Not sure (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"not be sure" |"not definitely sure" |"not exactly sure" |"not necessarily sure" |"not so sure" |"not sure" |"not very much sure" |"not very sure" |"unsure"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

We have to follow the footprints of pure devotees. It is said that tarkaḥ apratiṣṭhaḥ. If you want to become pure by your arguments and logic, that is not possible. I may be defeated by another strong man who is stronger in argument than me, so this is not the way of becoming purified, tarka, simply arguing. Tarkaḥ apratiṣṭhaḥ smṛtayo vibhinnāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186) . Śrutayaḥ, scriptures. Suppose somebody sticks to the scriptures. So scriptures, there are different types of scripture. So they are vibhinna. Vibhinna means different types. So how we can become purified by, even by following the scriptures? Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ smṛtayo vibhinnā na cāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam. Muni means thoughtful, philosophers. If we follow a particular type of philosopher, that is also not perfect because I may be under the care of a philosopher, frog philosopher. So that is also not sure. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ smṛtayo vibhinnā na cāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam, dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyām.

Therefore to become pure or to understand the essence of purity is very confidential. It is not to be acquired by our own efforts, by argument or by being expert in scripture or by becoming a philosopher or a similar way. It is very confidential. Then how? Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). You have to follow a pure devotee, acknowledged devotee. Similarly, in the Bhagavad-gītā, if we follow Arjuna, then we understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is. But if we don't follow Arjuna, if we follow somebody, Dr. Frog, or create our own interpretation, then we remain impure. So mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ. We have to follow the footprints of mahājana, great soul. So here is directly you are meeting great soul, Arjuna. He is directly being taught Bhagavad-gītā by the original teacher. Who can be greater authority than Arjuna? So as Arjuna accepts Bhagavad-gīta, if you accept Bhagavad-gītā in that way, then your study of Bhagavad-gītā is perfect. It is very simple. Therefore I'm saying here that Kṛṣṇa is the original teacher, and Arjuna is the original student. So you follow the original student, you understand Bhagavad-gītā. Even Kṛṣṇa is not present before you. He is present by His words. This is the way of following what is pure. Yes?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Can Kṛṣṇa give us the ability to someday remember every word that you are saying to us now? Because I myself, I forget so much. I want to hear just how you are talking and I can't.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972:

So this is called illusion. There is no water, but it appears there is vast mass of water. The animals are bewildered. They are thirsty, they go to the desert to take water. Where is water in the desert? This is called illusion. So mistake, to commit mistake, to become illusioned, and to the propensity of cheating. Every man is imperfect, but he is talking just like perfect. That is called cheating. The so-called scientists, philosophers, they are theorizing, "It may be," "Perhaps." So what is this knowledge, "Perhaps," "It may be"? That is not knowledge. Say definitely. But nobody can say. They are blind. The doctor is giving medicine, but he is not definitely sure whether his patient will die or live. If you ask him whether the person is going to live, "Oh, that depends on God." Ultimately depends on God—although he is posing himself that authorized, he is giving scientific medicine. If you are giving scientific medicine, why you are not sure? This is called cheating. While he is not sure, still he says, "I am scientific man." This is one defect. And of all these defects, there is sublime defect that our senses are imperfect. All our senses. The same thing, just like with our eyes we see daily the sun, but we see just like a disk. Due to our imperfect senses, we see a planet which is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this planet, we are seeing just like it is... That means we cannot see very distant place—or nearest. Even we cannot see our eyelids, which is just a smear over the eyes. Packed, the packing material of the eyes, we cannot see.

Lecture on BG 3.6-10 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Don't go outside today's lecture. You try to... Question means the lecture on which I was speaking. If there is any difficulty, that should be questioned. Otherwise, if you go outside, that present atmosphere created for this purpose, that will be lost. So question means on the subject matter which is already discussed. If there is any doubt or if there is any difficulty for understanding the subject matter which we have already discussed, that is the subject matter of question. Yes?

Woman devotee: I'm not sure if I heard you correctly. Did you say that Kṛṣṇa could not be worshiped directly? Could not be?

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa directly, yes. Through the process. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. So the śāstra advises, instructs us, that those who are intelligent, intelligent. The word is used there, sumedhasa. Sumedhasa means those who have got nice brain substance. So Kṛṣṇa, you can approach Kṛṣṇa. There are so many ways you can approach Kṛṣṇa. And in other words it is said, mama vartmānuvartante pārtha manuṣyāḥ sarvaśaḥ. Kṛṣṇa, our relationship is with Kṛṣṇa, and that relationship cannot be cut off. That is there. Even those who are disobedient to Kṛṣṇa, those who are atheists, godless or Kṛṣṇa-less, they are also obeying Kṛṣṇa's order. They are also.

Just like an outlaw who does not care to abide by the laws, he is also abiding the laws of the state in a different way. He is being forced. So those who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's being forced by māyā to act. So that is there already, direct connection is there in this way or that way.

But here it is prescribed that anyone who wants the ultimate perfection of life they should worship Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa Himself. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is... Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī worshiped Caitanya Mahāprabhu:

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

Mahāpuruṣa: I'm not sure if I understand yet. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu is svayaṁ bhagavān.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Mahāpuruṣa: And the appearances of Kṛṣṇa in all the other yugas is also called svayaṁ bhagavān?

Prabhupāda: No. Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). The list of different incarnations in different ages, they are enlisted in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and it is summarized in the last verse, ete. Ete means "all these." Ete ca aṁśa-kalāḥ. Aṁśa means "plenary partial expansion." Kalā, "expansion of the expansion." There are many expansions directly from Kṛṣṇa and there are many expansions who are expansions from the expansions. So direct expansion is called aṁśa, and expansion of the expansion is called kalā.

Just like Mahā-Viṣṇu. Mahā-Viṣṇu is expansion of the expansion. The direct expansion is Baladeva. The next expansion is Saṅkarṣaṇa. The next expansion is the catur-vyūha. In this way, Viṣṇu, Mahā-Viṣṇu, is expansion of the expansion, kalā. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). Yasya kalā-viśeṣaḥ. Kalā means expansion of the expansion. That Mahā-Viṣṇu is kalā of Kṛṣṇa. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **.

So not necessarily all appearances of Kṛṣṇa is direct or He, Himself. There are expansions and expansion of the expansion. That is clearly explained. Ete ca aṁśa-kalāḥ. Some of them are direct, some of them are indirect. But this word Kṛṣṇa is, kṛṣṇas tu, He is but the Supreme Person. Bhagavān svayam, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

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

He has the opportunity. But unfortunately, a rich man's sons are misguided. They get some money without earning and they spend like anything for sense gratification. You see? But he should know, "Oh, I have got this opportunity by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. Now let me peacefully advance myself in the science of Kṛṣṇa." This opportunity is offered by Kṛṣṇa, but we misuse.

Still, we should not wait for the chance of another birth. We should take the opportunity in this birth. Just like Kṛṣṇa prescribes here that simply by knowing the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa and His transcendental activities, one can get liberated. Why don't you do that? Why should you wait for another birth, either in the rich man's family or in the pure family of a brāhmaṇa? Because it is not exactly sure that because a person is born in the family of a pure brāhmaṇa, he is elevating spiritually. No. Sometimes we see that he is degrading because he is misusing or by bad association or the parents is not training.

So we should not miss this opportunity of human life and follow this instruction that janma karma me divyaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ: (BG 4.9) anyone who simply understands the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, he becomes a liberated person. This opportunity we should take.

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Nairobi, October 31, 1975:

Prabhupāda: Species. He may become a dog, and he may become a demigod also, according to his karma. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām. Api. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni (BG 9.25). So according to his karma, he gets the next body. There is no guarantee that he'll get human body. Therefore it is very risky civilization at the modern time. They do not know what is the goal of life. Simply like cats and dogs, they are eating, sleeping, having sex life and dying. That's all. They do not know. Very risky life. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). This is the statement of the śāstra, "These rascals, they do not know that what is the goal of life, to understand Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa." Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). In the external energy of Kṛṣṇa, this bhūmir āpo... Bhinnā prakṛtir me aṣṭadhā. Bhinnā. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ. Bahir artha means this external, separated energy, material en... They are trying to become happy by adjustment of this bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). They are implicated with this bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ, external. Bahir-artha-māninaḥ. So they are andha, blind. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ. And they are leading other blind men. That's all.

Indian man (8): The Westerns are more unsure than the Easterns, or...?

Prabhupāda: No, Eastern are more at the present moment. This is the world. Material world is andha, all blind. There is no question of Eastern or Western. This is our manufacture, that Eastern is better than the Western. Just like stool. Stool, upside, little dry, and the downside, it is moist. If you say, "This side is better than the downside," (laughter) it is, after all, stool. So what is better side or...? (laughter) We don't make such things as Eastern or Western. We test whether he's Kṛṣṇa conscious. That's all. All right. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)

Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966:

Prabhupāda: Any questions?

Devotee: I'm not sure that I understand the process by which one might be thinking of something in his mind, and how that soul is put into a body similar to what that thought is. In other words, how can the soul be subject to what the mind is thinking of?

Prabhupāda: Because soul is now covered by the subtle body and the gross body. When the gross body stops to work... Just like at night the gross body is lying, but the subtle body mind is working. Therefore you are dreaming. The subtle body is working. So when you give up this body, your subtle body, mind, intelligence, that carries you very fine. Just like the flavor is carried by the air. If the air passes on some rose trees, the air becomes flavored like rose. There is no rose, but the flavor is there. Similarly, the flavor of your mentality, the flavor of your understanding, is carried. That is the subtle body. And you get a similar body. Therefore at the time of death the examination is tested, how one has advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The best thing is... It is said in the next verse, tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu (BG 8.7). Kṛṣṇa says, tasmāt sarveṣu... (break) ...of death you are transferred to a body like Kṛṣṇa in the abode of Kṛṣṇa.

Indian man: Supposing there is a person who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious during his life, but at the time of death he becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious. Then what his body...?

Lecture on BG 16.2-7 -- Bombay, April 8, 1971:

So there are two kinds of muktis. So far sāyujya-mukti is concerned, that is not very sure. What is this sound? (thumping sound like drum or machine in background) Sāyujya-mukti, one who takes liberation of merging into the existence of the Supreme Absolute Truth, that is not very secure position because they may fall down again to the material world. That is also stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). These impersonalists, after undergoing severe austerities... To come to the Brahman platform, impersonal Brahman platform, that is also not very easy. One has to undergo severe austerities. Tapasya. Nothing can be achieved with(out) tapasya. Any kind of liberation cannot be achieved without tapasya. That is the verdict of all Vedic literature. You cannot make it very easily accessible, but for this age it is easily accessible. Because the people are not so advanced, therefore śāstra gives them a little concession.

Just like in the race, the horse which is weak, it gives, some concession is given. And those who are strong, they are overloaded. Similarly, because the people of this age are not very strong, spiritually inclined, therefore for this particular age of Kali the tapasya has been, I mean to say, decreased. Just like these boys and girls. The tapasya means they have simply given up some bad habits: no illicit sex life, no intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling. That's all. Very easy. Now, you can see this is tapasya. And chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra twenty-four hours. This is the tapasya for Kali-yuga. Kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva. Any other means of meditation, offering sacrifices, or worshiping the Deity in the temple, these are difficult task, especially in this age. Kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt. In this age, simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare, one can very easily make advance in spiritual life.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Montreal, August 3, 1968:

So su-medhasaḥ means for executing religious life, for achieving the highest perfection of life, one must be very intelligent. A fool cannot achieve the highest perfection of life. Just like a fool cannot be very prosperous even in this material world, similarly, a fool also cannot make any progress in the spiritual world. So su-medhasaḥ means one should be little intelligent. What is that intelligence? Now, if I have got the easiest path to achieve the highest perfection of life, why shall I take a path which is not very sure? This intelligence required.

Now, Lord Caitanya, as He is described, if you accept... We are explaining that paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām, sambhavāmi yuge yuge (BG 4.8). So Lord appears in this age also. And according to śāstra, authentic scripture, He has appeared as Lord Caitanya. So if we accept this principle on the method of authentic scripture, that is our intelligence. That is our intelligence, not that you have to become a great psychologist or a great scientist or mathematician. No. You have to take the orders of the authority. Just like you are driving car. It is written there, "Keep to the right." It does not require a very nice intelligence. You keep your car to the right; you are all right. But if you go to the left, you are fool number one. Why? It is di..., written there, "Keep to the right." Why you go to the left? That means you are fool number one. So this much intelligence we must have, that "Here is police direction, 'Keep to the right.' Why shall I go to the left?" This much intelligence can be had by any common man. So similarly, if the śāstra says that yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ (SB 11.5.32), that "Those who are intelligent, they will perform worship of the Lord by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa," this yajña...

Lecture on SB 1.2.9 -- New Vrindaban, September 7, 1972:

That is the program. Not for sense gratification. That is called dharma.

Here it is said, dharmasya hy āpavargyasya. Hy āpavargyasya, apavarga. This pavarga I have explained several times. In Sanskrit grammar there are vargas, ka-varga, ca-varga, ṭa-varga, ta-varga, pa-varga—five vargas. So pa-varga means pa pha ba bha ma, five letters. Pa means pariśrama, hard labor. And pha means foaming. Because when you work very hard, from your mouth some foam comes out. Sometimes we see in the body of the horse, or any animal. Pa, pha, ba. Ba means vyarthatā, frustration. Instead of, in spite of working very hard, there is frustration in this material world. Pa, pha, ba, bha. Bha means bhaya, fearfulness. Although I am working very hard, still, I am fearful what will happen. I am not sure that things will be done properly, in spite of my working very hard. Pa, pha, ba, bha, and ma. Ma means mṛtyu, death. Working so hard, day and night, and still, there is death. Working so hard... The scientific world is working so hard, but the scientist is dying himself. He cannot stop death. He can create some atom bomb to kill, but he cannot create anything which will stop death. That is not possible. Therefore, this pa, pha, ba, bha, ma, these five letters represent five kinds of our activities in this material world.

Lecture on SB 2.3.1 -- Los Angeles, May 19, 1972:

Now, this is the important part of the verse, that "man who is on the threshold of death." Who can say that "I am not on the threshold of death?" Is there any man in this universe who can say that "I am not on the threshold of death." Can anyone say? Everyone is on the threshold of death. That's a fact. But such questions are made amongst them... Everyone is subject to death, and threshold, on the threshold of death. Nobody can say that "I shall live for so many years." No guarantee. Everyone is on the threshold of death. Any moment, we can die. Therefore it is said,"As sure as death." All other things may be not sure, but death is sure. Therefore, before death, one... Manīṣiṇām, manuṣyeṣu manīṣiṇām. Not ordinary man. Manīṣī. Manīṣī means thoughtful. They question, "What is to be done now, before death comes? Shall I die like cats and dogs, or shall I die like human being?" This is the question. Cats and dogs dying, nobody cares. But a human being dying, there are so many ceremonies, mourning.

Because human life is important. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja, although he was on the threshold of death, he was allowed seven days time. He was cursed to death, but he was given seven days time. "You, king, you shall die within seven days—after seven days—being bitten by serpent." This is was the curse given to him. He accepted. He could counteract it. Parīkṣit Mahārāja was Vaiṣṇava. He was very powerful. But he thought that "Yes, I am offender. The brāhmaṇa boy has cursed me, I shall accept it." So, he prepared himself for death. For seven days he placed himself on the bank of the Ganges without drinking a drop of water, and for seven days continually, he heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. That was decided. Harer nāmānukīrtanaḥ. In any circumstances of life, hearing and chanting is prescribed. So Parīkṣit... Śukadeva Gosvāmī said, "My dear King, I have explained to you what is to be done now, at the time of death." So we should take example or instruction from the behavior of Parīkṣit Mahārāja that on the threshold of death...Everyone is on the threshold of death, but the foolish persons, they do not know. Foolish person thinks that "I shall live forever." That is foolishness.

Lecture on SB 7.9.19 -- Mayapur, February 26, 1976:

That is real remedy. So after being cured, he'll become a devotee. So this medicine is not cure. This literature is cure, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is real cure. Nārtasya cāgadam. And udanvati majjato nauḥ. Everyone is drowned, either you take figeratively or really. In the samudra, in the sea, ocean, there are always ojhs, (?) waves. So your tiny boat or big ship, that is not safe side. We have got experience. When I was going to New York on ship—I had no money to go by plane—so in the deep sea ocean, especially in the Atlantic Ocean, it was nothing, like a small ball, tottering like this. At any moment can be capsized. Although very big ship with very big load, but it is nothing in the sea. So that is not sure. There is no surety that because you are in a big ship you'll be saved. No. In your country, it happened, say, fifty, sixty years, the Titantic, or what is that? In the first voyage, everything was drowned, all big, big men. So nature's freak is so strong that you cannot say that "Because I have got a nice ship, I'll be saved." No, that is not possible. Without Kṛṣṇa's protection, this, all these counteracting measures, will be all useless.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival -- Philadelphia, July 11, 1975:

Woman Reporter: ...The point is that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has been what some people would consider sexist or racist because certain propensities for women and for blacks have been defined, either by the devotees or by the Vedic scriptures, I'm not sure which. And I wondered if you would comment on that.

Brahmānanda: It has been alleged that our movement is against women and against Negroes because we do not give them... What is it?

Woman Reporter: Well, not necessarily against them, but defining inferior roles for them by their natural traits.

Brahmānanda: Give inferior roles to women and to Negroes.

Prabhupāda: We give equal roles spiritually. Materially, one man is servant; one man is master. How you can avoid this? Do you think everyone will be master, nobody will be servant, materially? Materially, one is father, one is son, one is master, one is servant, one is man, one is woman. How can you stop this? But spiritually, they are all equal.

Woman Reporter: So then what is happening materially is unimportant?

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, September 30, 1968:

Guest: Maybe you've already answered this. I'm not sure. I didn't hear. But I have always been taught since I was a little kid to love God and then I will love everything. Is God Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: Yes. You have got any other God? Any other God than Kṛṣṇa?

Guest: Ah, what was the question again? Oh, no, no...

Prabhupāda: Just try to understand what is God.

Guest: I didn't know that God was Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: No, everything has got definition. Just like if I say "This is watch." So it has a definition. Watch means it is round and there is a white dial and two hands, there are so many figures indicating time. Like that, I can give you some description. So anything, whatever you see or experience or try to understand, there must be some definition. So when you speak of God, do you know what is the definition of God?

Guest: Yes. I thought He was love.

Prabhupāda: Love is not definition; love is the action. Yes, love. I love God. Love is my activity. But there must be some definition of God. That also you know. You now forget. Now, in one word, they say "God is great." So how do you test one's greatness? Next point. If you say that "This man is very great," now there must be an understanding how you estimate that he is great. These are different stages of understanding. So how do you understand that God is great?

Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968:

Young man (5): Possibly every action is from a law of Kṛṣṇa, and law is that which pleases Kṛṣṇa. And from some act within His mind or within... I'm not sure what he was talking of there (?) because if it was in the mind, it was projected into history to please Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: What is his question?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says something about Kṛṣṇa has something in His mind; therefore it becomes factual. He projected it from His mind, and thus it became history.

Young man (5): No. No. Not that He projected it, but people trying to please Kṛṣṇa did it through misinterpretation.

Prabhupāda: You have to please Kṛṣṇa.

Young man (5): Yes.

Prabhupāda: Not trying, but if you don't please Kṛṣṇa, then you are in difficulty. That is your position. It is not Kṛṣṇa's interest. It is your interest. Just like if you want to live peacefully, you have to please the state. There is no question that by pleasing the state, by yourself, the state becomes very enriched. It is for your interest. If you please the state, then you can live very peacefully. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is full in Himself. He's great. He does not require your, some action so that He may be pleased. He's pleased already. But if you please Him, then you are happy. That is your interest. Yes?

Lecture -- Los Angeles, November 13, 1968:

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Brahmānanda said, "Do you know what you are doing to me, Tamāla? Now I have to do all the work here." So he said, "But it's all right." (Prabhupāda laughs) Number-one man.

Prabhupāda: So you may send somebody to help him.

Nandarāṇī: Who is coming? (pause)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Puruṣottama. He said it was all right because Puruṣottama can still get a lot of advertisements for Back to Godhead in Los Angeles area.

Prabhupāda: Oh, you can.

Devotee: When's he coming?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I'm not sure. Maybe next week. (end)

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

Prabhupāda: Suicide is killing the body. What is that explanation? Untimely. Untimely. Suicide means that you were given some body to suffer or enjoy for a certain time according to your last fruitive activities. Now, if you commit suicide, that is just like a prisoner is condemned to live in the prisonhouse for six months, but some way or other, if he gets out of the prison, when he is again caught, then he is punished to remain there for one year more. Suicide is like that. You are having a particular type of body that is given to you for enjoyment or suffering according to your last work. If you finish it untimely, then you have to accept such body again, and the duration will be extended.

Man (6): I'm not sure that I understand you. You mean that suicide is putting an end to suffering which was...

Prabhupāda: Suffering you cannot end in that way. Just the same example, that if you get out of the prison some way or other, that does not stop your suffering. As soon as you are arrested, you are put again. The law of nature is not so insignificant that simply by suiciding, you'll stop suffering. No. You have to accept again body and have to suffer.

Man (8): Excuse me. But how do we know that we're going to have a body in the next life?

Prabhupāda: There are books, knowledge books, books of knowledge. Therefore I am speaking of Vedic knowledge.

Man (8): Books can be wrong also.

Prabhupāda: No, why...? Then you are wrong also. You are learning from books. What is your education? You are learning from books.

Man (8): No, but we read these things from Bhagavad-gītā, as it...

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

Man (10): I'm not sure I understand what you mean by a spiritual body. When I look at you, it seems that you're...

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. Now, one dress is moving, coat-pant. That means that within that dress there is a man, not that automatically the coat-pant is moving. Similarly, this dress is standing so long the soul is there. As soon as the soul is gone, it is flat, no more moving. This is very easy to understand. It is dress, but dress is moving. Just like coat-pant moving, how long? The real man is there. If the man is not there, finished. The coat is coat; pant is pant. That's all. It is so simply given in the Bhagavad-gītā. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). It is dress. So dress means there is real body. Otherwise how dress can be made? Because you have got this hand, therefore your coat has got a hand. Because you have got leg, therefore your dress, pant, has got a leg. So if it is dress, then it is to be understood that within the dress the spiritual body is there. It is common affair. First of all try to understand this. Yes.

Lecture with Allen Ginsberg at Ohio State University -- Columbus, May 12, 1969:

In other words, the indigenous, the importation of a very strange oriental form, almost a hard-shelled Baptist oriental form, in the sense of its traditionality and its fundamentalism, its reliance on ancient texts and interpretation of ancient texts by long tradition of teachers—it's strange it's so far-out and ritualized an Indian form should take root in the United States a little more naturally than the more Protestant Vedānta Society or the extremely rigorous Zen groups that have taken root. I think partly it's due to the magnanimity or generosity or the old-age charm, wisdom, cheerfulness of Swami Bhaktivedanta, his openness of heart, his willingness to come down on to the street, and his sense of his own divinity and the divinity of others around that it's been possible for the bhakti-yoga cult of India to be planted very firmly here in America so that now there are communes, or ashrams, functioning on the basis of the Kṛṣṇa rituals, which are, in some respect, a model for all those anarchists and political people who are interested in establishing indigenous American communes. The regulations on food, on sexual relations, which generally cause much confusion in mutual-living health pads, the regulations on sleep and thinking process, are like an interesting model to study for those who are interested in forming affinity groups or large family communes. I will have my turn at language tomorrow because I'm giving a poetry reading at the student union somewhere—I'm not sure where—which is my regular thing, which is why I was invited here by the student activities committee. So I will cut myself off now and be brief and leave the rest of the evening to Swami Bhaktivedanta, who will give a language explanation, or whatever he wants to say, of the cultural, or metaphysical or religious roots in... Pardon me?

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

Prabhupāda: Are you not conscious of your childhood?

Devotee (1): Am I conscious of... My body's being constantly changing?

Prabhupāda: You are conscious, but you do not perceive it.

Devotee (1): Can the living entity perceive the situation at this time, when he's being transferred from one body to another?

Prabhupāda: So why you are thinking... Are you not assured that you are not transferred? You are not sure? When there is practically it is happening, what is the reason of your being doubtful?

Devotee (1): There's no doubtful. It's just here. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: So many things happening in your body; are you aware of all these things?

Devotee (1): No.

Prabhupāda: Then, similarly, it is happening. Why do you ask such question? So many things are happening in your body. You do not know how it is happening. Therefore it is called prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). The nature is doing. You are completely in the hands of the nature. How, after shaving, how your hairs are growing, do you know?

Devotee (1): No.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Devotee: Then he is so many times falling down, again and again, eventually permanently he will come back.

Prabhupāda: No. There is no question of permanent. Because he has got independence, he can misuse his independence, he can fall down. That's why one man is released from the prison house, that does not mean permanently he... He can come back again.

Śyāmasundara: There's no guarantee.

Atreya Ṛṣi: This concept of prediction, Prabhupāda. You just said it's the duty of the material (indistinct) because he's (indistinct) material. Because he's not sure and...

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) by experience (indistinct). Just like you can predict that four months after, there will be winter season. This prediction is like that. You have got experience that last year there was winter season, and again four months after there will be winter season. We call this prediction of experience, that's all.

Atreya Ṛṣi: In the spiritual world everything is permanent.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Atreya Ṛṣi: There is no need for making predictions all the time.

Prabhupāda: No. Why there is? Prediction means when there is something wanting. There is no want at all.

Devotee: Once he's liberated, can he (indistinct)?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner:

Śyāmasundara: This program, because Skinner himself believes in Judeo-Christian ethics combined with a scientific tradition. But he fails to answer how it is possible to accept those ethics without accepting something like an inner person with an autonomous concept. In other words, he says we can program society to be good to your neighbor, to love one another, to be honest, upright, like that. But he is still not sure how it would be possible without accepting a free will.

Prabhupāda: The defect is that these programs are being forwarded by some rascal. Therefore they are defective. If they would have been forwarded by perfect man, then you would have actual (indistinct). Now one rascal is forwarding some program, another rascal next time (indistinct) this is true. So this is going on in Western world. Because according to Bhāgavata we belong to the category of dogs, hogs, camels. So what is the benefit of a dog's program and (indistinct) by camel's program. If they are on the, basically there is nothing but dogs, hogs, camels and asses, then suppose dog has given some program and the camel says, "No. This program is better than this one." And the ass comes, he introduces another program, "This program is better than this program." So either of these programs, because they are made by dogs, hogs, asses and camels, they cannot be perfect. Take a program from a real human being. Then it is perfect. The defect is there. One philosopher is proposing something, another philosopher is proposing something... That is (indistinct) especially in the Western countries, they are doing so independence (?). But the Vedic civilization there is no independence. They must follow the Vedic injunction. As I have said several times, the Vedas says that the stool of cow is completely pure. They do not argue that "Formerly you say that the stool of animal is impure. Now you are saying that the stool of animal, cow, is pure. So how can we accept?" There is no such thing. The Vedas says, even it is stool, but the Vedas says the stool of cow is perfectly pure. Yes. No contradiction. Our presentation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is like that. But Kṛṣṇa says, "(indistinct), as it is." There is no question of altering or changing according to circumstances. We know Kṛṣṇa is perfect. Whatever He has said, it is all right, in all conditions. That is our belief. We do not deviate. So similarly, if the direction is taken for training from the perfect, that is the best. And if the direction is taken from the process of (indistinct) philosophy, hogs, dogs, and asses, and camels how can you take? (indistinct) something, (indistinct) something, (indistinct) analysis something, so the whole society will be (indistinct).

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That, that is acceptable in this sense, that God is independent thoroughly, but sometimes He wants to become dependent. That is His pleasure. And He accepts some of His devotee so that He can depend upon. Just like Mother Yaśodā, that God became dependent on Mother Yaśodā. Unless Mother Yaśodā allows God to suck her breast, God will die. God is thinking like that, and He is crying. That is God's pleasure, that everyone is dependent on Him, and He is not dependent on anyone, so in order to derive this pleasure how a dependent child enjoys the care of mother, He accept to become a son of a devotee. That is not very ordinary thing to understand, but He has In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is explained...

Hayagrīva: I'm not sure that Alexander understood it in that way.

Prabhupāda: No. How he can understand? (laughter) He cannot. He is a talkative philosopher, that's all.

Hayagrīva: He, he says, "God Himself is involved in our acts and their issues. Not only does He matter to us, but we matter to Him."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is one sense correct. Because we are fallen condition and we are sons of God, so we are suffering. God is very much compassionate; therefore He comes personally to teach us: "You rascal, why you are rotting in this material world? You surrender to Me and go back to home, back to Godhead, you will be happy." Therefore He is consulting. Otherwise why He comes from Vaikuṇṭha? Everyone, just like a son is rotting in his own way, but the father comes: "My dear son, why you are rotting in this way? You come home. You have got state. You will live there comfortably." But he does not come. That is his misfortune.