My duty (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"my duty" |"my primary duty" |"our duty"

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discussion with Indians -- January 18, 1971, Allahabad:

Guest (1): No, you see, our... Even your... Even your way of thinking and your purpose is that Lord Kṛṣṇa should be Lord of the whole universe, so...,

Prabhupāda: Yes, Lord Kṛṣṇa is lord, universe.

Guest (1): Universe?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (1): So that is what you want to talk with me.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest (1): In that case, you will have to satisfy everybody.

Prabhupāda: I am satisfying everybody. I am preaching that. But it is not possible... I am preaching in Europe. Christians, Mohammedans, Jews, they are surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. So I am doing my duty.

Guest (1): If I would be permitted, I would very humbly submit that...

Prabhupāda: You may not. You have not to surrender, you may bring some argument, but where I am preaching, they are surrendering.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Garden Conversation with Mahadeva's Mother and Jesuit Priest -- July 25, 1973, London:

Mother: But I say quite a lot of your young people have come to you since they took drugs. I've spoken to... Even your president admitted that he'd taken drugs.

Prabhupāda: There is no restriction for anyone. God is open for everyone.

Mother: But you said... Michael, I said, "Most of the people that I have spoken to." I didn't say "most of the people here." I said, "most of the people..." One person I'd spoken to hadn't, but I can truthfully say that only one hadn't, out of the ones I've spoken to. They have come here... You are... You seem to be able to help the people that have taken drugs so that...

Prabhupāda: That is my duty.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So I took it and I began to publish books and that has come successful. Kāryaṁ karma. I took it, "Oh, Guru Mahārāja wants that books should be published. So let me concentrate on this instead of..." My creating so many centers, big, big temples, that is not my primary duty. My primary duty is to write books. Therefore I am going on still. These are coming automatically. Maybe this is the secret of my success.

Room Conversation with Irish Poet, Desmond O'Grady -- May 23, 1974, Rome:

Yogeśvara: It's a school in Rome.

Prabhupāda: Oh. They want me to go there? Yes, I will go. It is my duty.

O'Grady: Just to pay a visit, meet the children.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is my duty to enlighten people about God consciousness.

O'Grady: God consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1974, Rome:

Satsvarūpa: We have to try to teach everyone.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is our duty because everyone is rascal. So we have to give them knowledge. The first basic principle, knowledge, that "You are not this body." And they will never agree. They will not take this knowledge. They will stick to this principle, "No, I am this body, I am American," I am Indian, I am brāhmaṇa, I am kṣatriya, I am this, I am that." They will stick to that. So as soon as they stick to this principle, they are animals.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 3, 1975, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: Yes. If you don't follow the instruction of guru, then you are fallen down immediately. That is the way. Otherwise why you sing, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo **. It is my duty to satisfy guru. Otherwise I am nowhere. So if you prefer to be nowhere, then you disobey as you like. But if you want to be steady in your position, then you have to follow strictly the instruction of guru.

Devotee (1): We can understand all of your instructions simply by reading your books.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Anyway, follow the instruction. That is required. Follow the instruction. Wherever you remain, it doesn't matter. You are secure. Follow the instruction. Then you are secure anywhere. It doesn't matter. Just like I told you that I saw my Guru Mahārāja not more than ten days in my life, but I followed his instruction. I was a gṛhastha, I never lived with the Maṭha, in the temple. It is practical. So many Godbrothers recommended that "He should be in charge in this Bombay temple, this, that, that..." Guru Mahārāja said, "Yes, better he lives outside. That is good, and he will do what is needed in due course of time."

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, other Guests and Disciples -- February 12, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: I came to give you. Some of you have taken, and some have not taken, so what can I do? I came to give you Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is my duty. My Guru Mahārāja ordered and I came. And... But some of you, you have taken, and most of, they have not taken. So that is another thing. But I came to deliver you the genuine thing. That's all.

Hanumān: The way you have come is that you have come as though you've not come from a religion or nothing. You've come and everybody fall in love with you, you preach, and, Prabhupāda, we cannot deny you are the authority because you know everything, and your...

Prabhupāda: Any way you take it, then you become happy. That's all. Of course, when you take it out of love... That is a fact. So without love, this transaction, because there is no price for it... All other transaction, there is exchange of price. Here there is no price, so out of love only, one can take it, not by paying any price. It is not possible. To pay the price of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not possible. Yes.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Garden Conversation -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Hmm. No. Anyone who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, it is the duty to distribute it. It is his duty. You may... When I came here, I never came here because American boys or people wanted me. They did not feel any need of my presence. But I came here, because it is my duty. My Guru Mahārāja ordered me. So one may think there is need or no need—it is the duty of Kṛṣṇa conscious persons to spread it. Just like the example I have already given. The cloud..., the mountain does not want rain, the sea does not want, but the cloud throws water everywhere.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Puri:

Gargamuni: Our defense is eighty-four volumes.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gurukṛpā: And they will say, "If we read it all, we'll become brainwashed too." They'll say, "You're trying to brainwash us also."

Prabhupāda: That is my duty. You are trying to brain, my brainwash; I am trying yours. That is going on. That is the tussle. You are trying your best. It is a wrestling. You are trying your strength; I am trying my strength. That is... Otherwise where there is fight? There is no question of fight. You don't agree with me; I don't agree with you. You have got right to not agree with me; I have got right not to agree with you. Now let us settle.

Hari-śauri: Well, the thing Rāmeśvara Mahārāja was saying was that they're bringing all these psychiatrists and psychologists in to make so many statements.

Prabhupāda: Let them bring. We have got our own psychiatrists.

Interview with Mr. Koshi (Asst. Editor of The Current Weekly) -- April 5, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: It is not such yoga system. (imitates snoring) Meditation. It is not like that. Young men, they are taking it. They are preaching, they have sacrificed their life. So they are intelligent persons, they can understand that we should not die. It is not old man's recreation.

Mr. Koshi: No, but you are responsible for it.

Prabhupāda: I am not... Kṛṣṇa is responsible. I am just distributing. My duty is to distribute. That's all.

Mr. Koshi: Would you call yourself a guru?

Prabhupāda: Yes, I am guru.

Mr. Koshi: Because there are others who call themselves Bhagavān.

Prabhupāda: Let them call.

Mr. Koshi: Are you a Bhagavān?

Prabhupāda: Guru is not Bhagavān. Guru is the servant of Bhagavān.

Mr. Koshi: Servant of Bhagavān. Are you happy with the way the movement has really spread? The...

Prabhupāda: Why not? Because I am giving the standard movement. I am not manufacturing anything. I am giving what is said by Kṛṣṇa. I am just distributing that. Why shall I not be happy? I am not manufacturing anything. That is not my business.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. You are proper person to understand what is pervading(?). Monkey cannot understand what is pervading(?). (Bengali) Just like mother Sītā. When Hanumān approached, she gave her pearl necklace. He immediately remove it. So one who knows pearl and one does not know pearl. Anyway, it is all Kṛṣṇa's desire that you are combined together. So it is my duty to show you, "Here is the pearl." Now, to the few, value of pearl will be appreciated. All theories, bogus, vyapa, garbage(?)... At least you have got now basic principles to talk with high-grade scientists. Hm?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: But I dared to approach them because I am confident that what I am presenting, it is solid. There is no mistake. It is solid. I never said, "May be, may not be." No. Life cannot come from matter. Never. And the knowledge distribution takes some time. They have distributed ignorance by taking time. We have to distribute knowledge by taking time. False knowledge... Simply promise, future hope... Durāśayā. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum durāśayā bahir-artha-māninaḥ, andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānā... (SB 7.5.31). The society remains in darkness, misled by blind men.

Room Conversation -- November 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the way you deal with us simply deepens our attachment every moment.

Prabhupāda: It is my duty. (laughter) There was a professor in Scottish Churches' College. So when you would say something, he would reply, "That's my duty," "juti," j-u-t-i. (chuckles) So there was a student. He said... So he said, "Is that Scottish pronunciation?"