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No experience (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"no actual experience" |"no business experience" |"no construction experience" |"no experience" |"no extraordinary experience" |"no other experience" |"no personal experience" |"no perverted experience" |"no practical experience" |"no ready experience" |"no such experience"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 1.30 -- London, July 23, 1973:

There is song by Govinda dāsa, śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa e dina jāminī jāgi re, biphale sevinu kṛpaṇa durajana, capala sukha-laba lāgi re. He says that śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa: "I have worked without caring for scorching heat and severe cold." Actually people work so hard. He has to go to office. Suppose there is snowfall. So he cannot stop. He has to go. Or there is scorching heat. You have no experience in your country, scorching heat. But India, 122 degrees. Just imagine, this year. Still they have to go to work. So somewhere it is severe cold and somewhere it is severe scorching heat. This is nature's law. You have to suffer. While you are in cold country, you think that "India is very warm. They are very happy." (laughs) And in India they are thinking, "In England they are very happy." This is the way. This is illusion. Nobody thinks that there is no happiness within these three worlds, beginning from Brahmaloka down to the Pātālaloka. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16).

Lecture on BG 2.1-11 -- Johannesburg, October 17, 1975:

So if we study ourself, this body is not eternal. Sat means eternal. So if you study this body... In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find, antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ (BG 2.18). This body is antavat; it will perish. Therefore it is not sat. Sat means eternal, and the body is not eternal. Therefore it is very difficult to understand what is sat because we have no education, no experience. Everything is annihilated, destroyed, anything material. So actually we have no experience what is sat. So... But Vedic instruction is sad gama asato mā: "Don't remain in asat, noneternal. Come to the platform of eternity." Sad gama asato mā. So that is our mission of life. The human form of life is distinct from the cats and dogs because if you instruct to the cats and dogs what is sat and what is asat, it is impossible for them to understand. It is not possible. Therefore Vedic instruction is asato mā: "Don't remain cats and dogs in the human form only. You come to the platform of eternity." Asato mā sad gama.

Lecture on BG 2.24 -- Hyderabad, November 28, 1972:

Kalpa-taru you cannot have here, but there is a kalpa-taru in the spiritual world. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29), lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam aham... So there is kalpa-vṛkṣa. You have to learn from the Vedic literature. But you, you have no experience of kalpa-vṛkṣa here. That is not possible. (end)

Lecture on BG 2.46-47 -- New York, March 28, 1966:

The machine can be produced, but machine driver cannot be produced. And without machine driver, all machines are useless. All machines are useless. A child may see in the street, oh, how a nice motorcar is passing with so much speed. He is struck with wonder that "Without any horse how the motorcar is going on?" I mean those who have no experience how machine works. Just like in India... Of course, I heard this story from my professor when I was a student of logic in my I.A. class. And this example was given by my professor, Dr. Purnachandra Sena. I still remember that when first railway was started from Howrah to Burdwan, about sixty-four miles, during British period, say, about two hundred years before, now the cultivators on both sides of the line, they were seeing the railway engine going with wonder: "Oh!" So somebody... This story was cited in connection with chapter of hypothesis. In logic there is a chapter of hypothesis. So somebody suggested that "There must be horse within the engine. Otherwise it cannot go."

Lecture on BG 3.16-17 -- New York, May 25, 1966:

So the... Smaraṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ vandanam. Vandanam means offering prayer. And arcanam means... That is... Of course, you have no experience. But India there is arcanā of the Deity, installing Deity in the temples and worship from morning, half past four, till night, eleven. There are different kinds of worship. So either this worship or this prayer, they are called temple worship. Temple worship. Vandanam, offering prayer, is another sort of temple worship. So that is recommended. That was recommended in the Dvāpara-yuga.

Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Melbourne, June 27, 1974:

Our scientists, our botanists, how many they have seen? So actually you cannot have perfect knowledge by the experimental method.

Now, if I say... I don't say, but the śāstra says there are 900,000 forms of aquatics. So you cannot say no because you have no experience. You have no experience. But from the śāstra, Vedic literature, we get this information, Padma Purāṇa. We are not speaking unauthorizedly. The śāstras are accepted by the ācāryas, the great teachers. And we get knowledge from the śāstra. I may be imperfect, but I get knowledge from the perfect source. That is perfect knowledge.

Just like a child may ask his father that "What is this?" because he is astonished that the sound is very loud. So the child may not know, so inquires from the father, "Father, what is this? So father says, "My dear child, this is microphone. And when you speak through this machine, your sound becomes louder."

Lecture on BG 4.9-11 -- New York, July 25, 1966:

Just like the sun. You see the sun every morning. What do you see? You see the sunshine. One feature is the sunshine. Another feature is the sun disc and another feature is if you are able to go into the sun planet you see something else. That we have got no experience, but we can see that sunshine and the localized sun disc.

But what is there within the sun planet, nobody has explained so far material science is concerned, but from Vedic literature we have got information of the sun planet also, that there is a supreme deity which is known as the sun-god, and all the inhabitants there, they have got their body of fire, and the whole planet is fiery. That is also material. There is no reason to disbelieve it because the whole material word is composed of five elements, that inferior nature: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, ego, intelligence. So you will find different planets also. Some planet is predominated with earth; some planet is predominated with water; some planet with fire, just like this.

Lecture on BG 4.11-12 -- New York, July 28, 1966:

So now to understand how everything is He, so two energies are working in this world in our experience. One is superior energy, or the higher energy, and the other is the inferior energy. The inferior energy is matter, and the superior or the higher energy is the spirit soul.

So as we find... You have got now... We have no experience. Scientific advancement of knowledge, so far we have in this material world, that is bounded within the area of material energy. They have not succeeded in finding out the spiritual energy. Otherwise they would have given life to the dead man. That has not been possible. Suppose a man is dead. What is that death? Death means separation of two energies: the material energy and the spiritual energy. That is death. The supreme spiritual energy and the atomic part of it, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ... (BG 15.7).

Lecture on BG 4.19-25 -- Los Angeles, January 9, 1969:

Similarly in the Vedic rituals there are many sacrificial ritualistic ceremony, demigods, but in that sacrifice there is Viṣṇu also. Therefore Viṣṇu is called Yajñeśvara, the master of the sacrifice. The demigods cannot accept the result of the sacrifice. Viṣṇu is there. Of course, we have no experience of these performances. That is a Vedic ritual performance. Actually the demigods, they cannot accept anything from you. But the sacrificer, he approaches a demigod for quick result for material benefit and these things will be explained in the Eighth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā.

So this is the process. Ultimately it goes to the Absolute Truth. So those who are intelligent, they directly makes connection with the Absolute Person or the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa. Then everything is automatically done. Go on.

Lecture on BG 6.21-27 -- New York, September 9, 1966:

Vetti yatra na caivāyaṁ sthitaś calati tattvataḥ. One who does not know what is real happiness, they are seeking happiness in this material world.

There is a nice story. A man, a friend, was advised by his friend that "If you chew sugar cane, oh, it is very nice, sweet." The friend who was advised to chew sugar cane, he had no experience what is sugar cane. So he asked his friend, "Oh, what is the sugar cane?" The friend suggested, "It is just like a bamboo log." So the foolish man began to chew all kinds of bamboo logs. So how he can get the sweetness of the sugar cane? Similarly, we are trying to have happiness and pleasure, but we are trying to derive happiness, pleasure, eschewing this material body.

Lecture on BG 6.21-27 -- New York, September 9, 1966:

Don't think that "Oh, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's boat, or feet, is so small." No. It is mahat-padam. Mahat-padam means the whole material creation is resting on His leg. Mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ.

So one who has taken shelter there, for him this great ocean of nescience is just like the water containing on the impression of calf leg. Of course, you have no experience. In India I have got experience because these calves and cows, they go on the pasturing ground, and in rainy season their hoofs makes holes, and in that hole there are some water. So that water... This great ocean is compared like that water. So nobody has any difficulty to cross over it. So bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padam: "And for them, those who have taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for them is waiting paraṁ padam, the supreme abode." Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām: (SB 10.14.58) "This place, wherein every step there is danger, this place is unfit for them."

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Montreal, June 3, 1968:

This is called bhavāmbudhiḥ. But one has to cross over this nescience, ocean of nescience. And how to cross over? Now, samāśritaṁ pada-pallavam. One who has taken shelter of the lotus feet as the boat for crossing over this ocean of nescience, for him, bhavāmbudhiḥ, this great ocean, becomes vatsa-padam.

Vatsa-padam means a, just a... You have no such experience. In India, in village, during rainy season the cows and the calf pass on the roads, and there is impression, and there is some water. That is called vatsa-padam, water in the pot or in the hole impressed by the hoof of the cow and calves. That water, anyone, such hundreds of water spot one can cross very easily. Similarly, if anyone takes shelter of the boat, the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, for him this great ocean of nescience becomes just like vatsa-padam. That means very easily one can cross. And this place... Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām (SB 10.14.58). "This material world, where in every step there is danger, this place is not for them." For whom? "One who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa."

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Vrndavana, August 9, 1974:

That is real ānanda. Ramante yoginaḥ anante. And there is no end of that ānanda. Nityaṁ nava-navāyamānam.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu has described, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam (CC Antya 20.12). Ānandāmbudhi... We have no experience that ambudhi... Ambudhi means the ocean. And ānandāmbudhi, the ocean of ānanda, vardhanam, it is increasing. It is increasing. We have no experience that the sea or the ocean is increasing. It is decreasing. So this is ānanda. Ramante yoginaḥ anante. That is ananta ānanda. Ramante yoginaḥ anante satyānande cid-ātmani. That is not jaḍātmā. Here this ānanda is jaḍa, dull. It is not ānanda, material, but cid-ātmani. Iti rāma-padenāsau paraṁ brahmābhidhīyate (CC Madhya 9.29). These are the description. Rāma means one who takes ānanda in the reality, not in the false.

Lecture on BG 7.4-5 -- Bombay, March 30, 1971:

That is not very good understanding. Suppose this electric fan is running on, but it is not running on independently. There is electric energy, there is powerhouse, there is the superintending engineer in the powerhouse. So at the end there is living force. Matter cannot work independently. We have no such experience. Anything you take, matter, material, it has no power to work independently. Behind that, there is spiritual existence.

Now, Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). When we cannot accommodate that how from a person all these material manifestation, the gigantic sky, the innumerable planets with different varieties of energies, how it is possible that it is produced from a person... Therefore, those who are in poor fund of knowledge, they think just the opposite way. Because personally, how it is possible? Therefore they think of the Supreme Absolute Truth as imperson, but that is not fact. Person.

Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966:

One should give it up, jñāne prayāsam, because by speculation you cannot reach to the ultimate truth. How far... How can you... Just suppose we are speculating... Very great scientists are speculating about the nature of the moon from here. But they are speculating. They have not come to any conclusion. So you go on speculating, which you have no experience. You go on speculating, but the real nature of that thing will never come to you.

So jñāne prayāsam. Especially for understanding God, or God consciousness, speculation is useless. So Lord Caitanya, I mean to say the Bhāgavata, says that jñāne prayāsam udapāsya, that that sort of endeavor, speculating, should be given up. Namanta eva: "You just become submissive." Just become submissive, that "What I am? I am insignificant creature in this universe." This world, this earth, is an insignificant point in the universe. And within this earth, the America is a small spot.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- New York, November 22, 1966:

Yajña means sacrifice, dāna means charity, and tapaḥ means penance. Just like brahmacārī. It is tapasya. Tapasya. A sannyāsī, it is tapasya. Tapaḥ. Tapaḥ means penance, voluntarily accepting very rigid principles of life. That is called tapasya. And charity. Charity means voluntarily giving away his material possessions. That is charity. And yajña, sacrifice. Sacrifice, of course, you have no experience. Not you, but we all. Nowadays, in the present days, there is no sacrifice.

But we get information from such historical literature as Mahābhārata. Mahābhārata is called history in the Vedic literature. So kings were performing very big sacrifices. Millions of rupees, millions of valuables, gold and silver, they were distributed. Oh, that is not possible. That was being done by the kings. Kings used to collect tax from the citizens but at the same..., at the time when they performed sacrifice, they were distributed to all the citizens, all of them. So that process is not.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:

These ślokas, these description, are not of the material world. Just like this word, cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu. In the spiritual world, in the..., the houses are made of cintāmaṇi stone. Cintāmaṇi stone you cannot have here. Maybe, but we have no experience. But cintāmaṇi stone means touchstone. If you take that stone and touch in iron, it becomes gold. That is cintāmaṇi. So cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu. The vaikuṇṭha-loka, goloka vṛndāvana, is made of houses, there are. Nirviśeṣavādī, śūnyavādī, they cannot understand that in the spiritual world there are also houses, there are also gardens, there are also rivers, there are also cows. They cannot understand, because they are in the tamaḥ, in this darkness of material world. They are disgusted with this material world. They want to make it zero, nirvāṇa. They want to make it zero. No. Why zero? The Bhāgavata said, nirasta-kuhakam.

Lecture on BG 9.2-5 -- New York, November 23, 1966:

This is explained in Bhagavad-gītā. Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā (BG 9.4). This is avyakta-mūrti. In the energy you cannot find Kṛṣṇa in His person. Just like in the sunshine you cannot find the sun-god. But the sun-god is there in the sun planet, sun disc, within that. You cannot say, "No" because you have no experience of the sun disc. But we can understand from books of authority like Vedas, there is sun-god. There is sun... That Kṛṣṇa said.

Lecture on BG 10.3 -- New York, January 2, 1967:

Atrājam ity anena pradhāna-pradhānāt cid-vargāt saṁsāra-vivargāc ca veda, veda.(?) Now, here this ajam, that God is unborn, this indicates that He is different from this material world because in the material world we have no experience that anyone is unborn. Everyone is born. Not only everyone, everything is born. This your New York City is born. You will find some date in the history that the New York City was started four hundred years or five hundred years. So we have got, we are very much fond of history. That means finding out the date of birth of everything. So this is the nature. So "He is unborn" means that spiritual nature is not like this material nature. At once we can understand. Spiritual nature is born and... Material nature is born, and spiritual nature is not born. This is the distinction.

Lecture on BG 15.1 -- Calcutta, February 26, 1974:

From there, the whole universe is expanded, with so many branches, representing the various planetary systems. The fruits represent the results of the living entities' activities, namely, religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation.

Now, there is no ready experience in this world of a tree situated with its branches down and its roots upward, but there is such a thing. That tree can be found beside a reservoir of water. We can see that the trees on the bank reflect upon the water with their branches down and roots up. In other words, the tree of this material world is only a reflection of the real tree of the spiritual world. This reflection of the spiritual world is situated on desire, just as the tree's reflection is situated on water. Desire is the cause of things' being situated in this reflected material light. One who wants to get out of this material existence must know this tree thoroughly through analytical study. Then he can cut off his relationship with it.

Lecture on BG 16.10 -- Hawaii, February 6, 1975:

Just like that kite-flying. Kite-flying, there is that reel? What is called? No, you have no experience. So You can fly. The kite goes very high and high. In India kite-flying is very popular sport. So you can allow the kite go and go, very high, and at the same time you can bring it near and nearer by that wheel. So this wheel, this human form of body, is meant for not prolonging the unclean material life, but now stop it. Now stop it. It is meant for that purpose.

Therefore in the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now inquire about... Sit down about... Sit down quietly and inquire about the necessity or the aim of life." That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ, kāmasya nendriya-prītiḥ. Kāmasya nendriya, kāma. Here it is called kāma.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 7, 1971:

So still, He emanates, He expands Himself. Akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. Akhilātma-bhūtaḥ means throughout the whole creation. He has creation; that is also innumerable. We are seeing this creation, this universe. There are innumerable planets. But... Akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37), in everywhere Kṛṣṇa is there. Still, He is existing in His own abode. We cannot imagine because we have no such experience. Just like we are sitting in this room. We are not sitting in the other room. Try to understand the distinction between Kṛṣṇa and ourselves. But Kṛṣṇa is here and He's not only in the other room, other building, other city, other universe—everywhere. That is Kṛṣṇa.

It is stated—not that we are imagining, because we take evidence from the Vedic literatures. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated like that:

Lecture on SB 1.1.3 -- London, August 19, 1971:

So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the ripened fruit of Vedic literature. Nigama-kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru. We have no experience of kalpa-taru within this material world, but in the spiritual world there is kalpa-taru. Kalpa means "desire" and taru means "tree." Here you can get from a mango tree mango, not any other fruit. But in the kalpa-taru... The description of kalpa-taru is there in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Cintāmaṇi kalpa-taru.

Lecture on SB 1.1.4 -- London, August 22, 1971:

When, as soon as we get a little light with this body, we forget everything. That is called māyā. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said the pushing, the point pushing, enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro lāgi': "Now I have brought this."

Just like... You have no experience in your country. In India still there are snake charmers. If one is bitten by a snake he remains unconscious. By mantra he can be brought into consciousness, in life. If a man is snakebitten... (aside:) He's sleeping. Why? Don't sleep and you can sleep at the end. Don't in the front. It is disturbing. Enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro lāgi'. Lord Caitanya said that "I have brought the medicine." Māyā nāśibāro lāgi'. Just like the snake charmers, they chant mantra. That is factual. It is not story. One medical practitioner friend of mine, when he was student in Lucknow, he stated that there is a palace building, Satar Manji?(?) Satar Manju, in Lucknow. There is some government office. So there were several snakebite cases.

Lecture on SB 1.2.1 -- New Vrindaban, September 1, 1972:

This is logic. This is philosophy. Therefore Bhāgavata says that janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). Abhijñaḥ means He is full of consciousness, knowledge. Sat cit. Cit means He is living. He is not like a dead stone. That cannot be, because we have no experience that from dead stone life is coming.

Sometimes they put argument, taṇḍula-vṛścika-nyāya. In Sanskrit it is called. You have no experience here. In India we have got experience. Sometimes from heap of rice, one scorpion is coming out. So foolish men, they will think that the heap of rice, piles of rice, is giving birth to a scorpion. No, that is not the fact. One who knows the scorpion This animal is very clever. They lay down eggs within the heaps of rice, and by the fermentation of rice, it comes out. So actually, rice is not producing the scorpion. It is coming out under some chemical fermentation process. There are manifestation of living entities. There are different types. Udbhijja.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Rome, May 24, 1974:

We are experiencing, especially the great democratic country, America. So the democracy, the president elected by popular vote, is now being condemned. So what is the value of this democracy? You elect somebody by your vote, again condemn. That means the electors, the voters, have also no experience, and neither the man who is voted, he is also very good man. Otherwise, why you should change your opinion once you have elected a person to act as your head executive? So the democracy has proved a farce. It has no meaning, because people are not educated. People are mostly śūdras. There must be four classes of men. So brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, first class, second class, third class, fourth class. So at the present moment there is no first-class men, neither second-class men. All third class, fourth class. All of them. So on the votes of third-class and fourth-class men, how you can expect good government? That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 1.3.28 -- Los Angeles, October 3, 1972:

Ten times. There is no question of scarcity or poverty. There is no question. We create. These demons, they create.

You have no experience. I have got experience. Or some of the Indians who are present... In 1942, the government created artificial famine, artificial famine. The government began to purchase. The poli... That time, the war was going on. So Mr. Churchill's policy was that "Keep the people in scarcity, and they will, they'll voluntarily come and become soldiers." That was the policy. "You have no money. So..., and the another venue is opened. Yes, you become a soldier. You get so much money." People, out of poverty, would go there. That was the policy. So this policy was executed that government began to purchase rice and, I mean to say, commodities which are daily necessities. And... Any price, any price they can offer.

Lecture on SB 1.5.9-11 -- New Vrindaban, June 6, 1969:

According to Bhagavad-gītā, they are rascals, mūḍha, ass. Just like ass, the beast of burden. He takes washerman's load, three tons, four tons. Whole day working, but eating a morsel of grass, that's all. He has no knowledge that "I take a morsel of grass only, I live. And why whole day I bear these so much tons of clothing of the washerman?" You have no experience of the ass, ass's business. In India the washerman loads the ass three tons and he goes to the waterside and the washerman washes all these clothings in some bank of river or reservoir of water. Again evening, the ass brings back the clothing.

Lecture on SB 1.7.22 -- Vrndavana, September 18, 1976:

Why? Very nice city, big city, big roads, big—but there is suffering. Who wants this fire? But government has to make arrangement for fire brigade, and because it is great nation, very prosperous nation, there is very constantly, very frequently there is fire. Frequently. You won't find such fire in India, at least. We have no such experience that every moment there is fire brigade. Is it not? I am exaggerating? Huh? You see. We have got so many cities in India, but we don't have such arrangement that constantly, twenty-four hours, dung-dung-dung-dung-dung-dung. At least we haven't got. Less suffering, because we are not so advanced. The more materially you become advanced, the more suffering. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā (BG 7.14).

Lecture on SB 1.8.28 -- Mayapura, October 8, 1974:

Eternal time. We are calculating past, present and future, but actually in the spiritual world, there is no such thing as past, present and future. We therefore sometimes question that "Wherefrom God came?" So many odd questions they say. But God is eternally existing. That is the fact. We cannot understand that. Because we are in the material world, we have no experience of the eternity, what is eternity. We have no experience. We see everything as generated, and then it stays for some time, then it is finished. That is our experience. Janma, mṛtyu, vṛddhi. They have... They have made past, present and future, but it is divided into six development. One takes birth, then it develops, then it stays for some time, then it produces some by-product, then diminishes, and then, I mean to say, finished. Ṣaḍ-vikāra. Ṣaḍ-vikāra. This body, ṣaḍ-vikāra. So eternity, eternity means there is no ṣaḍ-vikāra, the six kinds of changes. There is no birth. There is no death. There is no diminishing. There is no by-product. Everything eternal, eternally existing.

Lecture on SB 1.8.36 -- Los Angeles, April 28, 1973:

You have seen the lotus petal. That is also just like boat. Is it not? Like small boat, imitation. So if you get the help of the pada-pallavam, the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, bhavam, then by that petal boat, bhavāmbudhir, this great ocean of birth and death, vatsa-padam, it becomes just like the water contained in the hole created by the hoof of a calf. Vatsa-padam. You have no experience, but in India, during rainy season, the roads become muddy and the cows and the calves go. They have got holes created, and there is some water. So such vatsa-padam water, you can jump over, at a time, one dozen. So similarly, this great ocean of bhavāmbudhir, birth and death, although it is very great for others, for a devotee, it becomes like that hole. He can jump over one dozen at a time. Bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padam. Then, by that way, he attains the paraṁ padam, the supreme abode. Then what about this world? Now this world is padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām (SB 10.14.58). It is simply full of dangers at every step. Na teṣām, not for the devotees.

Lecture on SB 1.8.40 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1973:

So this is the Vedic information. Sa aikṣata sa asṛjata. Kṛṣṇa also says ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). Simply by Kṛṣṇa's glancing, seeing, the matter becomes agitated and becomes pregnant, and the living entities come out. The trees, the fruits and everything comes out. Simply by His glancing. How it is possible? We have no experience that "Simply by glancing over my wife, I can make her pregnant." No. That is for you, not for Kṛṣṇa. Not for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. Each and every part, limb of Kṛṣṇa, has got the capacity of other parts. We, by our eyes part of our body, we can simply see. But Kṛṣṇa, by seeing, can make others pregnant. That is Kṛṣṇa. There is no need, use of sex life. There is no... Simply by Kṛṣṇa's glancing... Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Adhyakṣeṇa, adhi-akṣeṇa. Akṣa means eyes. "By My glancing," mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ, "the material nature..." These things are there in the Bhagavad-gītā. You study.

Lecture on SB 1.15.31 -- Los Angeles, December 9, 1973:

That is cheating. That is going on. The so-called scientists, so-called philosophers, their basic principle is wrong, and they're presenting some theories and that is being accepted by people. That is cheating. For example, just like the insistence of the scientists that "Life is production of matter." They have no experience, neither they can make any experiment in the laboratory that from matter one can produce life. But every child knows that "My father is life and my mother is life, so I am produced from that combination. I am also life." So life comes from life. The dead body of father, the dead body of mother cannot produce. Any man can understand. Very simple. But these rascals, so-called scientists, they're insisting that life is produced from matter. Insisting, simply. Their only idea is to prove that there is no God. Imitation.

Lecture on SB 2.1.5 -- Paris, June 13, 1974:

Every information is there. And all the Vedic literature is summarized in this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). Nigama. Nigama, the Vedic literature... Vedic literature, it is compared with desire tree. Every word used in the Vedic literature is peculiar to the ordinary man. But desire tree, they have no experience. But there is a tree which is called desire tree, kalpa-taru. What is the business of the desire tree? Now, desire tree means whatever you desire, you get from that tree. There is tree. That desire tree is there in Kṛṣṇa's loka. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa (Bs. 5.29). There is also, in the spiritual world, there are trees, but each tree is a desire tree. And we have no experience what is desire tree. You can get anything from that tree. That is called desire. So these Vedas is considered as the desire tree, means any kind of knowledge you want, it is complete there perfectly, any kind, either spiritual or material, any department of knowledge. And that is called desire tree.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20 -- Los Angeles, June 16, 1972:

All bitter medicine, injections, always suffering. So if he is informed that "After your cure, you shall be able to eat nice rasagullā, sandeśa," he cannot believe it. He says, "Again eating? Oh, it is horrible." Because he has got bad experience of eating in sick condition, he thinks that eating in healthy condition is also the same. This is Māyāvāda. He has no experience what is healthy eating.

Therefore his bad experience of this diseased condition, he wants to make it zero. He is thinking that "When my, this drinking of medicine and lying down will be zero, oh, that will be my real healthy condition." This is their philosophy. Because bad experience ... Just like foolish persons sometimes commit suicide or they talk of suicide. The whole thing is zero, wants to make the life zero. That is their happiness. Śūnyavādi. Because they have no experience that there is another life, going back to home, back to Godhead.

Lecture on SB 3.25.38 -- Bombay, December 7, 1974:

The fact is that if you make the same relationship with Kṛṣṇa, it will never become zero; it will be enthusiastic more and more. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam, it is said. Ambudhi, ambudhi means sea. This morning we were walking. The sea cannot come, overflood, under certain extent, limitation. That is called... We have no experience the sea is increasing. No. But in the spiritual world, ānandāmbudhi, the ocean of spiritual bliss, is increasing. Here the ānandāmbudhi—I have got some relationship with my father, with my wife, with my husband, with my master, but it will decrease by and by. The relationship is personal interest. "If you pay me, I will serve you." "If you serve me, then I will pay you." This is relative term, duality. But in the absolute world it is something different.

Therefore here it is said that na karhicin mat-parāḥ śānta-rūpe, yeṣām ahaṁ priya ātmā sutaś ca sakhā guruḥ. You can establish your relationship in so many way. There is no question of making it zero. Because that is reality.

Lecture on SB 3.25.42 -- Bombay, December 10, 1974:

A big car, big machine, big factory—without touch of spiritual touch, there is no question of moving. We have got this practical experience. Where is the evidence that, without the touch of spirit soul, that machine is moving? Is there any evidence? Then how you can say that without God, the whole universe is moving? There is no evidence. We have no such experience. Then how you can say that without the direction of God, the material nature can move? There is no such experience. And from the evidences of śāstra... Here it is said, "The wind is blowing, the water is moving, the sun is giving scorching heat, everything, all under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Not only that, direction, but it is said, bhayāt . Bhayāt . Bhayāt means if the respective directors or agent of different material elements, if they do not work properly, then he is punished as the master punishes the servant. Mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10).

Lecture on SB 3.26.2 -- Bombay, December 14, 1974:

If you desire coconut, then you can get from the coconut tree. But you cannot get coconut from the mango tree, and mango from the coconut tree. But there are trees where you go, you can get both mango, and banana, and coconut, and everything you like. That is called kalpa-vṛkṣa. We have no experience in this material world, but there is a tree. That is not in this material world, that is in the spiritual world. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). So we have to take knowledge from Vedic, Vedic scripture. Then the description of the spiritual world is there, what is that? Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu. They have got houses, they are made of touchstone. Here it is made of bricks and stone, ordinary stone. But there is another stone which is called touchstone. If you touch it with the iron, the iron becomes gold.

Lecture on SB 3.26.20 -- Bombay, December 29, 1974:

And who is Kṛṣṇa? Itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā: "Big, big ṛṣis and yogis, those who are interested in brahma-sukha or to merge in the Brahman effulgence—the source of Brahman effulgence is here playing: Kṛṣṇa." Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa (Bs. 5.40).

So this little, little accumulation of puṇya, very easy. No expenditure, no experience, no education, nothing. Simply come here and join this chanting and dancing. Even a child. Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ. Little, little, little—one day he will be able to play with Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 6.1.3 -- Melbourne, May 22, 1975:

Especially this animal has been... Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān (SB 5.5.1). Kaṣṭān kāmān means with hard labor to satisfy the four necessities of life. The four necessities of life I have already mentioned: eating, sleeping, sex life, and defense. This is bodily necessity. So the hog or the pig is trying to maintain his body. You have no experience. In India we have got experience. In the villages there are hogs. Day and night, they are loitering in the street, and when they find out some stool, they are very happy. Therefore this animal has been especially mentioned, that "Do you spoil your life like the hog, working day and night, night duty, work day duty and this duty, that duty, and what is the gain? You get some food which may not be very nice and eat it. And then you satisfy your sex." Is that life very perfect life? That is being done by the hogs. They are working day and night to find out where is stool. Stool is not very good food, but it is for them very good food. If you give, offer, the hog halavā, they will not accept it. They will accept stool. Just like Don't mind.

Lecture on SB 6.1.3 -- Melbourne, May 22, 1975:

Unusual, what experience you have got? You have no experience. Have you got any experience of other planetary system, what is there? Then? Your experience is very teeny. So you should not calculate Brahma's life and other things by your teeny experience. Now, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the duration of life of Brahma, sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ... (BG 8.17). Now, Brahma's life, it is stated in the śāstras. We have already explained that we accept the authoritative statement of śāstra. Now, Brahma's life is stated there. Arhat means his one day is equal to our four yugas. Four yugas means 4,300,000 years, and multiply it by one thousand, sahasra-yuga-paryantam. Sahasra means one thousand.

Lecture on SB 6.1.3 -- Melbourne, May 22, 1975:

Guest (1): I have no experience, so...

Prabhupāda: That is the experience. Just like if you eat, you will feel satisfaction. And without eating, how you will feel satisfaction? So if you follow spiritual movement, then you will understand God. That is the result. And if you think that you are following some spiritual movement but you do not know what is God, that means you are following some bogus thing. That is the test. It hasn't got to be certified. You can know. Just like if you eat, you will feel satisfaction. You haven't got to take certificate from others. Do you think I am eating? You can say. If you understand fully God, then that is spiritual movement. If you do not understand, then you must know that you are following some bogus movement. This is the test.

Lecture on SB 6.1.25 -- Honolulu, May 25, 1976:

Otherwise who is going to love a dead body? Nobody. Now if wife's husband has died, son has died, he's crying. You can say that "Why you are crying?" "Oh, my son is gone, my husband is gone." "Nobody gone. It is lying here." "No, no, no. He's not." So after death we understand that this dead body is neither my husband nor my son. Late experience. But in the beginning there is no such experience. That is called illusion. He's understanding that this dead body is not neither my father, nor my husband, nor my son. He's different from. That is practical example. Otherwise why not take the dead body of your husband or son and keep it? No. That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 6.1.46 -- San Diego, July 27, 1975:

So similarly, we can say, in the month of January, we can say that "In the month of April, May, June, we shall have mangoes." In the January there is no mango. But because I know, I experienced in my last April, May, June, so similarly, this intuition is nothing but experience of my last life. That is called intuition. The rascals, they say that there is no experience. Whatever life we have got just now, here experience. No. The intuition... Just like a dog's cub born, it is also trying to find out milk from the body of the mother, and exactly in the same place putting his mouth. Or human child also. This is last experience. That proves that life is continual. Just like I came here about two, three years ago? So I immediately, while getting down, I immediately understood, "Oh, the same house." So this is called intuition, means past experience.

Lecture on SB 7.5.31 -- Mauritius, October 4, 1975:

Prabhupāda: That is the difference. That means your authority is America. You say through the words of the American. You have not experienced. Your position: you have no experience. My position: I have no experience. But you accept the Americans, authority, and I accept the śāstra as authority. That is the difference.

Indian man (2): This I want to know the difference, whether it is true or not.

Prabhupāda: That is up to you whether you accept American or the śāstra. (laughter) That is up to you. But you cannot say because you have learned from America, therefore it is correct.

Indian man (2): But they have revealed to the world that there is no living entity there, but the śāstra says there is...

Lecture on SB 7.9.3 -- Mayapur, February 17, 1977:

Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). That is the definition of Brahman. Whatever we have got in experience and whatever we haven't got in experience... We haven't got everything in experience. Just like about Nṛsiṁha-deva it is said Lakṣmī also had no experience that the Lord can become half-lion, half-man. Even Lakṣmī, what to speak of others. Lakṣmī, she is constant companion of the Lord. So it is said, aṣruta. What is that? Adṛṣṭa. Adṛṣṭa aṣruta pūrvatvāt. She became afraid because she also never saw such gigantic form and half-lion, half-man. God has so many forms: advaita acyuta anādi ananta-rūpam. Ananta-rūpam; still, advaita. So in the Bhāgavata it is said that God's incarnations are exactly like the waves of the river or the sea. Nobody can count. You'll be tired if you want to count the number of waves. It is impossible. So God's incarnations are as many as there are waves. So you cannot count the waves; therefore you cannot understand how many incarnations He has got.

Lecture on SB 7.9.10-11 -- Montreal, July 14, 1968:

The theory of the Māyāvādī, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā... Jagat, this material world, they say it is false. We don't say it is false. It is temporary. That is the real termination, or terminology, that it is not false. So because it is temporary, so we have to make the best use of this temporary body. Don't take it as false. Just like a train... You have no experience in your country. In India we have got experience. When there is a little more stoppage of a mail train... The people of India, they are accustomed to take bath daily. So immediately they take some advantage, and they begin to take bath. And there are so many water taps in the station, and every tap is engaged. So to make the best use. Because they think that "We have got a half an hour at our disposal, so let us finish it properly." So once taken bath, then the whole day's journey is pleasant. Similarly, this body is not false. Not only this body, everything material. We don't take it is false. We take it as temporary.

Lecture on SB 7.9.27 -- Mayapur, March 5, 1976:

So Kṛṣṇa has no discrimination, but it is up to us to know how to take from Kṛṣṇa. Just like the example is given here that saṁsevayā surataror iva. Surataror iva. Surataroḥ means the desire tree. It is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā, desire tree. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa (Bs. 5.29). That is kalpa-vṛkṣa. Kalpa-vṛkṣa means... You have no experience. We have no experience. Kalpa-vṛkṣa, there is in the higher planetary system and especially in the Vaikuṇṭha world. There are, trees are kalpa-vṛkṣa, because everything is spiritual; nothing is dead. Here you can take some fruits or flower from a particular tree, but there, if you like, you ask kachori and samosa from a tree—you get. But we have no idea what is surataroḥ, what is kalpa-vṛkṣa. Whatever you desire, you'll get it. Surabhīh, surabhīr abhipāl... The cows are surabhī. Here you have got limitation. You can milk morning and evening to a certain extent, but there the cows are surabhī. Surabhī means you can milk as many times as you like, and as much milk as you want, you can take it. But these things are there.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 6, 1972:

There is no need of so many ways. The one, simple method, chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, will be sufficient to make them perfect. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam (CC Antya 20.12). The problems, bhava-mahā-dāvāgni. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, mahā-dāvāgni, "great forest fire." Forest fire, we have no experience immediately, but in America, there is occasionally forest fire. They have got very good experience. There are many forests also. So the forest fire takes place automatically. Nobody goes to set fire. Similarly, in this material world the blazing fire is always there—problems, different problems. Bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam. This will be extinguished immediately. It is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's saying. How? Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. Simply by spreading this saṅkīrtana movement, all the problems of the world will be immediately mitigated.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 31, 1973:

Prabhupāda: That is called yajña. Yajñārthe karma. Go on.

Mādhavānanda: "A similar verse is found in the Eighth Canto, Third Chapter, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, verse 20. Gajendra says there, 'My dear Lord, I have no experience in the transcendental bliss derived from Your devotional service, so therefore I have asked from You some favor. But I know that persons who are pure devotees and have, by serving the lotus feet of great souls, become freed from all material desires, are always merged in the ocean of transcendental bliss and, as such, are always satisfied simply by glorifying Your auspicious characteristics. For them there is nothing else to aspire to or pray for.'

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.15 -- Dallas, March 4, 1975:

Then what the result? Bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padam. Bhavāmbudhiḥ means the great ocean of material existence. We are struggling here, trying to swim. That becomes vatsa-padam. Vatsa-padam. Vatsa means calf. So you have no experience. In our country, the, in the... The calf walks, and the hoof makes some hole, and there is some water also. So as it is not difficult to cross that water, similarly, the whole material ocean become like that hole of the calf's hoof. In this way you can cross over this material ocean and go back to home, back to Godhead. Why I shall go there? Because here, padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām (SB 10.14.58). Here, in every step there is danger. Why shall you live here? Take this boat and go, cross the material ocean, and go back to home, back to Godhead. This is the philosophy. Therefore our Kavirāja Gosvāmī is saying, mat-sarvasva: "Everything. This is my everything.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.101 -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:

There is a song, the devotee is singing that śīta ātapa bāta variṣaṇa. Śīta means severe cold, winter season, snow falling. That is called śīta. And scorching heat. You have no experience of scorching heat. In India we have got 110, 120, and I think Middle East, there is 135. Here you have got less, 50 in winter. So some way or other there is always trouble. This material world means we must suffer trouble. Either scorching heat or pinching cold or blast or ādhidaivika, ādhyātmika. These things should be discussed. But still we got to work, why? Only for love. That is the only cause. I love my children, I love my wife, or I love my country, my society. Love is there. But this love is not giving me satisfaction. We are disappointed. As I, yesterday I cited the example of Mahatma Gandhi. For his country's love, he did so much.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.395 -- Hyderabad, August 17, 1976:

This is pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. Kona brahmāṇḍe kona līlāra haya avasthāna. There must be some... The same example: quarter to eight is somewhere. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's līlā, it is eternal. Somewhere it is going on. And you have no experience of one brahmāṇḍa, what to speak of innumerable brahmāṇḍas.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu was requested by one of His devotees that "Sir, You have so kindly come. Please liberate all the living entities of this brahmāṇḍa, and You take them with You to Vaikuṇṭha. And if You think that they're so sinful they cannot be taken away, then please give all their sinful actions to me. I shall suffer. You take them." This is (not) Vaiṣṇava's philosophy, that "You suffer. I'll go to Vaikuṇṭha." That is not Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Vaiṣṇava philosophy is that "I take your all sinful activities. Let me suffer here. You go to Vaikuṇṭha." This is Vaiṣṇava.

Festival Lectures

Ratha-yatra -- Philadelphia, July 12, 1975:

So I may inform you little about this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa, this word, means all-attractive. Kṛṣṇa is attractive to every living entities, not only human being, even the animals, birds, bees, trees, flowers, fruits, water. That is the picture of Vṛndāvana. This is material world. We have no experience of the spiritual world. But we can get an glimpse idea, what is spirit and what is matter. Just try to understand the difference between a living man and a dead body. The dead body means as soon as the living force within the body is gone, then it is dead matter, useless. And so long the living force is there, the body is very important. So as we experience in this body, there is something as dead matter and something as living force, similarly, there are two worlds: the material world and the spiritual world. We living entities, every one of us, we belong to the spiritual world. We do not belong to the material world.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

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

So I am very happy to see you again after eight months, or nine months. Ānandambudhi vardhanam. This movement is not hackneyed. Increasing the ocean of happiness. You have no experience of the ocean increasing. If the ocean increases, then the whole planet will be again overflooded. But this is an ocean of happiness. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, Lord Caitanya says, ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. Ambudhi. Ambudhi means ocean and ānanda means bliss. If we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, as soon as our heart is cleansed... That is the first benediction of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, that our heart becomes cleansed. If your heart is not cleansed, how we are participating together? Somebody is Indian, somebody is American, somebody is Canadian, somebody is African. Because on the Kṛṣṇa consciousness platform the heart becomes cleansed. There are no more such consciousness that "I am this," "I am that."

Initiation Lectures

Initiation Lecture -- Hamburg, August 27, 1969:

You can have simply by eating Kṛṣṇa prasādam. And the more your tongue is purified, the more you relish the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Relish. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. It is stated by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu that it increases the ocean of bliss, transcendental bliss. Ocean does not increase. We have no experience within this material world. If ocean would have increased, then all the lands would have been swallowed up many long, long years ago. Ocean does not increase. But this ocean, transcendental bliss, is increasing. Some of you must have experienced, those who are actually relishing. The authorities like Rūpa Gosvāmī, he says that "What I shall chant with one tongue? If I would have millions of tongues, then I could chant a little more. And what I shall hear with two ears?" So he's expecting, he's aspiring to have millions of ears and trillions of tongues to relish this chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So that is another stage, of course, when this chanting will be so melodious that we shall try to have more ears and more tongues to utilize it.

General Lectures

Lecture to Technology Students (M.I.T.) -- Boston, May 5, 1968:

So these three kinds of miseries are always there. But under the spell of illusion we are thinking that we are happy. And the illusion means that the material energy is so illusory that however a living entity may be in abominable condition, he thinks that he is happy. You take any animal, just like take the hog—that life is most filthy life. Of course, you have no experience to see in your city, hogs. In India there are many hogs in the city, and they are living in filthy place—they are eating stool, and most abominable life. But even you ask a hog that "You are living in such abominable condition. Let me do you something good," he'll refuse to accept. If you give him something, nice preparation, as we have got in India, halavā, he'll not accept it. He will accept stool, because his body is meant for that purpose and he will not like any palatable foodstuff. He will like that stool. This is the spell of māyā.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 4, 1968:

The Vedānta also says the same thing. What is Brahman? Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This life, this human life... We have now... In other life we have enjoyed sense pleasure to the fullest extent. What we can enjoy in this human life? In other life... Of course, according to Darwin's theory, just prior to this human life there was monkey life. So the monkey... You have no experience. In India we have got experience. Each and every monkey has got at least hundred girls with him. Hundred, one hundred. So what we able to enjoy? Every, each, they have got party, and each party, one monkey has got a least fifty, sixty, not less than twenty-five. So a hog's life, they have got also dozens of... Dozens. And they have no distinction, "Who is my mother, who is my sister, who is my relative." You see? So they're enjoying. So do you mean to say that human life is meant like that—like monkeys and hogs and cats and dogs? Is that perfection of human life, to satisfy sense gratification? No. That we have enjoyed in various forms of life. Now? The Vedānta says, athāto brahma jijñāsā.

Engagement Lecture -- Buffalo, April 23, 1969:

So apart from that, here it is said, deha-bhājām. Deha-bhājām means "those who have accepted this material body." That means there are some, not some... There are many who have not accepted this material body. But they have no experience who has not accepted this material body, in this material world. That is there in the spiritual world. These living entities, innumerable living entities in so many universes in the material world or material universe or material nature, they are only fractional portion of all living entities. Only a fractional portion. Because they are condemned. Those who are in this material world, with this material body, they are condemned. Just like you take another example: just like in the prison house. The prison house, population in the prison house, they are condemned by the government.

Lecture at International Student Society -- Boston, May 3, 1969:

Prabhupāda: A spiritual body is like... This is body, but this is material body. Just like here there is, there are different kinds of bodies, as I explained, 8,400,000's different forms of bodies. Even in human form of body there are so many difference of bodies. Similarly, there is a body which is called spiritual body, of which you have no experience at the present moment, but there is a spiritual body.

Man (10): And a person can take on such body if he's been purified after...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Body is already there. Spiritual body is already there. Just like from Bhagavad-gītā we understand that this body is dress. Just try to understand. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). The Bhagavad-gītā says that "As we give up old dress and accept another new dress, similarly, we give up one body and accept another body." Now, if this body is dress, so dress cannot stand without real body.

Lecture -- London, September 26, 1969:

All this vegetation, all living condition, minerals—there are so many things—this is due to the sun. So sun in the king of all planets, as it is stated in the Vedic literatures. That's a fact. Aśeṣa-tejāḥ. Aśeṣa-tejāḥ means unlimited tejāḥ. Tejāḥ means temperature. Unlimited temperature. The sun temperature, you see... Of course, you have no experience here. In India we have got experience. During summer season, when there is scorching heat, it is unbearable. You see? But the sun is ninety million miles or something like that away. Still, the temperature is so high. You see. And it is the estimation that so many millions of miles, if we go nearer to the sun, immediately we shall be burned into ashes, the temperature is so high. Therefore it is said, aśeṣa-tejāḥ. Aśeṣa-tejāḥ. So in this way, if you simply study this sun... There are three phases: the sunlight, or sunshine; the sun globe; and then the living entities who are in the sun planet. There are living entities. Because it is impossible to go... You cannot go even near the sunlight, sunshi..., globe. You cannot go even to the moon planet.

Lecture -- Bombay, March 19, 1972:

Now, that source of energy wherefrom everything is emanating, now what is the actual position of that thing? Is it inanimate or animate? Just like some scientists explain the theory of creation, that "There was a chunk that was inanimate. From inanimate things animation has developed under certain conditions." That is not possible. We have no such experience that from inanimate things some animation has developed. Sometimes we see, it is called (Sanskrit?). Sometimes we see that from heaps of rice stocked, one scorpion is coming out. It does not mean that the inanimate rice has given birth to a scorpion. No. The actual fact is the scorpion lays down eggs within the rice, and by fermentation they develop, and then it comes out. So there are different types of emanation. That is biological subject matter.

Lecture at Art Gallery -- Auckland, April 16, 1972:

Source of Kṛṣṇa? Well, Kṛṣṇa is the origin. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). We are trying to understand the source of Kṛṣṇa because we have no other experience. We have got only experience that everything has got a source. You go on searching out. Just like you are caused by your father. Your father is caused by his father. His father is cause of... In this way go on researching, researching, then you come to Brahmā, the original person in this universe. Then Brahmā is also caused by Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. The Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is caused by Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. The Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is caused by Saṅkarṣaṇa. Saṅkarṣaṇa is caused by Nārāyaṇa. Nārāyaṇa caused by Baladeva. Baladeva is caused by Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is the origin, cause, of everyone. He has no cause. He has no source.

Lecture -- Tokyo, April 20, 1972:

Vaiṣṇava, devotees of the Lord, they are just like desire tree. Vāñchā-kalpataru. Desire tree, of course, we have no experience, but there is description. In the spiritual world there are desire trees. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa (Bs. 5.29). It is called kalpa-vṛkṣa. So,

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

(I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and they are full of compassion for the fallen souls.)

Vaiṣṇava, devotee of Lord, can give you everything, whatever you desire, fulfilled, because a Vaiṣṇava can deliver Kṛṣṇa. So when Kṛṣṇa is achieved, so there is no more any desire. Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. He underwent severe austerities, penances, meditation. His purpose was that "When I shall see God, Nārāyaṇa, I shall take benediction that I must have a kingdom better than my father or my grandfather achieved."

Lecture -- Hong Kong, January 31, 1974:

Nobody goes to the university to learn how to eat, how to sleep, how to enjoy sex life and how to defend. There is no education required, because these four kinds of bodily necessities of life are known even to the animals. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca sāmānyam etat paśubhir narāṇām. How to eat, the animal knows. Even the newborn child who has no education, no experience, he still... Even the cats and dogs, cubs, as soon as born, they find out the nipples of their mother and eat or suck. Even the eyes are blind at that time, but still he knows where is their food. Similarly, human child also knows.

So for eating, sleeping, mating and defending, there is no need of education. Education means athāto brahma jijñāsā. That is education. How to know the Supreme Absolute Truth—that is education. But the university, they are educating people how to eat, how to sleep. Eh? They are manufacturing so many eatables, different types of eatables, although God has given immense foodstuffs for human society.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: That is your defective senses. But snow is white, that's a fact. Why should it be red? At least we have no experience with red snow.

Śyāmasundara: I've seen red snow.

Prabhupāda: How it is?

Śyāmasundara: Particles of lava dust gathered in the snow and in the air...

Prabhupāda: That is not pure snow. That is another thing. Pure snow is white. Just like water. Water, by nature, it is crystal. But when it comes in touch with the earth, it becomes muddy. So that muddiness is due to contact with something external. Snow is white by nature, but in contact with something else it looks red. But the truth that snow is white, that is truth. Not that snow becoming red... You are making, or by some other contact it is looking like that. But snow is white, that's a truth.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: No, no. What, you are scientist, what you have never seen, why you are thinking of like that? That is my point.

Śyāmasundara: I'm using it as an example of an exception...

Prabhupāda: Why example? Why you give a fictitious example which you have no experience?

Śyāmasundara: All right. So let's say no one has ever seen a...

Prabhupāda: No, no. That is another thing. You cannot say which you have never seen, at least. Because yours is experimental, I may say, but you at least, cannot say like that.

Śyāmasundara: I have excavated in all parts of the world, and every time I go to the...

Prabhupāda: No. You have not excavated all parts of the world. That is another nonsense. You have not done this.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Śyāmasundara: So his definition of reality is pure experience, or...

Prabhupāda: He cannot give any definition of reality because he has not experienced. He has not perfectly experienced, so how he can give the definition of reality? What definition he is giving, that is not reality. He has no experience. He is developing experience. So how he can give a definition of reality?

Śyāmasundara: Actually, he is defining the process.

Prabhupāda: What is that process?

Śyāmasundara: The process is to understand reality, but he is not describing reality.

Prabhupāda: He says that reality?

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Prabhupāda: Yes. God is person. If He is the supreme father, the father is a person. We have got no experience of father being imperson. My father is person, his father is person, his father is person. In this way go on, father's father's..., searching. So the ultimate father is also person. There is no doubt about it. Either human father or animal father, every living being is a person. Therefore the right conclusion is God the father of all living being is person. Personal conception of God is there in every religion-Christian religion, Muhammadan religion, or Vedic religion. In the Vedic religion, oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayoḥ. Those who are sura, means advanced in spiritual knowledge, or the brāhmaṇas, one who knows the Supreme, they find the supreme father is Lord Viṣṇu.

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:

Prabhupāda: That experience we may not have personally, but if you take advice from a person who has got experience, that is as good as my experience. Just like you are going somewhere, you are purchasing a ticket. You have no experience where you are going, or you do not know whether actually you will go, but because others have gone and come by purchasing a ticket, you take advantage of that experience and you purchase a ticket.

Śyāmasundara: He says that value equals satisfaction. In other words, the fulfillment of...

Prabhupāda: So unless you have faith in some person, how you can be satisfied? Therefore you should find out a person in whom you can place your faith. And who can be a better person than Kṛṣṇa?

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:

Prabhupāda: Why does he say? That is his inexperience. God means supreme controller. So everything is being controlled. So how he can say there is not God? That is his imperfect knowledge. The nature is going on in perfect order, and we have got experience that without being a director, controller... (break) ...first proposition, that the natural phenomena, that is going on in systematic way, and we have no experience anything going on in a systematic way has no controller. How they can think of this big phenomena without any controller? At least any sane man cannot think like that, that it is going on automatically, it is happening automatically. The season is changing in time, the sun is rising in time, the moon is rising—everything is going on systematically—and how he thinks that there is no controller, there is no God? That is insanity. To become atheist is, means, a greatest insane person. It has no meaning to become atheist.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. It is forced by the energy. Matter has no form, but by the superior energy, the living entity (indistinct) mixed up (indistinct) matter and make the form. Just like a (indistinct) plate, clay, water, and fire. So the potter makes a form from the clay. Clay means earth and water, mixed up, and it makes a pot and then puts it with fire and it becomes a glass and so on. So tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayam. It is simply exchange of earth, water, and fire. But this mixture is being made by the potter. And the instrument is the potter's wheel. So similarly, God is the potter, and the material nature is the wheel, and so many things are coming out. But if there is no potter to turn the wheel or make the clay into pots, this is not (indistinct). There is already water, there is already earth, there is already fire, but unless a spirit, a being, a living being, comes into it, there is no question of (indistinct). Therefore in Bhagavad-gītā it is said, (indistinct). Because the living entities are there, the formation is taking place. A (indistinct), it is a combination of matter. But because we see that the living entity is there, it is taking a certain type of shape. Matter does not out of itself take the shape. That is wrong theory. We have no such experience where matter is taking automatically shape. (indistinct). Is there any exception?

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: Where winter may disappear.

Bhavānanda: Disappear or, they say the experience on this planet is that one time summer stopped and that everything became covered with ice. I have no experience with that.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Śyāmasundara: Just like in the past they say there was an ice age when there was no summer, no heat, and everything became ice, so in the future..., I cannot predict... Evolution may carry the events into some entirely strange new way, novel combination. Like winter may disappear or summer may disappear or...

Prabhupāda: No.

Philosophy Discussion on Johann Gottlieb Fichte:

Śyāmasundara: The state cannot make laws to (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: State is (indistinct) because we have no other experience beyond the state. But the state also, according to Vedic civilization, state means he must be king. King must be representative of God. So king is therefore called naradeva. That we have discussed in the matter of Pṛthu Mahārāja. So king is supposed to be representative of God and he has to execute his royal authority by direction of God. The brāhmaṇas and the sages, they give him direction. These things are being very thoroughly discussed when Pṛthu Mahārāja in the Fourth Canto. That is civilization.

Śyāmasundara: He appreciates that. He says that the institutions of civilization can help bring out the purpose of the universe.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: There is no meaning of omnipotency if God cannot come and talk with His devotee.

Hayagrīva: Because they have no experience, they think that...

Prabhupāda: That means poor fund of knowledge. The knowledge is imperfect. They are talking of God omnipotent, and He cannot talk with His devotee. Just see. He is restricted by his own law, by his own experience. He is such a fool.

Hayagrīva: This was also Aristotle's view. He said it's foolish for, he says man directs love toward an object that can reciprocate love.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Page Title:No experience (Lectures)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:01 of Jun, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=75, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:75