Peculiar (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"peculiar" |"peculiarities" |"peculiarity" |"peculiarly"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.3 -- London, August 4, 1973:

Just like if you have got some disease in the eyes, you apply medicine, and when it is clear, you can see clearly everything; similarly, with these blunt senses, we cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). As śrī-kṛṣṇasya nāmādau, Kṛṣṇa's name, form, quality, etc., is not understand by these blunt senses, so how it is to be done? Now, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. Again jihvādau, beginning from the tongue, controlling the tongue. Just see it is something peculiar, that you have to understand Kṛṣṇa by controlling the tongue? This is something wonderful. How is that? I have to control my tongue to understand Kṛṣṇa? But it is, the śāstra injunction is there: sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. Jihvā means tongue. So in order to see Kṛṣṇa, in order to understand Kṛṣṇa, the first business is to control your tongue. Therefore we say, don't take meat, don't take liquor. Because it is controlling the tongue. The tongue is the most strong enemy as sense, as perverted sense. And these rascals they say, "No, you can eat whatever you like. It has nothing to do with religion." But Vedic śāstra says, "You rascal, first of all control your tongue. Then you can understand what is God."

So this is called Vedic injunction—perfect. If you control your tongue, then you control your belly, then you control your genital.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

In the Battle of Kurukṣetra there were two parties, cousin-brothers fighting. So Mahārāja Parīkṣit's father, Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna, he was only sixteen-years-old boy, but he was fortunately married. His marriage is also very peculiar. The daughter was... Uttarā was offered to Arjuna, but Arjuna said that "This girl, I have treated her as my student." He was teacher. "I cannot marry. She is my daughter." So then Arjuna said, "I have got grown-up son. I'll arrange her marriage with my son." So Uttarā was married with his son at the age of sixteen years. The boy and the girl, both were sixteen years old, and they were married. Fortunately, when the battle was going on, this boy was also called to fight, and the girl was pregnant. But the boy never returned. He died in the battlefield. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja remained in the womb of his mother.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.3.18 -- Los Angeles, September 23, 1972:

Verse:

caturdaśaṁ nārasiṁhaṁ

bibhrad daityendram ūrjitam

dadāra karajair ūrāv

erakāṁ kaṭa-kṛd yathā

(SB 1.3.18)

So in the previous verses all the incarnations of God, they have been given there—father's name, mother's name. Kṛṣṇa avatāra also, His father's name, mother's name is there. But here Narasiṁha, there is no name of the father and mother. This verse is peculiar that there is no names. Why? Because this Narasiṁha incarnation came out of a column. Hiraṇyakaśipu was so angry talking with his son. He saw that his son is very strongly Kṛṣṇa conscious; he could not induce him to forget Kṛṣṇa. So he was very angry. So he was ready to kill him with his sword. At that time Prahlāda Mahārāja, the little boy, five years old, he was just looking at the column in the hall. So his father marked it and immediately asked, "Do you think your God is there in the column?" He said, "Yes, my father." Immediately he broke the column, and Nṛsiṁha came out.

Lecture on SB 1.8.41 -- Mayapura, October 21, 1974:

Actually the pāṇḍuṣu, later on, they became Pāṇḍus because Dhṛtarāṣṭra wanted to separate them from the Kuru family. Both of them, the Dhṛtarāṣṭra's family and Pāṇḍu's family, both of them belonged to the Kuru's family. But because Dhṛtarāṣṭra was very much anxious to separate the Pāṇḍavas, or the sons of his younger brother, Pāṇḍu, from the family, so they were known as Pāṇḍavas, and his own sons were known as Kurus. So Kuntī is praying. The prayer is very peculiar. What is that peculiar prayer? The prayer is sneha-pāśam imam. Pāśam means "rope." We are bound up by the ropes of affection to the family. This family or that family, everyone is bound up. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). This family combination is māyā because we all, living entities, we are being washed away by the waves of material nature.

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

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.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 12, 1975:

By one man's endeavor all these foreigners they're getting real life of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They have sacrificed everything practically. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is required. That is human life. Otherwise, if we simply work very hard just like the stool-eater hogs, "Where is food? Where is food? Where is sex? Where is..." This is... Therefore this particular name has been mentioned here, viḍ-bhujām. It is very peculiar. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛ-loke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). This is the business of the stool-eater hogs. Śāstra sometimes uses very strong language. That is required. Just like if you want to train your children, sometimes you have to slap, you have to chastise for his benefit. That is the... Therefore this very word is used, viḍ-bhujāṁ ye. These kind of engagements are there among the hogs and dogs.

Lecture on SB 6.1.18 -- Denver, July 1, 1975:

This is astonish: "How can I serve with tongue? If I have to serve, I have got my hands and legs, my eyes and I..." No. Śāstra says tongue. This is very peculiar. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. If you engage your tongue... So how to engage my tongue? What is the business of my tongue? Two business only: to taste, or eat, and chant. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa with tongue and take kṛṣṇa-prasādam—you will conquer Kṛṣṇa. This is the program. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. So if you do not control your tongue, if you feel inconvenient in taking prasādam, that means you are not making progress. This is the... This is the formula. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ.

Lecture on SB 6.1.33 -- Honolulu, June 1, 1976:

Just like this is also vasudhā, this planet here. We can see there are so many millions of planets, at night you can see, and each of them is peculiar, different from the others. Why they have failed to utilize the moon planet? It is a different atmosphere. It is different atmosphere. These rascals cannot go there. It is not possible. They have simply made false propaganda. They cannot go there.

Lecture on SB 7.9.13-14 -- Montreal, August 22, 1968:

So from social conventional point of view, if a son is glad on the death of his father, do you think it is very nice? No. These points are to be considered. But Prahlāda Mahārāja gives very nice evidence. This is the peculiarity of Kṛṣṇa conscious persons, that whatever they will say, they will give full support. What is that? He says, tad yaccha manyum asuraś ca hatas tvayādya. Asura. "My father was asura. So because Your mission was to kill, so that, he is killed. And by this killing process, not only myself, but sādhu, all sādhus they are also pleased." Sādhur api. Just see.

Lecture on SB 7.9.22 -- Mayapur, February 29, 1976:

Prahlāda Mahārāja will speak in later verses that śoce tato vimukha-cetasaḥ, māyā-suhkhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān. A Vaiṣṇava's concern is... He sees everything. Just like any common man can understand what kind of birth. Nānā yoni bhraman kare, kadarya bhakṣaṇa kare. Very peculiar arrangement of the māyā. We see sometimes in the airplane, even Indian, they're eating the intestine of the hog, enjoying. That is enjoying. There is a preparation called naphi in Burma. That preparation is made... Every householder has a big jug at the door, and any animal dies, he puts it in that.

Lecture on SB 7.9.22 -- Mayapur, February 29, 1976:

Very peculiar condition we are in this material world. But do not think that when Kṛṣṇa comes, He also is subjected to this suffering. No. That is īśitā. Just like there are many patients in the hospital, infectious disease, but that does not mean the doctors who are treating them, they are also infectious. No. They are not infectious. Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa comes... Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). So He is not subjected to this māyic influence. He's not subjected.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 7, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of all rasas. Rasa is a very peculiar word. Rasa, it may be translated into English as "taste," as "mellow," or as "humor." So our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, there is some taste. Without taste, we cannot continue our relationship with anyone. There must be some taste. So these rasas, or tastes, are twelve kinds. Primary rasa is the relationship between inert things and our... Just like I am sitting on this chair. So the comfort I am feeling, that is the rasa, taste. We want very nice cushion, sitting position.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.39-47 -- San Francisco, February 1, 1967:

We should always remember that materially, there may be higher, lower class. There is, always, in every society, in every country. But spiritually there is no such consideration. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's propaganda. He made Haridāsa Ṭhākura—he was a Muhammadan—as the spiritual master for saṅkīrtana, namācārya. And He picked up Sanātana Gosvāmī and Rūpa Gosvāmī, who were rejected by the Hindu society, and He made them gosvāmīs. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's peculiarity. And here also we see that a śūdra, a laborer class, a clerk, who is considered to be lower in the society, He was staying at his house.

General Lectures

Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:

God is there in everyone's heart. But who knows that? So there is a process by which one has to learn God, what is God. That is sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). It is very peculiar process, that you have to learn God through the tongue. Through the tongue. They want to see God with the eyes, but the Vedic information is that you have to know God through the tongue.

Public Lecture -- Konigstein, Germany, June 19, 1974:

These blunt senses, you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's form, Kṛṣṇa's qualities, Kṛṣṇa's activities—you cannot understand. Then I have got this... This is my, in possession. How can I understand Kṛṣṇa? That is said, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. When you engage your tongue in the service of the Lord. Now, this is also another peculiar thing, that to understand by the tongue, not by the mind. Tongue. Tongue means we have got two businesses we perform with the tongue. One is tasting foodstuff and vibrating voice. So you use the tongue vibrating Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and eat Kṛṣṇa prasādam-bas. Then you understand Kṛṣṇa. You don't understand, but He reveals.