛṣṇa says, mamaivāṁśo jīva bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7)—we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa—so Kṛṣṇa has got full independence, but we are minute; therefore we have got minute independence. Our business is to serve Kṛṣṇa, but as soon as we give up this idea, we want to become master. That is the beginning of our material birth.

Acyutānanda: "India is the motherland for Kṛṣṇa cult and needs no propaganda. You'll be doing more service for the Kṛṣṇa cult if you demonstrate against America for helping Christian missionaries in India. Please enlighten me."

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. Kṛṣṇa never says, "I am for Indian" or "for American." Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya. (applause)

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya

mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ

tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir

ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā

(BG 14.4)

Kṛṣṇa is father of all living entities in any form of life, not only human, but the cats, dogs, and everyone. He is the father of all living entities.

Acyutānanda: "Why doesn't the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement stop cow slaughter? Five thousand cows are slaughtered daily. Why?"

Prabhupāda: Then? Why?

Acyutānanda: Cows are slaughtered.

Prabhupāda: You are killing cows? Or what is that?

Guest (2): Why doesn't Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement stop cow slaughter? Every day five thousand cows are being slaughtered.

Prabhupāda: Yes, we are teaching don't eat meat. So don't eat meat means don't slaughter cows and goats and everyone. You are after stopping cow slaughter, but you are advocating goat slaughter. But we are not for any slaughter. Don't eat meat, that's all.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

The America is my fatherland. My motherland is in India, and America is my fatherland.

Room Conversation -- August 12, 1975, Paris (with French translator):

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa speaks in all languages, and He speaks so perfectly that everyone thinks that He speaks only in his language. He could speak with the birds even. There is a Sanskrit word, babhudak. This means one who can speak all languages. So it is stated there in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Nectar of Devotion, that on the bank of Yamunā He was one day talking with a bird. Every living being has got a different language.

Yogeśvara (translating): He says but they are a little bit jealous of the Americans who speak English, which is the language that you speak.

Prabhupāda: The America is my fatherland. My motherland is in India, and America is my fatherland.

Bhagavān: We are trying to make one country.

Devotee (3): Śrīla Prabhupāda, when scientists and astrologers are looking into the heavens, sometimes they see what they say to be flying saucers, different flying objects, lights in the sky. Do we have any explanation for this?

Prabhupāda: Everything is flying, all these planets, they are flying.

Devotee (3): Sometimes they are zig-zagging very fast across the sky (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Maybe there is (indistinct). Why not?

Yogeśvara (to guests): This is a wonderful opportunity also if you'd like to ask any questions of Śrīla Prabhupāda. It's a rare opportunity that he's here, you can speak with him. (translates)

Prabhupāda: You can read this verse. Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānam.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

I take America as my fatherland. India is motherland, and here is fatherland. (laughs) So many fathers. My father was very affectionate to me. He would do everything for me. I lost one father, I have got so many fathers.

Arrival Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: I take America as my fatherland. India is motherland, and here is fatherland. (laughs) So many fathers. My father was very affectionate to me. He would do everything for me. I lost one father, I have got so many fathers.

Vipina: Jaya. We'd like to keep it that way, Prabhupāda. If you'd let us, we'd like to keep it that way.

Vṛṣākapi: We want to take care of you forever, Prabhupāda.

Vipina: What do you say, Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: That, everyone appreciated that in India, that the American fathers keeping him. Just like keeping him in cotton. (laughs) They admit that. Where is salt? There are many flies here?

Vipina: Not many, and we have screens also in the windows, so there shouldn't be too much disturbance from them.

Prabhupāda: Fruits are so nice. Kṛṣṇa has given fruit. They are locally grown?

Vṛṣākapi: No, Prabhupāda. Not too many. They all come from other parts of the country.

Prabhupāda: Your country?

Vṛṣākapi: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Not outside. Not like England, they have to import from... This is a very good example. Just like salt, we require. A little salt will increase the taste. But because it is absolutely necessary for eating, salt—everyone eats salt, nobody can avoid salt—it does not mean I shall eat too much. If I take this whole salt pot and put into..., "It is very good," that is foolishness. Similarly, sense gratification, so long we have got this material body, we require little. But because it is tasty, let us take it, whole pot, that is mistake. This is going on. This foolishness is going on. Sex life is good; simply take sex life, go on and spoil your whole life. That is going on. If everything is accepted in regulative principle, little salt, that's all, that's very nice. But as soon as you think "It is very nice. Let me take simply this," then it is spoiled. That is wanted. We don't reject anything but accept in a regular way. Flesh eaters? All right, you want flesh? "No, I want flesh, but I want this big cow." Why not less important animals? There are so many other animals. The goats are there, the lambs are there, the hogs are there. Take them. Why Kṛṣṇa says go-rakṣya? It is a very important animal. It will give you brain substance, this rasagullā. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says go-rakṣya. But this rascal has no knowledge. The cows give us milk, very nutritious. "Oh, eat the whole cow. Then all nutrition will come." This is their intelligence. Rubbish civilization. Why Kṛṣṇa has recommended go-rakṣya? He never said that other animal. If you are fond of eating flesh, you take other animals, not the cow. Give protection, take milk from it, and prepare nice preparations, that will be good for brain, for your mind. Apart from... There is no question of religious sentiment. From practical.

I say fatherland. India, motherland; this is fatherland.

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: That's all right. I can stay here also. I like especially New York, because I started the movement here. And because there are so many branches, if I go they become enlivened.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, right, just like we are enlivened.

Prabhupāda: Everyone wants.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Everyone wants you to come.

Prabhupāda: That is natural.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Question of love.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bali-mardana: New York was your second home after India.

Prabhupāda: Yes, I say fatherland. India, motherland; this is fatherland.

Bali-mardana: It is so nice that now in New York they are receiving you so nicely, this parade. Everyone is turning out to greet you. You are like the local boy who made good. So now they are receiving you very grandly.

Prabhupāda: Yes, continue this program. People will be attracted.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I was thinking that we could make a point to have many big festivals here each year, not just this one, but many.

Prabhupāda: Yes, at least three, four you can do. On Janmāṣṭamī, one; Gaura Pūrṇimā; for Śrī Rāma-navamī; and one, Ratha-yātrā.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

I therefore say America is my fatherland. India is my motherland.

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa has arranged.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Everybody's attracted to go to the States nowadays. Even I was attracted. When I had a choice to go any place in the world 'cause I got a scholarship from Indian government, a Western scholarship. I could study in any part of the world, and I could choose any school I liked. And I told the interview board in Delhi... There was a man from England at that time. I told him that "I don't want to go to England." (Prabhupāda laughs) So he was little offended.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Nowadays all students, scholars, going outside means going to the States. That is the...

Prabhupāda: They give facility. No, I have got good respect for America.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, I'm sure that the scientists, some of the leading scientists, will accept.

Prabhupāda: I therefore say America is my fatherland. India is my motherland.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, in the normal dealing also...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...the Americans are very friendly, very nice actually, in general. When I studied in California, I was a stranger, but everybody looked like a friend, very different from England. England is very conservative. They don't say hello, and different.

Prabhupāda: England, nonsense number one. Worst false prestige, England. In that respect, other countries are better. They had a British Empire. They are still puffed up. And they will stay there to continue British Empire. Now they are earning money for eating, showing British Parliament House. Now there is no business.