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Pleasure (Lectures, BG)

Expressions researched:
"pleasurable" |"pleasure" |"pleasures"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966:

The "Kṛṣṇa" name means the highest pleasure. It is confirmed that the Supreme Lord is the reservoir, is the storehouse of all pleasure. We are all hankering after pleasure. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). The living entities or the Lord, because we are full of consciousness, therefore our consciousness is after happiness. Happiness. The Lord is also perpetually happy, and if we associate with the Lord, cooperate with Him, take part in His association, then also we become happy. The Lord descends on this mortal world to show His pastimes in Vṛndāvana full of happiness.

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

Now, in the Bhagavad-gītā the worship of different demigods is not approved, is not approved because... It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā (BG 7.20), the Lord says, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante 'nya-devatāḥ. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ. Those who are directed by lust, only they worship the demigods other than the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. We also may remember that when we speak of "Kṛṣṇa" it is not a sectarian name. The "Kṛṣṇa" name means the highest pleasure. It is confirmed that the Supreme Lord is the reservoir, is the storehouse of all pleasure. We are all hankering after pleasure. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). The living entities or the Lord, because we are full of consciousness, therefore our consciousness is after happiness. Happiness.

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

Eko mantras tasya nāmāni yāni karmāpy ekaṁ tasya devasya sevā. And there is one work only, that is to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If one learns from Bhagavad-gītā, then the people are very much anxious to have one religion, one God, one scripture, and one business or one activity of life. This is summarized in the Bhagavad-gītā. That one, one God, is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not sectarian God. Kṛṣṇa, from the name of Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa means, as we have explained above, Kṛṣṇa means the greatest pleasure.

Lecture on BG 1.15 -- London, July 15, 1973:

So everyone is named here with his task. The first name is, Kṛṣṇa, Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīkeśa. He is the master of the senses. Govinda. Go means senses. "Who gives pleasure to the senses." So Kṛṣṇa has got many names, thousands, out of which, the Kṛṣṇa name is chief, mukhya. That is described in Vedic literature. People say God has no name. That is right. He has no particular fixed name.

Lecture on BG 1.23 -- London, July 19, 1973:

One is by nature ānandamaya. We are searching after ānanda, bliss, but we do not know where to get bliss. We are trying to get bliss in this material world by eating meat, eating wine, drinking wine, by sex. They are trying to get ānanda. That is not ānanda. Ānanda is what is satyānanda. These ānandas, these pleasures—flickering, for few minutes, for few hours. That is not ānanda. Ānanda means satyānanda, real ānanda, real ānanda. What is that real ānanda? Brahma-sukha. That ānanda is in exchange with the Supreme Brahman.

Lecture on BG 1.26-27 -- London, July 21, 1973:

To see every woman except his wife as mother. This is education. This is education, perfection of education, when you can see all women except your wife as mother. This is education. Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat. And others' property? Just like garbage in the street. Nobody is interested in the garbage. You throw. That is education. And ātmavat sarva-bhūteṣu. And thinking all living entities as your own self. If you feel pains and pleasure by something, you could not afflict the pains to others.

Lecture on BG 1.28-29 -- London, July 22, 1973:

The idea is, Kulaśekhara, King Kulaśekhara is praying to Kṛṣṇa, adyaiva viśatu me mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ. Adyaiva. Prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ smaraṇaṁ kutas te. He is praying, "Kṛṣṇa, I am now in good health. So kindly award me death immediately." Adyaiva. "Immediately, so that my mind, who is just like a swan, he can take pleasure by entering into stem of Your lotus flower feet." Kṛṣṇa's feet is always compared with lotus flower, and the lotus flower has got a stem. And the swans, they take pleasure being entangled with that stem. They go and dive into the water. This is their very good sporting. So he is taking that sporting, he is comparing his mind as the rāja-haṁsa. "So as the rāja-haṁsa takes pleasure by entangling him in the stem of the lotus flower, similarly Your lotus feet, there is a stem.

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

So the Māyāvādī impersonalists, they cannot understand that serving Kṛṣṇa is simply pleasure and blissful. They cannot understand. Therefore they become impersonalists: "No. The Absolute Truth cannot be person." That is another side of the Buddha philosophy. Impersonal means zero. That is also zero. So Buddhist philosophy, they also make the ultimate goal zero, and these Māyāvādīs, they also make the ultimate goal... Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31).

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

I have to do it," that is not Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have to do it voluntarily and with great pleasure. Then you know. Utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt, sato vṛtteḥ sādhu-saṅge ṣaḍbhir bhaktiḥ prasidhyati. You will find in our Upadeśāmṛta (3). Always you should be enthusiastic, utsāhāt. Dhairyāt, with patience. Tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt, niścayāt. Niścayāt means with confidence. "When I am engaged in Kṛṣṇa's business, Kṛṣṇa's activities, Kṛṣṇa will surely take me back to home, back to..." Niścayāt. And Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). "I will take you back."

Lecture on BG 1.31 -- London, July 24, 1973:

Just like a child, he likes to play all day and night. Naturally. Playful child. So that is called preyas. He likes immediate pleasure. But his father says, "My dear child, just go to school or read book." So father is asking for śreyas, ultimate good. If he is not educated at the, at childhood, then how he will prosper in his future life? So considering the future prospect, ultimate good, that is called śreyas. And preyas means immediate. Just like we eat something which I may not digest, or it may have some bad effect later on. But people are interested—the immediate benefit, without calculation of future benefit.

Lecture on BG 1.36 -- London, July 26, 1973:

Lord Rāmacandra could marry hundreds and thousands of Sītās. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He could create Sītā, Rādhārāṇī, Lakṣmī. They are the pleasure potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot have a material wife or material companion. Kṛṣṇa's Rādhārāṇī or Lord Rāmacandra's Sītādevī, Nārāyaṇa's Lakṣmīdevī, they are pleasure potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vṛkitir āhlādinī-śaktir asmāt. Āhlādinī-śakti. Kṛṣṇa, God, has got many potencies. One of the potencies is called āhlādinī-śakti, pleasure potency. So Kṛṣṇa's consort, Lord Rāmacandra's consort, they are pleasure potency, exhibited. So to show the example, Lord Rāmacandra, because Sītā was kidnapped, Sītā was insulted, or Rāmacandra was insulted, the retaliation was Lord Rāmacandra killed not only Rāvaṇa, but the whole dynasty, finished.

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

So as soon as I take this book, this picture comes before me and I simply think, 'Oh, how Kṛṣṇa is nice that He has become a charioteer of His devotee. He is so great. Still, He has accepted a menial service of His devotee.' This gives me so much pleasure that I cry." Caitanya Mahāprabhu embraced him, "Your Bhagavad-gītā reading is perfect. You have taken the essence."

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

The swan takes pleasure where there is, I mean to say, what is called, lotus or lily, lilies. There's a stem. They dive and they entangle their long neck with the... That is their sporting. So Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, we call, lotus feet. So he says that "My mind may be entangled with the stem of Your lotus feet just like the swan. Immediately. I can do that now because I am in healthy state. Otherwise at the time of death, kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ, when mucus, bile, everything will be disordered, and my throat will be choked up, I will not be able to speak or chant. So why shall I wait for that time? Now I am fit.

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

Inspecting, yes. Inspecting. "Your touring means inspection whether the varṇāśrama, whether the brāhmaṇa is doing actually as brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya is doing actually as kṣatriya." That is king's touring. King's touring not a pleasure touring at the expense of the state go somewhere and come back. No. He was... Sometimes in disguise the king used to see whether this varṇāśrama-dharma is being maintained, properly being observed, whether somebody is simply wasting time like hippies.

Lecture on BG 2.6 -- London, August 6, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa was a young boy, very beautiful, and the gopīs were young girls. That is the superficial... Actually, the gopīs are eternal associates of Kṛṣṇa. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). They are expansions of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency expansion. They are meant for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure. They are not ordinary women. But superficially, just to teach us how to love Kṛṣṇa at the risk of anything... Therefore gopīs, when they were attracted by Kṛṣṇa at midnight... Kṛṣṇa was playing flute, and they became attracted and they left home.

Lecture on BG 2.7 -- London, August 7, 1973:

So the quality is the same, but the quantity is different. So because the quality's same, so we have got all the propensities as God has, as Kṛṣṇa has. Kṛṣṇa has got loving propensities with His pleasure potency, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Similarly, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we have also got this loving propensity. So this is svabhava. But when we come in contact with this material nature... Kṛṣṇa does not come into the contact of the material nature.

Lecture on BG 2.7-11 -- New York, March 2, 1966:

Govinda. Go means also senses. Go means cow, go means land, and go means sense. And inda. Inda (?) means pleasure. One who gives pleasure to the cow, one who gives pleasure to the land, one who gives pleasure to the senses—so His name is Govinda. Now, two things, two names, are used here. So we should try to understand what is the meaning of Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīka means indriya, and īśa means Lord. So whatever senses we have got, the actually the proprietor of the senses—not myself. The proprietor of the senses is God. Just like we are sitting in this room.

Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:

If I pinch your body, you feel pain. You pinch my body; I feel pain. Similarly, cats and dogs, they also feel pain or pleasure. So that is the proof of existence of the soul even in cats and dogs and human beings. The only difference is in the human form of life the consciousness is developed. So developed consciousness means to understand the Absolute Truth. That is the special function of the human being. Therefore the Vedānta-sūtra says, "Now this human form of life is meant for understanding the Absolute Truth, what is the original cause of everything." Because there must be some cause. That is education. Just like your appearance is caused by your father. Your father's appearance is caused by his father.

Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:

So this is the education, that we should understand what is our material life and what is our spiritual life. Spiritual life means sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). Sat-cit-ānanda. Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, and bliss means full of jubilation, ānanda, pleasure. This is our constitution. This is God's constitution. This our constitution. The difference between God and ourself is that God never accepts this material body, but sometimes we, under certain circumstances, we have to accept this material body. But never mind. We have accepted this material body. We can get out of it.

Lecture on BG 2.10 -- London, August 16, 1973:

All these people are working so hard day and night only for that sex enjoyment. Yan maithunādi-gṛha... They are taking so much risk. They are working, karmis, they are working so hard. What is their pleasure of life? The pleasure of life is sex. Yan maitunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham. Very abominable activities, but that is their pleasure. This is material life. So Kṛṣṇa is not like that. But the rascals, they paint picture, and that pictures are very much appreciated, that Kṛṣṇa is embracing gopīs. Somebody was telling me that... Last... Who came? That Kṛṣṇa's picture.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 9, 1966:

So that is a question, one must like to put, that "Why God became many?" So that is, that answer is that because God is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1)—He's all-pleasure—therefore, without many, there is no pleasure. Just like here I sit down the whole day alone, but I become more active and more pleasing when you come. Whenever we want to enjoy some pleasure, pleasure is not enjoyed alone. Pleasure is enjoyed with many. Now God is by nature... He's ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). He's always full of pleasure, full of blissfulness. Now, if He wants to become many, it is... He's omnipotent. He can become many.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- London, August 18, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Spirit Person. He is all-pervading. Everywhere He is present. He is so expansive. We are simply... We are also all-pervading, but within this body. That's all. Kṛṣṇa is all-pervading means throughout the whole creation, Kṛṣṇa all-pervading. And we are also all-pervading only in this body. You are all-pervading within your body; I know the pains and pleasures of my body; you know the pains and pleasures of your body. So all-pervading means within this body.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, December 12, 1976:

Those who have got experience of ghost in some house, the ghost is there, he is individual soul, but because he hasn't got this material covering, that is a punishment. For the most sinful person, that is a punishment, that he does not get this body, although he wants this body, because for enjoyment we want this body. Body is the combination of senses, instrument. If I want to touch you I require hand, and through hand I'll feel the pleasure of touching you. So the ghost wants to touch, but he hasn't got the instrument. That is ghost. But there are ghost. It is not fictitious. It is a fact. Ghost means without this material body.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

So materialists, they are concerned with gold and soft bed for enjoyment. You see? So his name was Hiraṇyakaśipu. And the Prahlāda, his son... Prahlāda means prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa āhlāda. Āhlāda means pleasure. He's always full of pleasure. He has nothing to do with material... Because material pleasure cannot give us pleasure. It is our mistake. But because we have no information of the spiritual pleasure and because we are conditioned by this material body, therefore we seek pleasure through matter. Now we have to raise ourself from this position. Then we can get unlimited pleasure. We want pleasure, but we do not want such pleasure which ends. We want nonending pleasure. That is our heart's desire. But in material pleasure we cannot have that bliss.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

Even if you take a very good foodstuff, just delicious, still, after taking some portion of it, you will feel yourself satiated. Then that very foodstuff, you'll say, "No, no, I don't want any more." Because that ends. So that is not real pleasure. Real pleasure is defined: ananta. Ananta means that which has no end. So that pleasure you can have only when you are spiritually realized soul. That is possible. That is possible. We are reading all these scriptures, Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and there are so many Vedic literatures that if anyone wants to have spiritual life, there is complete facility. There is complete facility.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

Just like in higher planets, there are also living beings. They are called devatās, demigods, because their magnitude of pleasure is far, far greater than ours. But because they do everything in relation with the Supreme Lord, therefore they are called devatās, devatā. Devatā means demigods. And asura. Asura means just the opposite. They simply enjoy life for the matter of sense pleasure. That's all. So those who are interested in sense pleasure, they are called asuras, and those who are interested, unending spiritual pleasure, they are called devatās. Devatā and asura does not mean that asuras are very ugly and devatās are very beautiful.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

Varya means greatest. So even if he is father, he addresses his father, asura-varya, asura. "Because your aim is simply sense pleasure." You see? So tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehinām. The father asked the son, "What you have learned, the best thing?" So he's also saying sincerely before his father the best thing that "My dear father, for the dehinām..." Here also the same thing, dehinām. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Dehinaḥ. Dehinaḥ means the spiritual spark who has accepted this material body. This material body is foreign. That will be explained. Just like your coat and shirt is foreign to your self.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Pittsburgh, September 8, 1972:

Everyone is the proprietor of the body. That we can experience. You know everything about the pains and pleasures of your body. I know what are the pains and pleasures of the body. So this body has been given to us by material nature as our field of activities. With different bodies, we are acting differently. Not that your activities and my activities are the same. The dog's activities and the man's activities are different because the dog has got a different type of body and I have got a different type of body. Every one of us. So dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). The dehī, the living entity or the vital force, is within this body.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- London, August 19, 1973:

The example is given that... Foolish people may say that "You devotees, you are dying, and the sinful men, or non-devotees, they are also dying. So where is the difference?" No, there is difference. There is difference. This has been described by the example: just like a cat catches its cub and catches the mouse. So formerly we see that the cat has caught the mouse in the mouth and the cub also in the mouth, but there are difference of catching. The cub is feeling pleasure, "My mother is carrying me."

Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968:

Madhudviṣa: "This verse more clearly explains the real nature of the soul which is spread all over the body. Anyone can understand what is spread all over the body. It is consciousness. Everyone is conscious about the pains and pleasures of the body in part or as a whole. This spreading of consciousness is limited within one's own body."

Prabhupāda: Now, this consciousness, the Māyāvādī philosopher says, "Yes, I am consciousness. The same theory. This small consciousness, but as soon as I break this body, the small consciousness will mix up with the supreme consciousness." That is their theory. But anyway, whatever that theory may be, at least in my present condition, I, my consciousness, is limited within this body. I cannot say that I am superconscious. Had I been superconscious, then the pains and pleasure going on (in) your body I would have felt. But because I am limited within this body, therefore the pains and pleasure of my body I can understand. Therefore my consciousness is limited. You cannot argue that you are the same... That will be explained.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973:

In the previous verse it has been described, dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Actually we living entities, we are within the body. The bodily pains and pleasure are not the pains and pleasure of the soul within. It is simply abhiniveśa. It is called abhiniveśa, absorption or misidentify. The example I have given many times. Just like you are sitting in a nice motorcar; another man is sitting on a rickshaw. I have seen in India. So the rickshaw has come in front of the nice motorcar, and the driver is asking that man who is drawing the rickshaw, "You rickshaw!" Means he is thinking, he is sitting in a nice motorcar, so he has become a motor, and the man who is drawing the rickshaw, he has become rickshaw. This is the position.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973:

As soon as I pinch any part of my body, I feel pain. Therefore I understand a soul is there. Just like a man who is going to die. So doctor is examining. He sees the pulse. He sees the heart—"Yes, it is beating." That is the sign that still the man is living. Similarly, the soul is there. The proof is that I can feel pains and pleasure on my body. That is explained in this verse. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya (BG 2.14). Actually the body in touch with the consciousness feeling pains and pleasure. Otherwise body, what is this body? It is a lump of matter.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973:

So that, according to the body, you get pains and pleasure of this material world. A very rich man, living very comfortably, a little painful thing is intolerable by him, because he has got a such body, so delicate body. Just like a child. Because he has got delicate the body, little pinching makes him crying, uncomfortable. So it is all due to body.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973:

So on the whole one has to understand that this, we are not this body, "I am not this body." And if we feel bodily pains and pleasure, that is bodily pains and pleasure; that is not the pleasure and pains of the soul. The soul pains and pleasure is being put into different body. And out of ignorance, because he is identifying, out of ignorance, that "I am this body," therefore soul is in pains and pleasure. Otherwise the soul has no pains and pleasure. Asaṅgo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ. In the Vedas it is said that "The soul has nothing to do with this body."

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973:

The gṛhastha means he is making the best use of a bad bargain. And the gṛhamedhi means he is animal. Therefore this is spoken about the gṛhamedhi. Mostly people now, they are showing that "I am very beautiful man," showing family, but he is called gṛhamedhi. So what is the happiness of the gṛhamedhi? Yan maithunādi, that sex pleasure, that's all. Otherwise they have no other happiness, working day and night like ass. The only hope is, at night they will enjoy sex. That's all.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973:

What is that happiness? Just like there is itching in your body. If you itch it, you feel some pleasure. It is like that. So viṣaheta dhīraḥ. Dhīra, one who is sober, one is advanced, he will little tolerate that itching sensation and be happy because this is not my necessity. This is only of the skin. This is my skin disease. Now I am not the skin. I am soul. My duty is how to serve Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Germany, June 21, 1974:

If, somehow or other, I can live without this body, then my distresses are over. This is common sense. That is possible. Therefore Kṛṣṇa comes. Therefore God comes, to give you the information that "You are not this body. You are the soul, spirit soul. And because you are within this body, you are suffering so many distresses." Therefore Kṛṣṇa advises that "These distresses are due to this body." Try to understand. Why you are feeling pains and pleasure? It is due to the body.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Germany, June 21, 1974:

Nirvāṇa means... Their philosophy is that your feeling of pains and pleasure, it is due to this body. They also accept. Now what is this body? This body is combination of matter. Combination of earth, water, air, fire, ether, mind, intelligence, ego—eight material elements, five gross and three subtle. This body is made of that. So the Buddha philosophy is that you dismantle this body, nirvāṇa. Just like this house is made of stone, brick and wood and so many. So you break it, and there is no more stone and no more brick. This is distributed to the earth. Throw it on the earth. Then there is no house. Similarly, if you become zero, no body, then you are free from pains and pleasure.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Germany, June 21, 1974:

This human life is a gift by the nature or by God. Now you realize that you are changing your different condition, distress and happiness, being forced to accept some kind of gross and subtle body. That is the cause of your pains and pleasure. And if you get out of this gross and subtle body, remain in your original, spiritual body, then you are free from these pains and pleasure. That is called mukti. Mukti. There is a Sanskrit word. Mukti means liberation, no more gross body, no more subtle body. But you remain in your own original spiritual body.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Germany, June 21, 1974:
If there is no light, then what is the power of my seeing? But these rascals they do not understand that they are always defective, and still, they are writing books of knowledge. What is your knowledge? We must take knowledge from the perfect person. Therefore we are taking knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person, the perfect person. And He is advising that if you want to stop your pains and pleasure, then you must make some arrangement not to accept this material body. That He is advising, Kṛṣṇa, how to avoid this material body. That has been explained. This is Second Chapter. In the Fourth Chapter Kṛṣṇa has said that janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). You simply try to understand the activities of Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Mexico, February 14, 1975:

If cats and dogs can live at the mercy of God, the devotees can live very comfortably by the mercy of God. There is no such question, but if somebody thinks that "I have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but I am suffering for so many things," for them or for all of us the instruction is mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ: (BG 2.14) "These pains and pleasure is just like winter and summer." In the winter the water is painful, and in the summer the water is pleasing. So what is the position of the water? It is pleasing or painful? It is neither painful, neither pleasing, but in certain season, by touching the skin it appears to be painful or pleasant.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Mexico, February 14, 1975:

Such pains and pleasure is explained herein: "They are coming and going. They are not permanent." Āgama apāyinaḥ anityāḥ means "They are coming and going; therefore they are not permanent." Kṛṣṇa therefore advises, tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata: "Just tolerate." But you do not forget your real business, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Don't care for these material pains and pleasure. Of course, we shall try our best if there is pains and pleasure to counteract it, but even it is not done, don't be misled by these so-called pains and pleasure.

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- London, August 21, 1973:

The modern civilization, they do not know that it is possible. It is possible to become immortal, to have eternal blissful life of knowledge. That is called immortality. Sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternity and cit means knowledge and ānanda means pleasure, bliss. We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda vigraha (Bs. 5.1). His transcendental body is eternal, blissful and complete knowledge, His body. Therefore He's speaking Bhagavad-gītā.

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- London, August 21, 1973:

Everything is now disturbed. We cannot be completely blissful. Anything you take, any pleasurable thing you take, it cannot give you always pleasure. It is not possible. This is not possible in this material world. However you may try scientifically to prolong your duration of life, live forever, it is not possible. And however you may pose yourself, cheat others, that you are the best man in knowledge, philosopher, scientist, you are a fool. That is not possible. Sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ is Kṛṣṇa only (Bs. 5.1).

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- London, August 21, 1973:

Just like a motorcar is running at the speed of sixty miles, and if a cyclist someway or other catches the motorcar, he can also go at the speed of sixty miles. Sometimes boys do that. Similarly, you approach Kṛṣṇa. You approach Viṣṇu. You get all the powers because you become under protection. Protection of the... That... Tulasī dāsa has said that in the ocean, the waves of the ocean, if you put one elephant very powerful, very strong, the elephant will be washed away by the waves. But a small fish, a teeny fish, it is swimming against the waves. They take pleasure. The fish, when the waves are coming this way, the fish go in that way. Now see. You put against the waves an elephant. It will be washed away.

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Mexico, February 15, 1975:

Dhīra means the cause of agitation or disturbance is present there, but one is not disturbed. So in order to advance in spiritual life we have to become dhīra. And that is said here, sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīram. As soon as one become dhīra, sober, these so-called material pains and pleasure does not disturb me (him). Then he is fit for becoming immortal. Everyone is immortal, but he is fallen in such material condition that he thinks himself as mortal. Because I am spirit soul, therefore the Vedic injunction that feel:(?) ahaṁ brahmāsmi, so 'ham, means "I am as good as the Supreme Being," means "He is eternal; I am also eternal. He is also living being; I am also living being." That means qualitatively we are one, God and me.

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Mexico, February 15, 1975:

Hṛdayānanda: (translating) He says that if we are originally in the spiritual world and full of knowledge, how can we try to lord it over, or, in other words, how can we try to do something which actually cannot be done? And if we are originally full of pleasure, then why would we accept an inferior position?

Prabhupāda: That I have already explained, that although you have got the God's qualities, but you are very small. Just like a big fire and the sparks of the fire, similarly, God is big fire, and we are like sparks of the fire. When the sparks come down from the fire, it becomes extinguished. So because we are very small, very... I have already given you the dimension.

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- Hyderabad, November 22, 1972:

Everyone is individual. Therefore there is another consciousness. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata (BG 13.3). I am kṣetra-jña, conscious. I know about the pains and pleasures of my body. You know about the pains and pleasures of your body. I do not know about your pains and pleasure. You do not know about my pains and pleasure. Therefore you are individual soul. I am individual soul. But there is another soul, Supersoul. That is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). That Supersoul is present both in you and in me. Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata (BG 13.3). Sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. In every living entity. Sarva-kṣetreṣu.

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- Hyderabad, November 22, 1972:

So that consciousness, superconsciousness, that is different. You cannot say that "I am the same. I have got superconsciousness." That is not possible. Then, if you have got superconsciousness, why don't you feel about my pains and pleasure? The superconsciousness is of Viṣṇu. That is all-pervading consciousness. That is also the same. Nature is the same. As I have got my consciousness all over this body, similarly, the superconsciousness is there all over the universe. As I feel pains and pleasure on account of some disturbance on this body, similarly, as soon as we create some disturbance with this universal atmosphere, the supreme consciousness is disturbed.

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- London, August 23, 1973:

Everyone can understand that if I pinch any part of my body or your any part of the body, you feel pain. Or similarly, if you get some other facilities, pleasure, so pains and pleasures are felt so long there is consciousness. Any man can understand. And as soon as the consciousness is not there, sometimes we are made unconsciousness by drugs, by chloroform and other anaesthetic medicine, or by nature, unconscious stage.

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- London, August 23, 1973:

Just like if you have got an experience under chloroform, unconsciousness. The surgical operation takes place, you do not understand, you do not perceive pains and pleasure, but you remains for a certain hours unconscious. Then, gradually, dream comes. Just, from unconsciousness the dream comes. And from dream, you are awakened. As you go down from awakening stage to dream, dream to unconsciousness, similarly, you come up also, from unconsciousness to dream, from dream to awakening conscious stage.

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 17, 1975:

Even nowadays the heart is being replaced, but no medical science or any science has ever been able to replace the life. So he's giving the example that that presence of the soul is perceived by consciousness. So the flesh is there, the bone is there, the blood is also there, but when the consciousness is not there, that means it is finished. Because the consciousness is there, therefore any part of the body, if we pinch, we can feel pains and pleasure. And when the consciousness is not there, when the man is dead, the flesh is there, the blood is there and other ingredients are there, but there is no more life because it is useless now. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. The tatam means spread. The consciousness is spread. If we pinch in this part, by consciousness you'll feel pain, or this part or any part of the body, because the consciousness is there, you feel pains and pleasure.

Lecture on BG 2.19 -- London, August 25, 1973:

The birth and death is of this body, and we are so absorbed in the bodily concept of life that when there is birth or death of the body we feel the pains and pleasures. There is no pleasure of course. Birth and death, it is very painful. Because... That is already explained. The consciousness of the soul is spread all over the body. Therefore, the pains and pleasures felt on account of this body. So Kṛṣṇa has already advised that such kinds of pains and pleasure, mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya (BG 2.14), touching the skin only, one should not be very much bothered. Tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. In this way if we think about our position, self-realization, how we are different from the body... Actually, this is meditation.

Lecture on BG 2.20 -- Hyderabad, November 25, 1972:

Variety is the mother of enjoyment. So we are trying to... We are disgusted with these material varieties. Therefore some is trying to make these varieties zero and some is trying to make these varieties impersonal. But that will not give us the exact transcendental pleasure. If you can go up into the Brahman effulgence and take shelter of Kṛṣṇa or Nārāyaṇa... There are innumerable planets in the Brahman effulgence. They are called Vaikuṇṭhaloka. And the topmost Vaikuṇṭhaloka is called Goloka Vṛndāvana.

Lecture on BG 2.20 -- Hyderabad, November 25, 1972:

Adhaḥ means in this material world. That I have explained many times. There are so many big, big sannyāsīs. They give up this material world as mithyā, jagan mithyā, and take sannyāsa, and then again, after a few days, they come to social service, politics. Because they could not realize what is Brahman. They, for ānanda, they have to take part in these material activities. Because ānanda... We want ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). So if there is no spiritual ānanda, there must be, they must come to the inferior quality. This material world is inferior quality. Aparā. If we cannot get spiritual ānanda, or superior pleasure, then we have to take this material pleasure. Because we want pleasure. Everyone searching after pleasure.

Lecture on BG 2.20 -- Hyderabad, November 25, 1972:

So for this pleasure only we are making so many plans. According to our own brain, teeny brain, we are making plans. Just the, in the state also, they're making plans. Personally, individually, and commercially, everyone is making plan. The plan-making means becoming entangled. And he has to, they have to take birth again to fulfill the plan. Vāsanā. This is called vāsanā. So we have to purify the vāsanā, desire. That is required. If we don't purify, then we have to take birth, birth and death, repetition of birth and death. So that desire, how it can be purified? That desire can be purified.

Lecture on BG 2.21-22 -- London, August 26, 1973:

Chewing the chewed. There is no rasa. There is no humor, mellow; therefore they are disappointed. Because the thing is the same. Just like you chew one sugarcane and take out the juice, and again if you chew, then what you will get? But they are so dull-headed, so rascal, they do not know. They are trying to get the, I mean to say, pleasure which is already enjoyed, which is already tasted. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām.

Lecture on BG 2.22 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:

We accept śāstra, means which is infallible. There is no mistake. Just like when I was walking near the cowshed, heaps of, piles of cow dung was there. So I was explaining to my followers that if such heaps of animal, I mean to say, man stool was heaped up here, nobody would come here. Nobody would come here. But the cow dung, there are so much heaps of cow dung, still, we find it pleasure to go through it. And in the Vedas it is said, "Cow dung is pure." This is called śāstra. If you argue, "How it can, it has become pure? It is an animal stool." But the Vedas, they... Because the knowledge is perfect, that even in argument we cannot prove how animal stool becomes pure, but it is pure. Therefore Vedic knowledge is perfect.

Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972:

Everyone... Ultimately, when he fails to lord it over the material world, he says, "Oh, this material world is false. Now I shall become one with the Supreme." Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. But because the spirit soul is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, so by nature, he is joyful. He is seeking after joy. Every one of us, we are working so hard to find out some pleasure of life.

Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972:

So that pleasure of life cannot be had in the spiritual effulgence. Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we get this information that āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam (SB 10.2.32). Kṛcchreṇa, after undergoing severe austerity and penance, one may merge into the Brahman effulgence... Sāyujya-mukti. It is called sāyujya-mukti. Sāyujya, to merge. So āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padam. Even one goes up to that point, to merge into the Brahman existence after severe austerity and penances, still, they fall down.

Lecture on BG 2.25 -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:

Somebody is serving, giving pleasure to Kṛṣṇa, by fighting with Him. So there are so many, twelve rasas. Akhila-rasāmṛta-sindhu. All the rasas that we have got experience within this world, they are coming from Kṛṣṇa. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The Vedānta-sūtra says, "Everything, whatever we see within our experience, we cannot experience anything if it is not in Kṛṣṇa." That is Kṛṣṇa. He was stealing, which we consider not very good business. That stealing is also in Kṛṣṇa. He's, He's famous as Mākhana-cora, the stealer of butter. So this is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 2.25 -- London, August 28, 1973:

The soul is the subject matter to be considered. But the modern civilization, they are concerned with this body. Just the opposite. Kṛṣṇa says: Because the soul is immortal, therefore tasmād evaṁ viditvā, understanding of this principle, enam, this body, na anuśocitum arhasi. The real factor is the soul. We have to take care of the soul, not of the body. So far body is concerned, there are pains and pleasure like climatic changes. Āgamāpāyinaḥ anityāḥ, such bodily pains and pleasures come and go; they are not permanent. Tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. So you have to learn how to tolerate these bodily pains and pleasures, but you have to take care of the soul. But the modern civilization, they have no knowledge of the soul, what to speak of taking care of it, and, like animals, they are in the bodily concept of life, taking much care of the body, but they have no information of the soul, and what to speak of taking care of it.

Lecture on BG 2.25 -- London, August 28, 1973:

Even this body. This is also another burden. We have to carry it. So when one is not disturbed by this bodily pain and pleasure... There is no pleasure, simply pain. Here, pleasure means a little absence of pain. Just like you have got a boil here. What is called? Boil? Phoṛā? So it is always painful. And by some medical application, when the pain is little relieved, you think that "Now it is happiness."

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Los Angeles, December 6, 1968:

That rubbish literature is compared with the enjoyable things of the crows, and spiritual literature, they are enjoyed by the white swans. There is difference between the white swans. You have seen natural. They are also birds, crows are also birds. But you'll see white swans, they take pleasure in clear water where there are lilies, and they take nice pleasure there. And crows they will go, where you throw all rubbish things, they'll go there. You see nature. People say everyone is equal.

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Los Angeles, December 6, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Wow. That will be very nice. It will be a great pleasure to invite people here.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And have meeting. On Love Feast day, supply them Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Invite some prominent gentlemen to preside over, to become our chief guest. And in this way make propaganda. And put signboards all through the street with electric light, make the gardens very nicely. This is service. Now you have got the chance to serve. Do it. Here is a chance. We are... Whether a man understands Kṛṣṇa philosophy or not, we don't care for it. Of course, if he understands, it is a great pleasure for us, but we are working on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, on behalf of Lord Caitanya. That should be our philosophy.

Lecture on BG 2.26-27 -- London, August 29, 1973:

The Buddhist philosopher thinks that the combination of matter makes a living symptom. Their ultimate goal is nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa means stop this combination. Due to this combination, we feel pains and pleasure. Therefore, if we disintegrate the combination, there will be no more pains and pleasure. Materialistic. Their solution, pains and pleasure, any philosophy or any religious system, ultimately aims at ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti. Duḥkha means pain, and nivṛtti, nivṛtti means stop.

Lecture on BG 2.26-27 -- London, August 29, 1973:

In the material world, they also want to enjoy, everyone. They are thinking that this wine, woman, meat-eating, gambling, intoxication, these things will give me pleasure. So ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti. The Bhāgavata says that ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti, means ultimate solution of miserable condition, is in the fact that we realize God and we go back to home, back to Godhead. This is our philosophy. And persons who cannot understand what is God, what is kingdom of God, they want to adjust. The aim is the same, ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti, ultimately solution of all miseries.

Lecture on BG 2.30 -- London, August 31, 1973:

So one who does not know Kṛṣṇa, rascals, they accuse Kṛṣṇa as immoral of woman-hunter, like that. And they take pleasure in this. Therefore, they paint pictures of Kṛṣṇa, His affairs with the gopīs. But they do not paint picture how He is killing Kaṁsa, how He is killing the demons. They do not like this. This is sahajiyā. They, for their debauchery, for their business of debauchery, they like to be supported by Kṛṣṇa. "Kṛṣṇa has done this." "Kṛṣṇa has become immoral. So therefore we are also immoral. We are great devotee of Kṛṣṇa, because we are immoral." This is going on.

Lecture on BG Lecture Excerpts 2.44-45, 2.58 -- New York, March 25, 1966:

So Lord Kṛṣṇa says that bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānām (BG 2.44). Those who are too much attached with bodily pleasure, bodily enjoyment, and tayāpahṛta-cetasām. Apahṛta-cetasām means those who are illusioned. Because bodily pleasure is not my pleasure. My pleasure is different because I am not this body. Just like a man in a feverish condition or in feverish delirium, speaking something. That is not his normal speaking. That is due to the delirious condition. So to bring him to the normal condition, the physician treats him to get out of that delirious condition.

Lecture on BG Lecture Excerpts 2.44-45, 2.58 -- New York, March 25, 1966:

Even a drop of cold water, we are afraid of. Without hot water, we cannot take our bath. Now, water as it is, it is water constitutionally, chemically or whatever it may be, but it is due to the bodily touch of the water we sometimes feel pleasure and sometimes feel distress. Therefore all our feelings of distress and happiness is due to this body. Is due to the body. Body under certain condition, mind under certain condition, feels happiness and feel distress.

Lecture on BG Lecture Excerpts 2.44-45, 2.58 -- New York, March 25, 1966:

Eternity, bliss and knowledge. That is the constitution of the supreme entity. He is eternal, He is blissful, and always full of pleasure. Always full of pleasure. Kṛṣṇa, this word, Kṛṣṇa... Now, we have chanted, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare. This Kṛṣṇa is... Do not take it that we are presenting some sectarian conception of God or like that. This Kṛṣṇa, this is a Sanskrit word. You have to understand, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means... Kṛṣ means the greatest, and ṇa means pleasure. He is the symbol of greatest pleasure, greatest pleasure. So we are also part and parcel of that greatest pleasure.

Lecture on BG Lecture Excerpts 2.44-45, 2.58 -- New York, March 25, 1966:

Now, as soon as we are convinced that "I am not this body. I am consciousness. I am pure soul. So I have to get free from this entanglement," then I will have to make arrangement for that. Simply theoretically knowing will not do. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānām: (BG 2.44) "Those who are too much attached with these bodily pleasures, and by that conception, one who is illusioned, that person cannot fix up in his identification with the soul." So that is the critical point. That is the critical point, that if we indulge in our bodily pleasure, that pleasure is flickering. That pleasure is flickering.

Lecture on BG Lecture Excerpts 2.44-45, 2.58 -- New York, March 25, 1966:

We cannot enjoy. Bodily pleasure we cannot enjoy. That is an intoxication, something like intoxication. That is not pleasure, actual pleasure. Actual pleasure is of the soul, not of this body. So we have to guide our life, we have to mold our life in such a way that we must not be diverted by the so-called bodily pleasures. And if we are diverted by the bodily pleasure, then we cannot be fixed up in our identification with the soul. This is clear.

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

We should not simply... For the pleasure of the tongue we should not eat anything. That is called atyāhāra. So atyāhāra and then prayāsa. Prayāsa means to labor very hard to achieve a thing. Life should be conducted in such a way that our necessities of life may come not with great effort, easily, easily. We should not encumber ourself, our life, living policy, in an encumbered way.

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

The Kṛṣṇa philosophy in different ways all over the world, they have been described according to the time, place and people, but you must know the whole thing is Kṛṣṇa philosophy. Kṛṣṇa philosophy is... When we speak of Kṛṣṇa, you don't take this word, Sanskrit word, Kṛṣṇa, in a sectarian meaning. Kṛṣṇa means the Supreme, the highest pleasure, highest pleasure.

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

Persons who are not for spiritual realization, they may be engaged in work for eight hours only, but those who are engaged for spiritual realization, oh, they are engaged twenty-four hours, twenty-four hours. That is the difference. And that difference is... You'll find that on the material platform, on the bodily conception of life, if you work for eight hours only, you'll feel fatigued. But spiritual purpose, if you work more than twenty-four hours... Unfortunately, you haven't got more than twenty-four hours at your disposal. Still, you won't feel fatigued. I tell you. This is my practical experience. This is my practical experience. And I am here, always working, something reading or writing, something reading or writing, twenty-four hours. Simply when I feel hungry, I take some food. And simply when I feel asleep, I go to bed. Otherwise, always, I don't feel fatigued. You can ask Mr. Paul whether I am not doing this. So I take, I take pleasure in doing that.

Lecture on BG 2.55-56 -- New York, April 19, 1966:

The same water, in the winter season, it becomes pinching. So water as it is—neither pinching nor the source of pleasure. But it is due to this body—under certain circumstances, it feels pleasure, and under certain circumstances, it feels distress. So pleasure and distress, these dual forms of our existence, is going on. Now, if we want to transcend above this material plane, then our, we'll have to completely reject the bodily conception of life. We have to stand on the spiritual consciousness of life. That is being taught.

Lecture on BG 2.55-58 -- New York, April 15, 1966:

We have got this information. They take pleasure in the sky. Just like sometimes we stroll in open field, similarly, they take pleasure by in the sky traveling. You see? So that is possible. But still, they are mortal. They are mortal. They have got this material body. Now, when you get spiritual body, how much freedom you'll have. How much freedom you'll have.

Lecture on BG 2.58-59 -- New York, April 27, 1966:

Now, after he became a great devotee, spiritually engaged, he expresses that experience in this way, that yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde: "Since I have engaged my heart and soul in the supreme devotional service of the Lord, since then..." What is the result? Yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde nava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt: "I am getting every moment a new type of transcendental pleasure.

Lecture on BG 2.58-59 -- New York, April 27, 1966:

Since then..." Bata nārī-saṅgame. This is materially. Nārī-saṅga means sex life, combination of man and woman, nārī-saṅgame. He says that "Since then, that whenever I think of sex life..." Because he has experienced. He was a family man, he was a king. He said that "Whenever I think of, not to act, but whenever I think of sex life, oh, I say, now, 'Tu!' " (as if spitting) So paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. Why this life has come to him? Because he has seen something. He has experienced something which is transcendental pleasure. And in comparison to the transcendental pleasure, this material pleasure is just like spitting. You see? Very insignificant.

Lecture on BG 2.58-59 -- New York, April 27, 1966:

I shall simply meditate," oh, what meditation you will do? Your meditation will be in a moment broken just like even Viśvāmitra Muni, he could not continue his meditation. We have to always, cent percent, be engaged in spiritual activities. That should be the program of our life. Rather, in spiritual life you will hardly find any time to get out of it. You have got so much engagement. Rasa-varjam. And that engagement can only be possible when you find some transcendental pleasure in it.

Lecture on BG 2.58-59 -- New York, April 27, 1966:

Just like father. However rebellious son he may be, as soon as comes to his father, "Father, forgive me. I shall now obey you," that father at once... He was always ready to forgive him. Father is so kind to the son that he wants that "If my son comes back, I shall forgive all his misgiving, if he comes back just like a good boy." That is a natural instinct. You see? Similarly, whatever we have done, never mind. If we take the step that "From now we have got the opportunity of human life. Now this life... I have enjoyed material life in various lives, as cats and dogs and in so many lives, the āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca, the same pleasure, eating, sleeping, and sexual intercourse and to take protection... So this is not the business of human life. The human life is just to understand my relationship with the Supreme and engage myself in that engagement."

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Our material activities means to engage the sense in some particular objective or enjoyment. That is our material engagement. And yoga system means that you have to control the senses and detach the senses from material enjoyment, or material pleasure and pains, and divert it, focusing towards seeing the Supersoul Viṣṇu within your soul (self?). That is the real purpose of yoga. Yoga does not mean... Of course, in the beginning there are different rules and regulations, sitting posture, just to bring the mind under control. But they are not end themselves. The end is to stop the material engagement and begin spiritual engagement. So here it is explained. Go on reading.

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Lord Śiva once was in deep meditation, but when the beautiful maiden Pārvatī agitated him for sense pleasure, he agreed to the proposal and as a result Kārttikeya was born."

Prabhupāda: Oh, here is Kārttikeya present. (laughter) Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Go on. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "When Haridāsa Ṭhākura was a young devotee of the Lord he was similarly allured by the incarnation of Māyādevī."

Prabhupāda: Now here is the difference. Lord Śiva, he is the greatest of the demigods. He was also allured by Pārvatī, and as a result of that attraction, this boy Kārttikeya was born. That was the, what is called, conspiracy of the demigods, that unless one son is born out of the semina of Lord Śiva, it is impossible to conquer the demons. So Kārttikeya is considered the commander in chief of the demigods. But here, another example. Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was young boy, about twenty, twenty-four years old, and he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and the landlord in that village, he was very much envious of Haridāsa Ṭhākura.

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Param, if you get better thing, you give up inferior quality thing. That is our nature. Just like our students, American students, they were all accustomed to meat-eating. But now another student, she is preparing the sweetballs, ISKCON balls, and they are forgetting meat-eating. They do not like any more meat-eating. They have got better engagement, sweetballs. (laughter) Similarly, that is the way. When you get better engagement... We are hankering after pleasure. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Every living entity is seeking after pleasure. That is his nature. You cannot stop. If you stop... Just like a child is seeking after some enjoyment, he's breaking something, enjoyment.

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "One who is not, therefore, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however powerful he may be in controlling the senses by artificial repression, is sure ultimately to fall, for the slightest thought of sense pleasure will drive him to gratify his desires." 63: "From anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool."

Prabhupāda: Our position is, we are constituted of this body. Body means the senses and the controller of the senses or the, what is called, driver, driver of the senses, is the mind. And mind is conducted, thinking, feeling, and willing, the psychology, the science of psychology, that is being conducted under intelligence. And above the intelligence, I am sitting. I am a spirit soul.

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Such sages feel transcendental pleasure in the gradual advancement of spiritual culture, whereas the man in materialistic activities, being asleep to self-realization, dreams of varieties of sense pleasure."

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are dreaming, "Now we shall do this. Next time, I shall have this. Next time, I shall have this. Next time, I shall kill that enemy. Next time, I shall do this." They are planning like that. Go on.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...feeling sometimes happy and sometimes distressed in his sleeping condition. The introspective man is always indifferent to materialistic happiness and distress."

Prabhupāda: The introspective man who is after self-realization, he knows very well, "Suppose if I do in future such and such big business, or such... I can construct such big skyscraper house." But because he's introspective, he knows that "What I shall do with all these things? As soon as I exit from the platform, everything remains here, and I take another form of body, begins another life." That is introspection. The materialistic person they cannot understand what is the future. They are thinking this body is everything. "We have got this body, and when it is finished, it is finished for all."

Lecture on BG 3.11-19 -- Los Angeles, December 27, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Their pleasures and displeasures are dependent on the performance of yajñas by human beings. Some of the yajñas are meant for satisfying the particular demigods, but even in so doing Lord Viṣṇu is worshiped in all yajñas as the chief."

Prabhupāda: Just like if you obey the department, say, the police department. You are obeying the police department means you are obeying the government. Nobody can manufacture a police department and force you to obey. Because it is one of the important department of government, therefore as soon as there is police handcuff you have to stop. You may be very rich man, millionaire, but you have to obey the orders of the police, otherwise you will be prosecuted. And wherefrom. That man is an ordinary man; simply he stops you. Why do you stop? Because you obey the government.

Lecture on BG 3.11-19 -- Los Angeles, December 27, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Seventeen: "One who is, however, taking pleasure in the self, who is illumined in the self, who rejoices in and is satisfied with the self only, fully satiated, for him there is no duty (BG 3.17)."

Prabhupāda: Here it is plainly said by Lord Kṛṣṇa, "the self, one who is taking pleasure in self." How we can take pleasure in self? As soon as we engage ourself with the Supreme Self. That is enjoyment. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). The Supreme Lord is joyful. Just like if you mix with a joyful society or joyful person, then automatically you become joyful. There is no necessity of becoming joyful separately. That association will make you joyful. If you mix with a society criminal, automatically you become criminal. There is no necessity of learning criminality separately. By association, you'll do that.

Lecture on BG 3.13-16 -- New York, May 23, 1966:

So many gentlemen, you are present here who partook of that prasādam. How nicely it was prepared and how we enjoyed. So is yajña a very difficult thing? So it is not at all difficult. Simply we have to adopt the principles. That's all. And if we adopt that principle... Here it is clearly said that yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santaḥ. Santa means these things are arranged by pious men and devotees of the Lord. Ordinary men, they don't care: "What is this nonsense yajña? Let us go to the hotel and take to our palatable things." You see? That is another thing. But those who are serious about solving the problems of life, let them take to this yajña principle. Is it very difficult? Not at all. It is rather pleasurable.

Lecture on BG 3.13-16 -- New York, May 23, 1966:

Now, if by doing that yajña, if we become free from all reactions, then why should we not do it? Why should we not do it? There is no difficulty. There is no question of difficulty. Rather, it is a thing of pleasure, ānanda. The whole thing is ānanda. Ānanda means pleasure. Enjoyment. Spiritual life does not mean that void of enjoyment, no. It is full of enjoyment. We are seeking after enjoyment, but that enjoyment is hampered by our material existence. We do not know. We are trying to squeezing out the senses and trying to have material pleasure. This is nonsense because we do not know what is spiritual life. Spiritual life means unlimited, unlimited pleasure.

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

We are hankering after knowledge; then we come to the point of full knowledge. Vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. Ānanda. We cannot increase ānanda here. In the material sense gratification, ānanda does not increase. If you want some ānanda from sense, for the time being it may give you some pleasure, but at once it decreases. You have no more capacity to enjoy. You see? At once decreases. So it is not ānanda. It is not real ānanda. Ānanda means that will increase, increase. You enjoy and increases. Increases.

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

Material happiness means your bliss will be decreased. Suppose if you want a good cake or good foodstuff, you want to eat. Now, suppose you take two cakes or three cakes. Now, the fourth cake you will refuse, "No, no more I want. No more. I don't want," because that, I mean to say, pleasure now has decreased. Decreased. But here He says, Lord Caitanya says, that your ānanda, bliss, will be increased. Increased. That is spiritual. That is the test of spiritual life. When you engage yourself in spiritual function, the test will be that you will not feel tired.

Lecture on BG 3.18-30 -- Los Angeles, December 30, 1968:

Just like we published that picture in our Back to Godhead, "The Hunter." The hunter was taking pleasure in killing animals half dead, and when he was self-realized, he was hesitating to kill even an ant. You see? Why? Self-realized. So he has no prescribed duties. To him you haven't got to say, "Thou shall not kill." He will automatically not kill because he is self-realized. Self-realized person does not do any harm to anyone because he knows everyone in relationship with the Supreme. His central point is Kṛṣṇa. Neither he'll misuse anything. He makes everything proper use.

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

You are lying down here." "Then how you came?" "I came across." "How you first of all came across, why not again crossing?" "That I came to serve You. And now I cannot cross You to take my prasādam. That is not my duty. That is for myself. And it is for You." So for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure you can become His enemy, you can become His friend, you can become anything. That is bhakti-yoga. Because your aim is how to please Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as the point comes, to please your senses, then you come to material world, immediately.

Lecture on BG 4.1-2 -- Columbus, May 9, 1969:

Now I am living in my body. If there is pain here, I can understand, "Here is pain." But if there is some pain in your body, I cannot understand. Therefore I am different from you. But Kṛṣṇa can understand what is pain or pleasure in my body, and what is pain or pleasure in your body and everyone's body. That is Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-kṣetreṣu.

That is God, not that, simply by claiming, "I am God. I am the same God." And how you claim God? Can you tell what I was thinking? Can you tell what he is thinking? No. Then how... What kind of God you are? Don't accept a cheap God.

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

Actually, we are eternal. Both God and the living entities they are qualitatively one, eternal. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat means eternity, and cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of joy. These are the qualifications of God and living entity. Therefore we are hankering after pleasure. All people are working hard, day and night, for pleasure. Because by constitution, he is pleasureful, joyful. As soon as there is little hindrance to the process of his joyfulness he becomes sorry.

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

So when there is no these material impediments, naturally the life is eternal, the knowledge is eternal, the bliss is eternal. As soon as we are free from this material body, then these questions of past, present, future, pleasure, not pleasure, knowledge, no knowledge, these dualities, this world of duality will finish. The impersonalists, the Māyāvādī philosophers, they think that because the past, present, and future, and this duality is finished, therefore there is no variegatedness. They cannot understand.

Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:

We have to first of all understand it that Kṛṣṇa is not forced by karma. We are forced by karma. Therefore we have got different bodies. But Kṛṣṇa is not... Although He appears in different incarnation... Keśava dhṛta-mīna-śarīra, keśava dhṛta-kūrma-śarīra, keśava dhṛta-varāha-śarīra, nṛsiṁha-śarīra. So Kṛṣṇa, when He comes as a boar incarnation, He's not ordinary hog and pig. These things are to be understood. He is the bhūtānām īśvaraḥ in whatever form He likes to come. That is His pleasure. Ātma-māyayā. He comes in His ātma-māyayā, not by force by the external energy.

Lecture on BG 4.8 -- Bombay, March 28, 1974:

To dissipate this illusion and to put him into the right position, that "you are not master, you are not enjoyer, you are simply eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa." If you remain in that position, then you are happy. If you artificially try to become Kṛṣṇa, that is your unhappiness. Artificial thing will never give us any pleasure. Prakṛti and puruṣa. Kṛṣṇa is the puruṣa.

Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974:

So man-mayā, when one becomes attached to God, giving up the attachment of this material sense pleasure, when one becomes... Attachment must be there, either this way or that way. If we do not become attached to the Supreme Being, then we must be attached to this material enjoyment. Therefore it is said vīta-rāga, "Giving up the attachment of this material world, when you transfer your attachment to Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Being," man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ... Upāśrita means "taking shelter of Me." Unless you take shelter of Kṛṣṇa or His representative, there is no possibility of being detached from this material enjoyment. Bahavaḥ. Bahavaḥ means many. Jñāna-tapasā: by knowledge and austerity.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Vrndavana, August 2, 1974:
Our nature is to remain always jubilant in pleasure. But because we are in this material contact, we are not jubilant. This is our problem. That Kṛṣṇa is suggesting here, how to solve your problem. He says, vīta-rāga. "Give up this attachment, sense attachment." Rāga. Rāga means attachment. Vīta-rāga-bhaya. And here we have got one quality, that fear, always fearing.
Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Vrndavana, August 2, 1974:

If we remain attached to these bodily pains and pleasures... Of course, nobody wants pains, but for pleasure you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Of course, gradually you'll come to knowledge. That is not our aim. Our aim is that the pains and pleasure; so-called pleasure—actually pain—this will continue so long we have got this body.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Vrndavana, August 2, 1974:

Just like sometimes for curing some disease the doctor says that injection or surgical operation. That is painful, but to cure the disease we should accept that thing. Similarly, if you want to become free from this material body, then you should accept, accept this pain. This is not pain. It is simply imagination. Actually, it is pleasure.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Vrndavana, August 2, 1974:

The Māyāvādī philosophers, they want to... Or the Buddhist philosophers, they want to make things zero. That is not possible. You cannot remain in zero. Because you are ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). You want ānanda, pleasure. Pleasure cannot be in zero. That is not possible. Is it possible? To make things zero and you'll enjoy? No, that is not possible.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Calcutta, September 23, 1974:

Everyone wants to become leader and some followers. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "What is the use of becoming leader of these fools?" Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā. Everyone wants very beautiful, obedient wife. He says, "That also I don't want." Then what do You want? Mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). It is so pleasure, it is so great a pleasure that if you come to this bhakti platform, if you realize little, then you'll forget all these things.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Calcutta, September 23, 1974:

Rādhārāṇī is the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa. Pleasure potency. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). The Supreme Lord has many potencies. Na tasya kāryam karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Therefore He has nothing to do. He has got so many potencies. Just like big man, a rich man. He's sitting. But his energies, his potencies, are working. Big, big factory. And he knows everything. Similarly, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate. He has got many multi-potencies. One of them is this pleasure potency. Pleasure potency...

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Calcutta, September 23, 1974:

He also wants pleasure. So when Kṛṣṇa wants... Kṛṣṇa is Paraṁ Brahman. He cannot enjoy anything material. He has to create the source of enjoyment by His own spiritual potency. That is Rādhārāṇī. So Rādhārāṇī is described in the śāstra: rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktir asmād (CC Adi 1.5). That is Kṛṣṇa's hlādinī-śakti. She gives pleasure to Kṛṣṇa. So She is very kind. And today is Rādhāṣṭamī. If we pray to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī... Therefore in Vṛndāvana you'll see. They are first of all glorifying, "Jaya Rādhe!" Everywhere you'll hear. "Jaya Rādhe."

Lecture on BG 4.11 -- New York, July 27, 1966:

There are two kinds of eternals. We living entities, we are also eternal, and the Supreme Lord, He is also eternal. So far eternity is concerned, both of us equal on the qualitative nature. He is eternal, and we are eternal. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). He is also all pleasure, and we are also all pleasure because we are all parts and parcel of the same quality. But He is the leader.

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

We are just trying to propagate this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We don't ask you to have some troublesome or laborsome gymnastic. No. You simply come and hear, and this hearing, it is followed by nice music and singing. And beginning with music, ending with music, everyone will like it. And we have no means... Of course, whatever means I have got, I am distributing little fruit. But the process is—Lord Caitanya, who introduced this process—after this termination of this performance of chanting and reciting, distribution of prasādam, nice palatable dishes for eating. So Bhagavad-gītā says, su-sukham: "This is a process is very palatable and very pleasurable and very easy." And still, you get Kṛṣṇa. Although it is the easiest and most pleasurable and happy mood, still you get the Supreme.

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

Janārdana: What is the difference between spiritual body and spiritual atoms?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Matter is not eternal, and spirit is eternal. Matter is full of ignorance, and spirit is full of knowledge. Matter is full of unpleasantness, and spirit is full of pleasure, sac-cid-ānanda. That is the difference between matter and spirit.

Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Johannesburg, October 19, 1975:

We have to make solution. Then you say that this material world is very nice. But if you are always faced with so many problems and still you say that "Material world is very nice," so what you are? Foolish. You do not know what is the meaning of pleasure.

Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Johannesburg, October 19, 1975:

God is ānandamaya, always full of pleasure. You will see Kṛṣṇa's picture. Just see so many pictures—ānandamaya. He is sitting down on a small rock and enjoying the association of the small animals. Just see. They are also coming to Kṛṣṇa. Simply by touching Him, they are feeling blissfulness. And Kṛṣṇa also embracing, "Yes, come on." So this is ānandamaya. Both of them are enjoying. Kṛṣṇa as a child in the lap of mother Yaśodā—enjoying. Then Kṛṣṇa as a friend of Rādhārāṇī, He's enjoying. So you'll find always Kṛṣṇa enjoying. This is Vṛndāvana.

Lecture on BG 4.13-14 -- New York, August 1, 1966:

In the previous verse we have read that ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham: (BG 4.11) "Anyone who wants Me in some sort of relationship, I accept that. I accept that." So the fact is that these wives of Kṛṣṇa—that is the real fact—in their previous life they made tremendous penance to achieve Kṛṣṇa as their husband. Just like in the Bhāgavata there is a verse. Śukadeva Gosvāmī's describing... These things are very sublime things. Of course, if you kindly hear them attentively, you'll feel sublime pleasure undoubtedly.

Lecture on BG 4.19 -- New York, August 5, 1966:

The real knowledge is that when one understands convincingly that "I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa." Kṛṣṇa, or God. When we say Kṛṣṇa, you should understand the Supreme Lord, the Absolute Truth. Kṛṣṇa is the technical word which is meant for indicating the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the whole, the whole pleasure, the whole attraction. These are the meaning of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 4.19 -- New York, August 5, 1966:

So we are all part and parcel of the supreme pleasure, and our pleasure... Just like my hand. This is my hand. Now, this my hand can take pleasure when it is attached with my body. My hand can take pleasure when it serves my body. It does not take pleasure by serving your body. So therefore, because I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, my pleasure, my happiness, is dependent by serving Kṛṣṇa just like my senses are satisfied when they are used for my purpose, not for your purpose. This is the whole, I mean to say, philosophy. I cannot be satisfied by serving you. I can be satisfied by serving me. So that me, I do not know. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa. So when we begin to serve Kṛṣṇa, because we are part and parcel... Always remember, the part and parcel, we are. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ (BG 15.7). In the Fifteenth Chapter you'll find, "All these living entities, they are My eternal part and parcels.

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

Similarly these foolish persons who are thinking that "I shall merge into the brahmajyoti," they are less intelligent because they cannot exist there. He has got inclination, desires. There is no facility for fulfilling your desires unless you go to Kṛṣṇa. Therefore in order to fulfill the desires he'll come again to this material world. Because he wants activities, pleasure. Ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt. The spirit soul and the Supreme Lord is by nature joyful. Whenever there is question of joyfulness there must be varieties. So there is no variety. So without variety he cannot remain therefore very long.

Lecture on BG 4.34-38 -- New York, August 17, 1966:

The nature of Brahman is ānandamaya. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternity, cit means full knowledge, and ānanda means pleasure. This is our constitution. We are all fragmental portion of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord. Therefore, because He is ānandamaya, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, so we are also ānandamaya, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Unfortunately, we have been put in the contact of this material energy. Therefore we are just experiencing the opposite. What is that opposite? That... Sat, sac-cit ānanda. Sat means eternity. So we have got just the opposite, asat. Asat means non-eternity. This body will not exist.

Lecture on BG 4.39-42 -- Los Angeles, January 14, 1969:

Just like people are trying. The same thing which they have got at home... Just like a naked woman. They are still going to the theater to see naked dance. You see? What is that? They have no idea. The same thing. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30), chewing the chewed, trying to find out in which naked dance there is pleasure. That's all. So when one comes to the knowledge that "I have seen so many different types of naked dance and naked woman. What I have got? What I have gained? What satisfaction is there? Why I am not satisfied?" That is knowledge. That is knowledge.

Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:

Groom, yes. He, with his master, purchased some lottery ticket, and the master did not get anything, but the groom, he got some ten lakhs of rupees or something like that. His name was there. So when he was informed by the master, "Oh, you have got this money," he at once failed his heart and died. So he thought, "Oh, so much money I have got." So thinking that, there was heart failure and died. (laughter) Yes. All of a sudden this happened. You see. It is a shock. Just like you get some horrible shock, so this is pleasure shock. This is pleasure shock. Shock it was really... Poor man, ordinary man, when he understood that "I have got ten millions of dollars in my bank now," oh, he became shocked and at once died.

Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:

Now, the one who is situated in that transcendental position, he is not attached... Bāhya-sparśeṣu asaktātmā. Now, those who are materially situated, they take pleasure outside, which is in contact with my senses. In contact with my senses. And the highest contact of senses in the material world is the sex contact. So one who is situated in this Brahman, so he has no connection with the external things and enjoy with the sense attachment, bāhya-sparśa. Sparśa means touch, and bāhya means external.

Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:

Yoginaḥ means those who are advancing in spiritual science and advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are called yogi. So ramante yoginaḥ. The yoginaḥ, they take pleasure, satyānande. Satyānande means "in actual happiness." Because the living entity, he is, I mean, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), happiness—his prerogative. He cannot... Why shall he be put into miseries? That is not his position. He should be always in happiness. So their happiness they do not know here. In the material conception of life we do not what is happiness. So those who are yogi, those who are transcendentalists, advanced in spiritual life, they know what is happiness.

Lecture on BG 5.17-25 -- Los Angeles, February 8, 1969:

So achieving something pleasant... Generally we accept a thing pleasant when it satisfies our senses. We accept it as pleasant. But actually, satisfaction of my sense is not real pleasure because my senses are at the present moment diseased. Therefore as it is stated in the Nārada-pañcarātra, that tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). One has to purify the senses in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not to become void of the senses. The other philosophers, they say that "You don't desire."

Lecture on BG 5.17-25 -- Los Angeles, February 8, 1969:

Revatīnandana: "Verse 21: Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness for he concentrates on the Supreme (BG 5.21)."

Prabhupāda: There is a word, ātmārāma, in Sanskrit. Ātmārāma means one who is satisfied with his self. He is called ātmārāma. Because self is the basic principle of this body, the soul. So one who is satisfied with his soul, he is called ātmārāma, or self-realized person. One who seeks pleasure externally, he is materialist, and one who seeks pleasure internally, he is spiritualist. That is the difference. Yes.

Lecture on BG 5.17-25 -- Los Angeles, February 8, 1969:

Revatīnandana: "An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kuntī, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them (BG 5.22)."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Material pleasure is circumstantial in contact with this body. Similarly material distress. So those who are ātmārāma, enjoying in the platform of soul, they are not concerned with this external pleasure and pain. Yes.

Lecture on BG 5.17-25 -- Los Angeles, February 8, 1969:

It can be crashed at any moment. But those who are "ka-ka-kas," they'll be finished. And they are chanting; they will go to Vaikuṇṭha. Finishing will be there. It is not that because we are Kṛṣṇa conscious we will not be finished. The example is that you'll be captured by the mouth of a cat but when the cat captures with its mouth its kitties, they feel very good pleasure. And when he captures a rat, oh, it finished. Similarly, everyone will be captured by the laws of nature, but a devotee will be carried with great care to Vaikuṇṭha and others will be thrown again into this material existence. But people will say, "Oh, your devotee is also dying and the nondevotee is dying," just like the foolish man. The cat is capturing in the mouth both the kitty and the rat. They are not same thing. Apparently it seems that the same thing but it is not the same thing.

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

If we are to enjoy real happiness, then we have to transcend these bodily pleasures. Happiness is there because I am spirit soul. Actually I am full of pleasure, but because my sense of happiness is being manifested through this matter, therefore we are being frustrated in deriving real pleasure. So those who are in the, advanced in spiritual life, they are called yogis. Yoginaḥ. Ramante yoginaḥ anante (CC Madhya 9.29). Those who are spiritualists, they also enjoy. But they enjoy in the real happiness which has no end. Any happiness which is ended at a certain point, that is not happiness. That is, rather, source of distress.

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

Everyone has got sex urge. Or so many things, we have got some urge. That Kṛṣṇa advises, that before quitting this body... The example is that suppose a man is diseased, is suffering from a type of disease. And doctor has asked him not to take solid food. Now, if he is thinking that... Because he is practiced to take solid food, he is thinking, "I must take solid food. I must take solid food..." But if he can tolerate—"No, doctor has advised not to take solid food"—if he can tolerate, then he becomes very easily cured. Similarly, sense perception, sense pleasure, is reserved for us in our spiritual life. That is actual sense pleasure. Here we are having sense pleasure artificially through this body. Before leaving this body, if we practice to stop sense pleasure as much as possible... There is training, of course. Without training, nothing can be done.

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

So according to Vedic civilization, this training was given, student life, complete abstinence from sex life, then vānaprastha life, complete abstinence, and sannyāsa life, complete abstinence. The whole training was to abstain, to cure. Because... The same example: In diseased condition we cannot enjoy the foodstuff which we take. When we are healthy, we can enjoy the taste of the foodstuff. So we have to cure. We have to cure. And how to cure? To be situated in the transcendental position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the cure. So Kṛṣṇa advises here anyone who is able to tolerate the urge of sense pleasure.

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

Everyone has got body. The cats, dogs, hogs, and birds, beasts, man, human being demigod—everyone has got this body, material body. But he's especially advising nṛdeha. Nṛ means human form of life. He says that this human form of life is not meant for working hard for sense pleasure just like the hogs and dogs. Human life. Then what it is meant for? He says, tapo divyam (SB 5.5.1). One should undergo penance for transcendental realization. And what will be the result of such penance? He says that yataḥ śuddhyet sattvam. Your existence will be purified. And when your existence is purified, then you enjoy brahma-saukhyam, the unlimited spiritual happiness.

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

Happiness is your prerogative. You must have. That is your life. You cannot stop happiness. But happiness in the diseased condition is not happiness. That we must understand. So we have to cure this diseased condition and then enjoy happiness, then enjoy pleasure that will be unlimited. There will be no end. In the diseased condition... Suppose whatever pleasure we take, it is for fifteen seconds or few minutes or few hours or few days—it will end. But real happiness, what is real happiness, that is unending. Brahma-saukhyam anantam (SB 5.5.1). Anantam means unending.

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

So we are meant for unending happiness. So Kṛṣṇa advises here that śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ prāk śarīra-vimokṣaṇāt. Before quitting this material body, if one practices to tolerate the so-called urges of sense pleasure, then he becomes very happy at the long run. He recommends it. And that is the real purpose of human form of life. That we should not derive. We should not try to derive that false happiness in this diseased condition of material life. This is temporary. That is not happiness. We should understand that out of ignorance we are engaged to derive such kind of happiness, but that is not happiness. Real happiness is in spiritual life.

Lecture on BG 6.1 -- Los Angeles, February 13, 1969:

The Vedānta says. The, every living entity, God is ānandamaya, full of bliss and pleasure, and we are part and parcel of God, we are also the same quality. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. So our whole process is to join the supreme ānandamaya, Kṛṣṇa, in His dance party. That will make us actually happy. Here we are trying to be happy by artificial means. And we are becoming frustrated. But if you actually be situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, simply you revive your original position, joyful, simply joyful.

Lecture on BG 6.1 -- Los Angeles, February 13, 1969:

In this La Cienega Avenue there are so many restaurants, so many things and so many signboards. Why? They are advertising, "Come on, here is ānanda, here is pleasure." He's advertising, we are also doing like that. "Here is ānanda." So everyone is searching after ānanda pleasure. But there is different standard of pleasure. The same thing. Somebody are trying to find out pleasure from the material point of view, somebody's trying to find pleasure from speculation, philosophy, poetry of art. And somebody's trying to find out pleasure in the transcendental stage. Everyone is trying to find out pleasure. That is our business only.

Lecture on BG 6.1 -- Los Angeles, February 13, 1969:

Why you are working so hard day and night? Because you know, at night, "I shall mix with that girl" or "I shall be mixed with wife, I shall enjoy." The whole, everyone is accepting all kinds of trouble to find out that pleasure.

Lecture on BG 6.1 -- Los Angeles, February 13, 1969:

Pleasure is the ultimate goal. But you do not know where is the pleasure. that is illusion. Real pleasure is in the transcendental form of Kṛṣṇa. You'll find Kṛṣṇa always jolly. There's so many pictures you see. And if we join, you become jolly. There's so many pictures you see. And if we join, you become jolly, that's all. Have you seen any picture Kṛṣṇa is working with machine? (laughter) Huge machine? Or have you seen any picture He is smoking? (laughter) By nature, pleasure, you see? Pleasure.

Lecture on BG 6.1 -- Los Angeles, February 13, 1969:

So you have to unfold yourself, unfold yourself in that way and you find pleasure. Simply full of pleasure, that's all. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). By nature simply pleasure. Not by artificial means. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ. In the Brahma-saṁhitā you find.

Lecture on BG 6.1 -- Los Angeles, February 13, 1969:

If it increases there is havoc, you see? But by nature's law, by God's order, it does not come beyond its limit. Within the limit it is. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu says there is an ocean of bliss, ocean of taste, of transcendental bliss, which is increasing. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ sarvātma-snapanaṁ paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. You'll get by this chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, your pleasure potency increasing more and more, more and more.

Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:

Buddhimān means intelligent person. He must associate with satsu. Satsu means those who are trying for self-realization. They are called sat. Sat and asat. Asat means who are trying for the temporary things. Matter is temporary. My body is temporary. So if I simply engage myself for bodily pleasures, sense gratification, then I am engaging myself to temporary things. But if I engage myself for self-realization, the permanent thing, then I am engaging myself to the sat, or to the permanent. Tasmāt satsu sajyeta buddhimān. "Anyone who is intelligent, he should associate with persons who are trying to elevate themselves for self-realization." That is called sat-saṅga, good association.

Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:

God has form, but He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Sat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternal. Sat means eternal, cit means knowledge and ānanda means pleasure. So God has form, but He has got a form which is full of pleasure, full of knowledge, and eternal. Now compare your body. Your body is neither eternal nor full of pleasure nor full of knowledge. Therefore God has form, but He has got a different form. But as soon as we speak of form, we think the form must be like this. Therefore the opposite, no form. That's no knowledge. That is not knowledge.

Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:

Caitanya Mahāprabhu says like that: āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām (CC Antya 20.47). "Either You embrace me or you trample me down on Your feet. Or You never come before me, I become brokenhearted without seeing you. Still I love You." That is pure love of God. When we come to that stage of loving God, then we'll find, oh, all, full of pleasure. As God is full of pleasure, you are also full of pleasure. That is the perfection. Go on.

Lecture on BG 6.11-21 -- New York, September 7, 1966:

It is all pleasure. Kṛṣṇa is also pleasure. Rāma is also pleasure. Because we are all hunting after pleasure. But we do not know where to find out the pleasure. The pleasure is in spiritual life. That is real pleasure. We haven't got to sacrifice pleasure, but we have to enjoy it properly. Just like diseased man, he cannot enjoy life. His enjoyment of life is a false enjoyment.

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

Now, suppose a human being is asked to stand like the tree, at least for three days. Oh, it will be impossible for him because he cannot tolerate such kind of miseries. So therefore conclusion is that every living entity feels the pleasure and happiness according to the developed consciousness of his being. Similarly, the happiness which we are feeling now in the material mixture, that is not real happiness. That is not real happiness. If you ask the tree, "Are you feeling happy?" the tree will say, "Yes. I am feeling happy standing here the whole year, and the wind and snowfall I am enjoying very much." Oh. You see? So that sort of happiness the tree may enjoy, but you are human being. You will say, "Oh, this is the standard of his enjoyment."

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

The yogis, those who are transcendentalists aspiring after spiritual life, they are called yogis: bhakti-yogī, jñāna-yogī, dhyāna-yogī. There are so many departments of yogis. Now, they also enjoy. The whole process is to concentrate upon the viṣṇu-mūrti, Viṣṇu form, within the heart. And unless there is pleasure, there is no enjoyment, what is the use of controlling the senses and focusing the mind on the Supreme Supersoul within the heart? There is pleasure. What sort of pleasure that is? That pleasure is ananta. Ananta means endless. Endless. Yoginaḥ. Yoginaḥ. Ramante yoginaḥ anante. Anante means that pleasure is not endless. That pleasure, why it is not ended? Because spirit is eternal and the Supreme Lord is eternal, therefore reciprocation of their loving exchanges, they are eternal. They are eternal.

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

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. So therefore there is no happiness; there is no pleasure. For the time being, there may be a little feeling of pleasure, but that is not actual pleasure. That is for temporary, just a slight focus of that lightning. In the sky you will find some lightning, but real lightning is beyond that. So vetti yatra na caivāyaṁ sthitaś calati tattvataḥ. Because persons they do not know what is happiness, so sthitaś calati tattvataḥ. Real happiness... They are deviated from real happiness.

Lecture on BG 6.25-29 -- Los Angeles, February 18, 1969:

Viṣṇujana: "One who controls the mind, therefore the senses as well, is called gosvāmī or svāmī. One who is controlled by the mind is called go-dāsa or the servant of the senses. A gosvāmī knows the standard of sense happiness. In transcendental sense happiness, the senses are engaged in the service of Hṛṣīkeśa or the supreme owner of the senses—Kṛṣṇa. Serving Kṛṣṇa with purified senses is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the way of bringing the senses under full control. What is more, that is the highest perfection of yoga practice." Verse 27: "The yogi whose mind is fixed on Me verily attains the highest pleasure. By virtue of his identity with Brahman, he is liberated, his mind is peaceful, his passions are quieted, and he is freed from sin (BG 6.27)." Twenty-eight: "Steady in the Self, being freed from all material contamination, the yogi achieves the highest perfectional stage of happiness in touch with the Supreme Consciousness (BG 6.28)."

Prabhupāda: So here is the perfect. "The yogi whose mind is fixed on Me." Me means Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. If I am speaking, "Give me a glass of water." It does not mean that the water should be supplied to somebody else. Similarly, the Bhagavad-gītā is being spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa and He says "Me." "Me" means Kṛṣṇa. This is clear understanding. But there are many commentators, they deviate from Kṛṣṇa. I do not know why. That is their nefarious motive. No. "Me" means Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness person is always in yoga trance. Go on.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 26, 1968:

Go means senses, and go means cow, and go means land. So He is the proprietor of all land, He is the proprietor of all cows, and He is the, I mean to say, pleasure for all senses. We are after sense pleasure, but our perfection of sense pleasure can be achieved when we reciprocate our pleasure with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore His name is Govinda. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. Govinda is the Supreme original Personality of Godhead.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, September 10, 1968:

Arjuna developed friendship with Kṛṣṇa. When he saw Kṛṣṇa in His supreme universal form, he said, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, I have talked with You as friend. I have insulted You in so many ways." Friends and friends, sometimes they talk in insulting tone, but that is not insult, that is pleasure. Similarly, Arjuna also talks to Kṛṣṇa in so many insulting tones. But when he saw that "Oh, here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead," he was afraid. So friendship. Then further development of service is to accept the Supreme Lord as son.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, September 10, 1968:

Caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caityam āptam. Kṛṣṇa, when He wants to enjoy, He expands His pleasure potency, which is Rādhārāṇī. Now one Kṛṣṇa becomes two, Kṛṣṇa and His pleasure potency. And that pleasure potency, when unites with Kṛṣṇa, that is Caitanya. Kṛṣṇa becomes two, Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa cannot enjoy anything material because He is full in Himself. Therefore if He has to enjoy something, then that enjoyable personality must be expanded from Him only. So that is Rādhārāṇī. And when that enjoyable personality again takes into one, that is Caitanya. These things you'll understand as you develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in higher development stage.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971 University of Florida:

All over Europe, America, Japan, Canada, Australia, I am traveling. Malaysia. And anywhere I have introduced this saṅkīrtana movement—we have got different centers, about sixty centers—they have been received with great pleasure. Just like you saw these boys and girls. I have not imported them from India, but they have taken this movement very seriously, and they will take it, because it appeals to the soul directly. We have got different status of our life.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Auckland, April 15, 1972:

As soon as there is shortage of sunlight, the place becomes immediately condemned. As soon as there is sunlight, we feel pleasure, "Oh, today is very sunny day, nice." So sunlight is always there, but it is being covered. The sunlight is not covered, sun is not covered, but our eyes are covered. Suppose there is cloud. A cloud may expand, say, a hundred miles. But do you think the sunlight is a hundred miles? You cannot estimate, millions and millions of miles. So what hundred-miles cloud can cover the sun? The hundred-miles cloud can cover my eyes. And we say, "Today sun is covered by the cloud." That is our ignorance.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Sydney, February 16, 1973:

Just like the comparison has been given just like the moon. The after the dark moon, the moon comes out just like a line, and then it increases, increases, and one night it becomes full. Similarly, as your heart becomes cleansed of the material dirty things, your real form, sat-cit-ānanda vigrahaḥ, eternity, blissful life of knowledge, becomes visible, just like the moon is visible. And one day you'll come to the full pleasure, full moon night, and that is your sarvātmā snapanam. And at that time you'll enjoy your life like anything. That is our highest perfection of life. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. The only method is chanting this holy name of God, Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Upsala University Stockholm, September 8, 1973:

We are limited. I cannot say that I understand what is going in your body, pains and pleasure. That I cannot say. But I can understand pains and pleasure of my body. So the quality is the same. God has knowledge. You, you, me, we have got knowledge. But our knowledge is limited. God's knowledge is unlimited. But knowledge is there, cognizant. Therefore the Vedas says nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He is the supreme eternal amongst all other eternals. He's the supreme cognizant amongst all other cognizants. This is the difference.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Upsala University Stockholm, September 8, 1973:

Caitanya means not dead, but living entity. You can get the same benefit by chanting name as you get personally talking with Kṛṣṇa. That is also possible. But this will be gradually realized. Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ. Rasa-vigraha means the pleasure, reservoir of all pleasure. As, as you chant the name of Hare Kṛṣṇa, so gradually you relish some transcendental pleasure. Just like these boys and girls, while chanting, they're dancing in joyfulness. Nobody could follow them. But they are not crazy fellows, that they're chanting. Actually, they're getting some pleasure, transcendental pleasure. Therefore they're dancing. It is not that the dog-dance. No. It is really spiritual dance, the soul's dance. So... Therefore, He's called rasa-vigraha, reservoir of all pleasure.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Upsala University Stockholm, September 8, 1973:

Material, any name you chant, because it is materially contaminated, you cannot continue it for very long. This is another experience. But this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, if you go on chanting for twenty-four hours, you'll never feel fatigued. That is the test. You go on chanting. These boys can chant twenty-four hours, without eating anything, without drinking water. It is so nice. Because it is complete, spiritual, śuddha. Śuddha means pure. Not materially contaminated. Material pleasure, any pleasure... The highest pleasure in the material world is sex. But you cannot enjoy it twenty-four hours. That is not possible. You can enjoy it for few minutes. That's all. Even if you are forced to enjoy, you'll reject it: "No, no more."

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Upsala University Stockholm, September 8, 1973:

So in order to enjoy this spiritual pleasure, you have to practice some tapasya, austerity. Because you are spiritual, every one of us, spiritual. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. We are not this material body. We change. It is for certain years. Again we change: another body, another body. This changing of body is going on because we are seeking material pleasure.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Upsala University Stockholm, September 8, 1973:

So God is giving us different types of body for enjoying different types of material pleasure. But if we want to enjoy spiritual pleasure, then you do not require to change body. That is the mission of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That every one of you want pleasure, but that pleasure, in the material world, you cannot enjoy perpetually. But if you purify yourself of this material contamination, if you do not accept this material body again, and you remain in your spiritual body, then you enjoy transcendental bliss eternally.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Upsala University Stockholm, September 8, 1973:

So this human form of life is meant for that purpose. Lower than the human form of life, cats and dogs, they cannot understand what is spiritual pleasure. That is not possible. But in the human form of life you can understand what is spirit and what is matter and what is spiritual pleasure and what is material pleasure. This distinction we can make. That much consciousness is developed in the human form of life. But if we misuse this developed consciousness for material pleasures, then we are missing the opportunity.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Hyderabad, April 27, 1974:

We are accepting different types of bodies, but we are eternal, part and parcel of the Supreme. Not only eternal, full of knowledge and blissful. This is our position. But at the present moment, because we have got this body, it is no very pleasurable condition. It is miserable condition. There are adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika miseries, and always we are under. That we cannot understand. We are thinking that "Things go on like this. Don't bother about these things.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- London, March 9, 1975:

Ānanda means pleasure, blissfulness. He is always... Kṛṣṇa, while He was present on this planet, He showed how to dance with the gopīs. He was always full of ānanda. Here we have got Kṛṣṇa. He is ānanda-mūrti. He is not nirānanda, without blissfulness. He is always with His consort, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. And He is playing flute and Rādhārāṇī is dancing. This is ānanda.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Nairobi, October 27, 1975:

Especially in the Western countries we see. He has no family, but he keeps one pet dog or pet cat because he wants to be attracted by somebody. This is nature. So here Kṛṣṇa says that "You have got already attraction, but in false things which will not exist. You turn that attraction unto Me. Then you'll get pleasure." You are attracted to something for getting some pleasure. So that pleasure is interrupted because we have posed our attraction in some false things. You have to change that attraction to the real thing, Kṛṣṇa. Then you'll be happy. Mayy āsakta. Mayy āsakta. Mayi: "Unto Me," Kṛṣṇa says personally. If you... Attraction means you have to engage your mind. Mayy āsakta-manāḥ. Attraction does not come in the air. The mind, mind fully engaged in something, is called attraction.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bhuvanesvara, January 22, 1977:

A cat, a dog also eat, and we are also eating. They are eating in their standard and we are eating in our standard. Sometimes we are eating less than their standard. So eating, the satisfaction of eating, anything you eat the pleasure is the same. A hog is eating stool. He's enjoying the pleasure of eating. And a human being eating very nice palatable food, he's also enjoying the same pleasure. There is no difference. Similarly sleeping also, similarly sex life. A dog is enjoying sex life on the street, and the king is enjoying sex life in the palace. But the pleasure is the same. Similarly defense. If you attack one animal, he knows how to defend himself. He has got also nails and jaws.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:

Every one of us. And every one of us are thinking as man. Even the woman. Man means enjoyer. So everyone is thinking enjoyer, "I am enjoyer." And this is called māyā. And about the gopīs, it is better not to speculate. The speculator's writing has no value. Gopīs, they are pleasure potency expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya (Bs. 5.32).

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:

So gopīs are also expansion of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. Gopīs are not these ordinary women; neither Kṛṣṇa is ordinary man. So unless we understand Kṛṣṇa as were discussing this morning, the verse, kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ... Out of many millions of siddhas, one can understand Kṛṣṇa as He is.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:

So if we want to understand Kṛṣṇa, er, gopīs, then we have to learn it from the perfect devotee of Kṛṣṇa, not from the speculators, mental speculators. This is simply a waste of time. Just like Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, rūpa-raghunātha-pade haibe ākuti, kabe hāma bujhabo se yugala-pīriti. Yugala-pīriti, the love between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī... The gopīs are expansion of Rādhārāṇī, pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa... These are all spiritual subject matter. So this is not mental. An ordinary man, if he thinks that "I am becoming go...," that is artificial. That is artificial. This is not artificial thing. And the parakīyā-rasa, the sense of paramourship, that is also there. But this is not this parakīyā-rasa, as we understand from this material world.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:

Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency. This has been discussed by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, that Kṛṣṇa is Parabrahman, and to relish brahma-sukha, a person in austerity gives up all the material sense enjoyment... Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13). They try to relish brahma-sukha. Now, when they... Brahma-sukhānubhūti, Kṛṣṇa is the goal of brahma-sukha anubhūti. So when Brahman wants to have pleasure, does it mean that He takes pleasure within this material world? To understand Brahman, one has to give up all material pleasures. And when the Brahman relishes pleasure, does it mean this is material pleasure? Try to understand this fact. For relishing brahma-sukha, one undergoes severe austerities. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena damena (SB 6.1.13). There are so many processes.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Hyderabad, April 28, 1974 :

We have come from Him, but we are attracted by this material enjoyment, which is not very pleasurable. It is suffering. Just like here, without this fan, it was uncomfortable, excessive heat. So, excessive heat, excessive cold, so many things, adhibautic, adhyatmic, adhidaivic. We are actually suffering always. This is the nature of this material world. Stringent laws of the material world. And still we are trying to become happy by some adjustment. This is called struggle for existence. In this way we cannot be happy.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- San Francisco, September 11, 1968:

So as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, you have to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is your pleasure. Now we are trying to satisfy our senses, our material senses. When you become..., realize yourself that you are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, then you'll satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa, Govinda. And by satisfying His senses, your senses will be satisfied. Just like crude example—this is not spiritual—just like husband is understood as the enjoyer and the wife is considered as the enjoyed. But if the wife satisfies the senses of the husband, his (her) senses also satisfied.

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

"Those who are yogis, those who are transcendentalists..." They also... Every one of us are seeking after pleasure, ānanda, but the yogis, either these jñāna-yogi, dhyāna-yogi, or karma-yogi, or bhakta-yogi... There are different kinds of yogis, but the yogi means the person who wants to connect himself with the eternal happiness. That is called yogi, one who is not satisfied with this temporary, material happiness. Just like Śaṅkarācārya. He also says that brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: "You are trying to derive pleasure from this material world, but it is false." He also says.

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

If you want real pleasure, then brahma-saukhyam—you have to seek pleasure in the Brahman. Similarly, we find in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the instruction of Ṛṣabhadeva. He says... He's instructing His sons, tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvaṁ yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam (SB 5.5.1). He's advising His sons. "His sons" means everyone, He's advising. What is that? Na ayaṁ dehaḥ deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhati yad viḍ-bhujām ye: "My dear sons, this human form of body is not meant for continuously hard labor simply for sex enjoyment, simply for sex enjoyment."

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

At the present moment, due to my material conditional life, because I have got this material body, therefore my pleasure... I am hankering after pleasure, but whatever pleasure I am acquiring, that is not permanent, or flickering, or simply illusion. But that hankering after pleasure is your constitutional position. Because you are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, who is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), who is by nature blissful, and you are part and parcel of that blissful Supreme Personality of Godhead, therefore your nature is also blissful. That is a fact. But you are seeking pleasure or blissfulness in a place where it is not possible. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattva (SB 5.5.1).

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

So if you accept austerity in this life and don't behave like cats and dogs and hogs simply for sex pleasure, then the result will be that your existence will be purified, by which you'll realize eternal happiness, anantam, which has no end, no beginning, no end. Actually it is so.

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

According to Lord Buddha's philosophy, that this body is combination of matter... So when we dismantle the matter, nirvāṇa, then there is no more feelings of pains and pleasures. That is called śūnyavādi. But we are neither śūnyavādī or nirviśeṣa-vādī. We are saviśeṣa-vādīs. Saviśeṣa-vādi means that the spirit soul has got its form, and this body has got form. Just like dress takes its form because the man has got a form. This body is considered as dress. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).

Lecture on BG 7.7 -- Vrndavana, August 13, 1974:

So your illumination, consciousness, is spread all over the body. Therefore so long I am in this body, I feel pains and pleasure because the consciousness is spread. In the same way... As Kṛṣṇa says, He's the Supreme Soul. I am individual, very, very minute, small particle, and Kṛṣṇa is the supreme whole. So as I am controlling over this body, so where is the difficulty? Kṛṣṇa is controlling over the whole universe. Where is the difficulty? There is no difficulty. But we'll not understand. That is the difficulty.

Lecture on BG 7.11-12 -- Bombay, February 25, 1974:

So as soon as you get—kleśada āsa dehaḥ—this body, full of miserable condition, then you again put into miserable condition of life. Therefore if you can stop your childrens' birth and death any more, then beget children. This is the shastric injunction. And if the father does not know how to stop his own birth and death, then what is the use of producing children? The father should be so sympathetic with the children, with the sons, that he must know what is the pains and pleasure of birth and death.

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

Mādhavī-latā: Swamiji, in last night's initiation you gave me my spiritual name. Could you tell me tonight what that name means?

Prabhupāda: You have forgotten? (chuckles) Mādhavī-latā. Why don't you like it? Mādhavī-latā.

Jadurāṇī: She asked what it means, Swamiji. She asked what it means.

Prabhupāda: Mādhavī-latā. Oh, Mādhavī-latā is a plant which was very much liked by Kṛṣṇa, Mādhavī-latā. It is a flower plant, Mādhavī-latā, and Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā used to take pleasure underneath that plant. So anything related with Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 8.12-13 -- New York, November 15, 1966:

The God's body is sac-cid, sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternal, and cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of pleasure. We have got our pamphlet—most of you might have seen—Kṛṣṇa, the Reservoir of all Pleasure. Similarly, if we transfer our body, our self, leaving this body to the spiritual world, in the Kṛṣṇa planet, or any other spiritual planet, then we get the similar body, sac-cid-ānanda: eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss.

Lecture on BG 8.12-13 -- New York, November 15, 1966:

Our constitutional position is that we want eternity, we want complete knowledge and we want pleasure also, pleasure. So if you are kept alone, you cannot have pleasure. Then you'll feel uncomfortable. And for want of pleasure, you'll accept any kind of pleasure: "All right, material pleasure." That's all. That is the risk.

Lecture on BG 8.12-13 -- New York, November 15, 1966:

Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you'll have full pleasure, full pleasure, the same pleasure. Not the same pleasure. Just like here the highest pleasure of this world is sex life. That is also perverted, so diseased. So even in the spiritual world there is sex pleasure in Kṛṣṇa, but that's not... We should not think that this is something like this. No. But janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Unless that sex life is there, it cannot be reflected here. It is simply perverted reflection. The actual life is there, in Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is full of pleasure. So best thing is to train ourself, train ourself in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and then it will be possible in this life at the time of death to transfer ourself into the spiritual world and enter into the Kṛṣṇaloka, or the Kṛṣṇa planet, and enjoy with the association of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 8.14-15 -- New York, November 16, 1966:

The reason is—that I have already explained—that our life... We, as living entities, we are part and parcel of the Supreme, sac-cid-ānanda. We want pleasure. So impersonal feature does not give us that pleasure which we want, which is our demand. That pleasure is available in the spiritual planets. If you enter in any of the spiritual planets, then that spiritual happiness and exchange of pleasure you can attain. Therefore the Lord says, Kṛṣṇa, ananya-cetāḥ satataṁ yo māṁ smarati nityaśaḥ: "A person without any deviation..." Ananya-cetāḥ. Without any consideration of jñāna, yoga, or any other process... Simply devotional process, simply surrendered process... "My Lord, I am Your eternal servant. Please give me Your service.

Lecture on BG 8.20-22 -- New York, November 18, 1966:

Śrīdhara Svāmī says, "Because the spiritual world is real and this unreal manifestation appears to be real, appears to be real, but it is not real, we can understand reality will exist; reality will not vanquish." That is... Reality means eternal. Therefore real pleasure, that is Kṛṣṇa. The material pleasure is temporary, not actual. Therefore those who are after reality, they don't take part in this shadow pleasure. Shadow pleasure, they don't take part. So Lord Kṛṣṇa says that yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati. That is reality. "When everything will be vanquished, that spiritual nature will continue to remain."

Lecture on BG 8.22-27 -- New York, November 20, 1966:

We are in suffering. We don't want to die. The death is there. We don't want to be diseased. The disease is there. We don't want to become old. The old age is there. So we don't..., so many things we don't want, but they are forced upon us. And any sane man will admit that these are sufferings. But if you are accustomed to these sufferings so you say, "It is all right," that is a different thing. But naturally, any sane man, he won't like to be diseased. He won't like to be old. He won't like to die. You see. Why this movement? Because if there is war, there will be death. So people are afraid. They're making agitation, "There should be no war." So don't you... Do you think that death is very pleasurable thing?

Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Vrndavana, April 17, 1975:

Our heart is desiring real pleasure, transcendental bliss. So if we are put into this desert, suta-mitā-ramaṇi-samāje, where is the benefit? This song is confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that apaśyatām ātma-tattvam (SB 2.1.2). They do not know what is the aim of life. They are satisfied with this drop of water in the desert. It will never mitigate. Desert is very vast tract of land dry, and if somebody says, "All right, take one drop of water," then what is the meaning? It has no meaning. Similarly, we are spirit soul. We are hankering after Kṛṣṇa. That is our inner desire.

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

Our difficulty is that we have been entangled with this material world, because we have been attracted by this sense-gratification in the material world. And vairāgya vidyā means unless you become detestful, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 9.59), unless we find a better position, a better enjoyment, we cannot give it up. So this bhakti-yoga means offering the better position, better gratification, better pleasure, so that one can give up this inferior pleasure in the material world.

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

"Please come here! Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, dance, and when you're tired, take prasādam." That's all. Su-sukham. Su-sukhaṁ kartum. Kartum: to execute this devotional service is very pleasure. Pleasure. And avyayam: whatever you do, that is your permanent asset. It will never be lost. Bhakti-yoga process, if you can execute one percent, oh, it becomes asset, and next life you are guaranteed, because you will be given the facility of executing bhakti-yoga further. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, in every śāstra. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo sañjayate (BG 6.41).

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

Ataḥ sa bhakti udi, uditam adbhūtam aiśvaryam ahaḥ.(?) Now, this transcendental nature of God, all-potential nature of God, to a devotee it will give pleasure, and to a nondevotee it will be seeming like, oh, so many bluff is being spoken by Kṛṣṇa. As soon as I become a nondevotee, I'll think all these statement as bluff given by Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as I am a devotee, oh, I'll think, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful." He becomes full with love and adoration. That is the difference. One who believes, he becomes, oh, puffed-up with pleasure, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful." And those who do not believe will say, "Oh, it is simply bluffing. Kṛṣṇa is a person, driving the chariot of Arjuna, and He says..." They are imitating.

Lecture on BG 9.3 -- Toronto, June 20, 1976:

Just imagine. Here in this material world there is sex life. That is considered to be the highest pleasure. But the spiritual world means there is no sex life. Although there are very beautiful women, very beautiful men, with four hands. The men are with four hands there and very attractive. All of them are young. They never become old. Because in the spiritual world there is no birth, death, old age and disease. That is spiritual world. So there is no... Old age is due to this body.

Lecture on BG 9.3 -- Toronto, June 20, 1976:

In this Chapter, in the Thirteenth Chapter, it is discussed. So in that chapter Kṛṣṇa says that "I am also one of the owner of the body, but the difference of this singular individual body and Myself is this, that the individual soul knows about his own body. But so far I am concerned, I am present in everyone's body and I know everything of everyone's body." Just like you are a spirit soul, I am a spirit soul within this body. You know the pleasure and pains of your body. I know the pleasure and pains of my body. But Kṛṣṇa, he knows the pleasure and pains of your body and pleasure and pains of my body and everyone's body. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Paramātmā. Jīvātmā and Paramātmā.

Lecture on BG 9.11 -- Calcutta, June 30, 1973:

The same man who was taking pleasure by killing one animal half-dead, he is not prepared to kill even an ant. This is called bhakti. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12). If one becomes a devotee of the Lord, akiñcana-bhakti, then sarvair guṇaiḥ, all good qualities will come out automatically. Because every living entity is part and parcel of God. God is all-good. Therefore every living entity, potentially, constitutionally, he is also good.

Lecture on BG 9.11-14 -- New York, November 27, 1966:

Let us enjoy as far as possible. Squeeze out the extract of this matter." Squeezing, squeezing, they don't... They are frustrated, frustrated, moghāśā, baffled in every respect. Squeezing to take essence of this material pleasure, they are baffled. They are baffled. Don't you see this practically? "So much money, so much I have earned." They go to enjoy, fifty thousand dollars, hundred thousand dollars, squeezing—they do not find any pleasure. Simply squeezing, squeezing. Moghāśā mogha-karmāṇaḥ. That is not the process to find out real pleasure. If you have to find out real pleasure, then you have to take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have to be trained up in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on BG 9.15 -- New York, December 1, 1966:

At your present conditioned life, you are under the energy of God, this material energy. You cannot conquer even the energy, so how you can conquer God? Not possible. So therefore another name of God is Ajita. Just like Kṛṣṇa is another name of God. Of course, according to Vedic literature, Kṛṣṇa is the principal name. God has many names. According to His work, according to different persons' understanding, He has got innumerable, numberless names. But the, in the Vedic literature it is said that Kṛṣṇa is the principal name. Because Kṛṣṇa means the highest pleasure.

Lecture on BG 9.18-19 -- New York, December 4, 1966:

Unfortunately, people do not know what is the destination. They are simply thinking, destination of life, to have the greatest amounts of sense gratification. This is illusion. Because we are materially absorbed and materially concept of life means these senses—we have no other information—so we are trying to squeeze out all kinds of pleasure from sense. This is called illusion. They have no other information. They are earning, working very hard, and the ultimate goal is sense gratification. This is illusion.

Lecture on BG 9.18-19 -- New York, December 4, 1966:

The ultimate goal is Kṛṣṇa or the Supreme Lord, gati. Gati means destination. Where you are going? Which way you are making your progress? "Oh, that we cannot say. We make progress on sense gratification. The greatest amount of pleasure which we can derive out of the senses, that is our destination." No, the destination is God, Viṣṇu, the Supreme Lord, of whom we are the parts and parcels.

Lecture on BG 9.29-32 -- New York, December 20, 1966:

Here one passage is quoted by a great commentator, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, that bhagavān bhakta-bhaktimān. Just like we become devoted, similarly, God also becomes devoted to us. You don't think that one-sided devotion. No. Just like love is never one-sided. Love is reciprocation, reciprocation. Similarly, although God is great, He becomes a devotee of the devotee. He takes pleasure in that way. It is clearly stated that "I also try to devote Myself for his service." As we take pleasure in serving God, similarly, God also takes pleasure by serving the devotee.

Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:

We must come to the right conclusion that "I belong to Kṛṣṇa, I am the son of Kṛṣṇa, I do not belong to anyone." This is called nirahaṅkāra. Sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ. This material happiness and distress. Because I am not this material body, if I am actually convinced, so the pains and pleasure of this material world is due to this body.

Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:

Just like because I have got this material body, I am feeling some heat. Therefore fan is required. Similarly, by this body in the winter season I shall stop the fan. So under different season my body feels differently pains and pleasure. But actually, if I am not this body, then I should tolerate all these pains and pleasures. This is called sama-duḥkha.

Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:

We should not be disturbed by these material pains and pleasure. We have to execute our spiritual consciousness business. That is called sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ. And kṣamī. Kṣamī means kṣama, excuse.

Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:

A devotee should not be dissatisfied in any condition of life. He should remain satisfied. Because he knows that "My pains and pleasure are now dependent on the will of Kṛṣṇa. Not now, always. So if Kṛṣṇa desires that I should suffer like this, why should I bother? Let me suffer." Santuṣṭa.

Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:

There are many verses to support this. Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtam (SB 10.14.8). A devotee, when he is put into distress, he thinks that "It is God's kindness that He is giving me little pain, hurt, although I should have suffered more." This is devotee's view. He is not, I mean to, disturbed by any kinds of pains and pleasure. Santuṣṭa. Satataṁ yogī. Even in distressed condition he also thinks of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he is yogi. Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā (BG 6.47). A devotee always thinks of Kṛṣṇa. That is devotee. Yogi. Yatātmā. He does not neglect his duty, his devotional service.

Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Bombay, September 25, 1973:

If only one tries to understand what is the relationship between this body and the soul, the body and the Supersoul, Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa, when He says that "I am also kṣetrajnam," He's the Supersoul, Paramātmā. He can know everyone's pains and pleasure. I am the occupier of this body, I know the pains and pleasure of my body, but I do not know the pains and pleasure of your body. Neither you know that the pains and pleasure of my body.

Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Bombay, September 25, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa knows the pains and pleasure of your body. Kṛṣṇa knows the pains and pleasure of my body. Kṛṣṇa knows the pains and pleasure of dog's body, cat's body, everyone's body. That is Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. Sarva-kṣetreṣu. He knows everything. That is Paramātmā feature. Paramātmā feature means He is even within the atom.

Lecture on BG 13.1-3 -- Durban, October 13, 1975:

The pains and pleasure of my body, the necessities of my body, how I am situated in this body—I know. You also know, you, about your body. And my... About my body you do not know, what pains and pleasure I am feeling. What pains and pleasure you are feeling, I do not know. But I know the pains and pleasure of my body. You know the pains and pleasure of your body. Therefore, in relationship with your body, you are kṣetra-jña, and in relationship with my body I am kṣetra-jña. My body is kṣetra, the field of activities, and your body is the field of activities.

Lecture on BG 13.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:

This body is the cause of my comfortable, uncomfortable position, this body. In another place when Arjuna inquired from Kṛṣṇa that "Whatever you are saying, it is all right. Still we sometimes feel pains and pleasures," so Kṛṣṇa answered,

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino 'nityās
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
(BG 2.14)

Mātrā-sparśāḥ. It is due to the skin, the skin." It is sometimes comfortable or uncomfortable according to the atmosphere. Just like we feel cold during winter season. We do not like to take bath. It is very cold. And again, in the summer season, we feel very warm. We want to enjoy taking bath. Therefore the water, in some season it is comfortable; in some season it is uncomfortable. The water is what actually? A chemical. But the atmosphere makes it comfortable or uncomfortable.

Lecture on BG 13.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:

It comes and goes. So there are so many things. They come and go. And being attached to so many things, I become comfortable or uncomfortable. Therefore Arjuna was advised that tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. This material world is like that. Pains and pleasure, they come and go. They stay for some time, and again go away. But we cannot give up our duty. That is not possible.

Lecture on BG 13.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:

So God is omnipotent in this way. I do not know what is pains and pleasure is going on within your body. That is not possible for me to understand. Neither you can understand what pains and pleasure I am feeling. But God knows. God knows the pains and pleasure of your body. He knows pains and pleasure of my body. That is the difference between God and ourself.

Lecture on BG 13.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:

A tree, that is also a soul, but by his past karma or action, he has taken this body of the tree. So we should understand from the authority, as Kṛṣṇa says, that idaṁ śarīraṁ kṣetram: "It is a field. It is a concession or..." Field is exactly the term. "Field of work," as we say generally, in the field of activities." So it is field. And I have given a chance to occupy this field and act accordingly. Try to understand. I have got a different type of field, and I have to work on it and reap the result out of it and suffer pains and pleasure. That is already settled up. As soon as I have got a particular type of body, my pains and pleasures are already settled up, already settled up. You cannot make any improvement or degradation.

Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Paris, August 11, 1973:

My brain is working so nicely. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is also, according to our conception, Kṛṣṇa is person, individual, but He has got a very gigantic body. This is the material world, material expression. That is expressed in the next verse: kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi. I am also kṣetrajñam. As you are knower of your body, the bodily pains and pleasure you know, I know. I do not know your bodily pains and pleasures. Neither you know my bodily pains and pleasure. But Kṛṣṇa says that kṣetrajña, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi: "I am also kṣetrajñam," means "I also know the field."

Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Paris, August 11, 1973:

God's one opulence is that is full knowledge. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ sriyaḥ jñānam (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47). This rascal god, so-called god, you ask him, "Can you say what I am feeling now or what are my pains and pleasures?" Can he say? And still he's claiming God. But Kṛṣṇa says, kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. "I am in every, every body." I am also within this body and Kṛṣṇa is also within this body. Kṛṣṇa... As you are within your body, similarly Kṛṣṇa is also within your body.

Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Bombay, September 26, 1973:

Last night we have already explained that the Supersoul, or Kṛṣṇa, is the knower of the pains and pleasure of every body, whereas the individual soul is the knower of pains and pleasure of his own body. In another place Kṛṣṇa says, avināśī tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. The consciousness of the individual soul is spread all over the body. That is avināśī. Indestructible. That is avināśī. Kṛṣṇa says, avināśī tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. Yena, by the soul, he is, by his potency, spread all over the body.

Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Bombay, September 26, 1973:

Just like the cloud covers the sunshine. We cannot see. Now a few days it is going on; there is cloud always. We do not see the sun. That does not mean there is no sun in the sky. So māyā does not allow us to see Kṛṣṇa. That is one śakti. Āvaraṇātmikā-śakti. And another śakti is prakṣepātmikā-śakti. Even one desires to see Kṛṣṇa, she throws away. She tests whether actually he wants Kṛṣṇa or keeping Kṛṣṇa in the front, he wants some material pleasure. Therefore she throws away. In this way māyā-śakti is acting.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Bombay, September 27, 1973:

Yesterday we have discussed that two souls, the individual soul and the Supersoul, both of them are living within this body. This body is compared... In the Upaniṣads, the body is compared with a tree, and two birds are there. One bird is the individual soul, we, and the other bird is the Supersoul, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He is always flying with the other bird, the living entity. We are trying to enjoy this material world. Just like you have seen a bird sitting in this branch, going another branch, another tree. This is all seeking some pleasure.

Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 3, 1973:

Everyone is thinking if I become greedy, I shall get more. That is not possible. You cannot get a farthing more than what you are destined. But it is ignorance. He's thinking by simply struggling hard I'll get more. The śāstra says, "No, don't do it. So far your material condition is concerned, it is already destined with your body. You have got a certain type of body and according to that body you'll get certain amount of pleasure and pains, that is already destined." This is called adṛṣṭa, daiva. Your main business is if you want to make success, your life, then save time for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is proper utilization of life. That does not depend on destiny. That you can do. That you can do. So far other things are.

Lecture on BG 13.13 -- Bombay, October 6, 1973:

We are disturbed by the bodily concepts of life, every one of us. Everyone is busy how to relieve the bodily pains and pleasures. That's all. The real pains and pleasure: that the living entity who has accepted this material body, he has to continue these pains and pleasure. That is explained in the Bhagavad, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). So you there is no science to give relief from janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. How can expect relief? It is temporary relief. So Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, we should not be disturbed by the temporary pains and pleasure.

Lecture on BG 13.13 -- Bombay, October 6, 1973:

We should not be disturbed by these so-called bodily pains and pleasure. We can try, we can get as much... But this is not our business. Our business is how to get out of these clutches of birth and death. That is real business. That they do not know. Because they have no knowledge. All fools and rascals, they are busy for the temporary pains and pleasure. That's all.

Lecture on BG 13.13 -- Bombay, October 6, 1973:

Just like father. Father is giving some child, some son, nice sweetmeat, and the other son comes, "No you cannot take it." Does it mean that father is partial? No, father is kind both the child. He knows that he cannot eat. So similarly, two things are going on parallel. Some are punishments, some are maintenance by the laws of God, but he knows how to do it. We have to accept His law. That is... Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇaḥ (SB 10.14.8). Therefore a devotee is never disturbed by the so-called pains and pleasure of this world. He is never disturbed. He knows his duty, how to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is real devotee.

Lecture on BG 13.17 -- Bombay, October 11, 1973:

Just like I am living entity. I am soul. I know the business of my body; the pains and pleasures of my body I know. But the pains and pleasures of your body I do not know. Neither you know my pains and pleasures. So we are all individual. But there is another proprietor. Actually, He is the proprietor. He is the proprietor; we are simply occupier. Just like of a house there are two persons. One is the proprietor of the house; another tenant is the occupier. So we are simply occupiers. Real proprietor is Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi mām... That is īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 18.61). He knows everyone, what you are doing. Not only I, you. Everyone.

Lecture on BG 13.18 -- Bombay, October 12, 1973:

There are eight million four hundred thousand species of body. Any type of body we accept, it is troublesome. It is miserable. Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). The bodily pains and pleasures are perceivable, mātrā-sparśa, because we have got this material skin, mātrā, and when it is touched, in touch with the influence of this material world, mātrā-sparśāḥ, you become subject of pains and pleasures. But if you don't have this material body, then you are untouched by the material qualities, you are completely in spiritual body, so there is no question of pains and pleasure. It is simply blissful life.

Lecture on BG 15.15 -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Everything is there. The Vedic knowledge means that. We have come to this material world. So just like we have purchased this machine for some enjoyment, similarly, we are fallen down to this material world for some material pleasure. So Kṛṣṇa has given, God has given a literature. If you'll be guided by the literature, that, your propensity to enjoy this material world, will be fulfilled, at the same time you'll again be able to go back home, back to Godhead.

Lecture on BG 15.15 -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

The difficulty is when a person is missing the aim of life, his energy is diverted in different misleading ways. Just like for our bodily necessities of life we require to eat, we require to sleep, we require some sense pleasure or sex pleasure, and we require some defense. So that is arranged, you eat, you sleep, you have wife or husband, enjoy, and properly defend yourself, but the business is different. Business is different means living peacefully he has to realize God, his relationship with God.

Lecture on BG 15.15 -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

This is the difficulty. He's thinking that sex life from this person to that person will be nice. But that is not. Sex life by the dogs, by the hogs, or by the man, the same pleasure. As I have repeatedly said, that any nice tasteful eatable, either you keep it in the golden pot or in iron pot, the taste is the same. But he, rascal, does not know. He thinks that "If I put it in the golden pot it will be more tasteful." This is going on. The sex life is the same. He's thinking in the human form of sex in a very nice apartment, so many, so many, decorated, it will change the quality of the sex between dogs and dogs.

Lecture on BG 15.15 -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Translator: The question is: did we fall in this material world to find some highest pleasure? His question is: did we fall in the material world to experience something which is higher?

Prabhupāda: I do not follow.

Yogeśvara: I think his question is the husband will leave the wife because he is dissatisfied. But if our love for Kṛṣṇa originally is perfect why should we have left?

Prabhupāda: You have left... Just like somebody is daily eating puris and halavā, and he wants to eat puffed rice. So that tendency is there. That is also a side of enjoyment. "I am eating daily this, let me eat this." What is the difficulty? That tendency is there. That is also enjoyment. After all, we are hankering after enjoyment, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). So different taste we desire, that "Let me taste this, let me taste that, let me taste that." So the real basic principle is enjoyment, sense enjoyment. That's all.

Lecture on BG 15.15 -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Devotee: Śrīla Prabhupāda mentioned that everyone is looking for pleasure. So when one comes into devotional service, how is it possible to know if one is actually looking for his own pleasure or really in search of God.

Prabhupāda: So long you'll seek your own pleasure, you'll suffer. And when you'll seek Kṛṣṇa's pleasure, you'll enjoy. The example is given: Just like you catch up some sweetmeat, the fingers. If the fingers say, "We shall enjoy it," you spoil it. But if the fingers put it to Kṛṣṇa, then you'll enjoy it. Unless you know this art, that we cannot enjoy independently, that is not possible. If we enjoy through Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's prasādam, then we'll be happy. This is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness art.

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

So the spiritual power is so nice that automatically forget. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 9.59), as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. If you find something very palatable, very nice, then you give up the bad thing. If you are offered a nice rasagullā, why should you take ordinary molasses or gur or anything else? Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. That is the formula given by Lord Kṛṣṇa. When one relishes a transcendental pleasure, he automatically gives up the so-called material pleasure, automatically.

Lecture on BG 16.4 -- Hawaii, January 30, 1975:

Just like there was Hiraṇyakaśipu and there was Prahlāda. Prahlāda was being supplied spiritual advancement of life, necessities, and Hiraṇyakaśipu was being supplied for demonic status of life. So it is Kṛṣṇa's pleasure that whatever you want, you can get it. You get all advantage by Kṛṣṇa. If you want to become a demon, Kṛṣṇa will supply you, "All right, you become a demon. You take whatever you want from Me." He will give you. Similarly, if you want to become a demigod or devotee, Kṛṣṇa will supply you all the necessities. Now it is my choice whether I shall become a demon and whether I shall become a devotee. This is my choice. Kṛṣṇa is equal to everyone.

Lecture on BG 16.6 -- South Africa, October 18, 1975:

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to purify intelligence, not that intelligence is external, pushed in, within him, no, intelligence there, but at the present moment he is polluted. His intelligence is covered with so many dirty things. That has to be cleansed. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. His intelligence has to be cleansed. Other... Intelligence is there. Without intelligence, how one can be living being? Then he is stone. The Buddha philosophy, they mean to say that "Kill your intelligence. Then no more suffering from pain or pleasure. Just like stone. It has no feeling or suffering or pleasure." So that is not possible for the living entity to become as dull as the stone. That is not possible.

Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Tokyo, January 27, 1975:

The cause is we are suffering. Therefore we are covering. And after covering, we are feeling some pleasure. This pleasure is, for the time being, absence of suffering. That's all. Actually, we are suffering, but by some arrangement, when we stop that suffering for the time being and feel, enjoying, that is material enjoyment. Actually there is no enjoyment. Because in the winter season by covering the body we are feeling pleased but in the summer season by covering the body we feel not pleased. So this is going on. So rejecting and... Why the same dress, warm dress, does not give us pleasure in the summer season? And the same dress, in the winter season it gives us pleasure. So we do not know whether dress is pleasing or suffering. Means sometimes it is pleasing and sometime it is displeasing.

Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hyderabad, December 14, 1976:

Everyone is suffering on account of this body, and this human body is meant for ending this suffering. That should be the aim of life. But those who are asuras, they do not know how to end this life of suffering and accept the life of ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt, (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12) simply ānanda in Vaikuṇṭha, in Goloka Vṛndāvana. Kṛṣṇa, to live with Him as His associate, you have no information. We are demons, and therefore we take pleasure in so-called material activities. And that means we are doomed. We should stop this nonsense and take to the principles of nivṛtti-mārga. Then our life will be success. Thank you very much.

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

I am getting new, new pleasure." The spiritual life means... If one is actually situated in spiritual life he'll get spiritual pleasure, transcendental bliss, by serving more and more, new and new. That is spiritual life. So Yāmunācārya said, yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde nava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt: "When I am now realizing transcendental pleasure every moment by serving Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet," tad-avadhi, "since then," bata nārī-saṅgame... Sometimes we enjoy subtle pleasure, thinking of sex life. That is called nārī-saṅgame. Nārī means woman, and saṅga means union.

Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:

In this material world... Ānanda means pleasure, bliss, but here it is not possible. First of all, you have to die. You may manufacture some so-called ānanda, but you'll die. Now, suppose we are dancing here, and if we understand that immediately death will take place, then we shall not be able to enjoy the dancing. Immediately the anxiety will come. So here, ānanda, there is no ānanda. Why there is ānanda? This body is subjected to so many miserable condition of life.

Lecture on BG 16.13-15 -- Hawaii, February 8, 1975:

When all our desires are for serving Kṛṣṇa... Desires you cannot give up. That is not possible. Desires will remain there, but at the present moment, in the conditional stage, the desires are being misused. That is the defect. Therefore the definition of bhakti means anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Śūnya means zero. That is called nirvāṇa. The Buddha philosophy advocates nirvāṇa, no more desire. That is their philosophy. "By desire, you are becoming implicated, so make all your desires extinct. Then there will be no more feelings of pains and pleasure. Desirelessness."

Lecture on BG 16.13-15 -- Hawaii, February 8, 1975:

Āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāḥ. Here, the demons, they're also desiring, but baddhāḥ: they are becoming conditioned. But a devotee, he's also desiring, but he's mukta, means liberated. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra, karma-bandhanaḥ: "You work for performing sacrifice, performing sacrifice." Sacrifice, yajña... Yajña means to satisfy the Supreme. That is sacrifice. I sacrifice my own convenience. I take all kinds of troubles... There is no trouble. It is pleasure, just like the mother takes all kinds of trouble for the little child, but she does not think that is trouble. That is pleasure. When you do something out of love, that is pleasure. That is not trouble. So in the transcendental platform, devotional service, anything you do, that is pleasure. That is not trouble. Just like you are dancing here. Actually, bodily, there is some trouble because you are perspiring, but you are not feeling the trouble; you are feeling pleasure. Otherwise how you can dance? This is the transcendental platform. So the demons are bound up by material desires, and the devotees-apparently there is desire, but there is no bondage. This is the difference. There is no bondage. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170).

Lecture on BG Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972:

We have to serve Him for His enjoyment. That is called devotional service. Transcendental loving service. Just like the master is there, and for his enjoyment, there are so many servants. They are engaged in his service. That is our position. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). You take in so many ways. Our position is to serve Kṛṣṇa, and by His pleasure, we shall be pleased. There are so many instances.

Page Title:Pleasure (Lectures, BG)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Gopinath
Created:02 of Jul, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=232, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:232