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Prowess (Lectures and Conversations)

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

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

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)

bile batorukrama-vikramān ye
na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya
jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta
na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ
(SB 2.3.20)
(Prabhupāda corrects pronunciation several times during chanting of verse.)

Translation: "One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord is to be considered to possess earholes like that of the snakes and a tongue like that of the frogs."

Prabhupāda: So the impersonalists or the voidists, so where is their God? So there is no God for them. Impersonal. So there is no activity. What they will hear and where they will chant? If you have no activity, then what shall I hear about you? If you are a dead stone, then what can I hear? Simply one, "A big stone." That's all. So they have no this opportunity. These impersonalists, they are so unfortunate that they cannot hear. As soon as there is some activity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they will say, "It is māyā." That is called Māyāvāda. "These are ... our activities, māyā, and therefore God's activities are also māyā." A poor fund of knowledge or rascaldom. "Because I cannot do this, therefore God cannot do this. I am pleased in this way; therefore God can be ... Permanent, they are identical." Big, big sannyāsī explained like that. "When I am pleased, God is pleased. When I am dissatisfied, God is dissatisfied." So roundabout way, their philosophy is to satisfy one's own sense gratification.

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

If you become pure devotee, this jñāna to defeat this Māyāvāda philosophy will be revealed unto you. Kṛṣṇa is within you. As soon as "He's ... Oh, he is very sincere. He's doing seriously," He will give you all intelligence. Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam. But if you are in doubt, "Oh, whether Kṛṣṇa is person or not?" then Kṛṣṇa will not give you intelligence. That is the difficulty. He does not talk with nonsense. He talks, but not with the nonsense. So when you are above the nonsensical platform by sincere service, then Kṛṣṇa will talk with you from within. (aside:) Sit down properly. So the fact is that "One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and the marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead ..." Now, they have got ... These Māyāvādīs, they have got their ears, but they cannot hear about the activities of the Lord. They'll reject, "Oh, this is all māyā. Let us meditate." So their, these earholes is compared with the snake holes.

Lecture on SB 7.5.1, Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 12, 1973:

So long, long ago there was an atheist king, Hiraṇyakaśipu, Hiraṇyakaśipu, and his son happened to be a Vaiṣṇava, Prahlāda. So Prahlāda, from the beginning of his life, he was a Vaiṣṇava, although born of an atheist father, Hiraṇyakaśipu. So we shall try to explain the life of Prahlāda Mahārāja while reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there are twelve cantos, out of which we are just trying to explain in the Fifth Canto..., not Fifth Canto, Seventh Canto, Fifth Chapter, Prahlāda Mahārāja's upākhyāna. So Prahlāda Mahārāja, his father Hiraṇyakaśipu was so powerful king that he became by force, demonic force, he became practically the ruler of the all planets. There are different planetary system within this universe. So this demon Hiraṇyakaśipu, some way or other, he achieved great prowess and he conquered over all the planets. Even the demigods, they were under the subjugation of Hiraṇyakaśipu. So his son Prahlāda from the very beginning of his life, because he got instruction from Nārada Muni within the belly of his mother...

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa cannot be conquered by anyone, by the demons, but he can be conquered by a devotee. Just like Yaśodāmāyī, he has conquered Kṛṣṇa. The whole world is trembled by Kṛṣṇa's prowess, but Kṛṣṇa is trembling before Yaśodāmāyī, or the stick. So He wants to be controlled, because everyone is praying, "My dear Lord, oh, you're so great." Everyone prays like that, but no one shows his stick. (laughter) But He wants, because that is also enjoyment. So sometimes He is disappointed that nobody wants Me to show his stick. Therefore He finds out such a devotee who can show Him stick. (laughter) Kṛṣṇa is so kind. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. So you can become mother of Kṛṣṇa, or you can become father of Kṛṣṇa. What is to become one with Kṛṣṇa? You become father of Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvādīs they want to merge into the Supreme, but we want to become father of Kṛṣṇa. Why merge? More than Kṛṣṇa. The devotee can beget Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa accepts that. Yes, I shall become your child. I shall be controlled by your stick.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: What does he mean by survive? What is the meaning of his dictionary, "survive"? Nobody survives.

Hayagrīva: Well, by that he means that the strong pass on their hereditary characteristics to their offspring, and that the race..., no individual survives, but that the race improves. But isn't this contradicted by the Vedas? In the present Kali... For instance, Arjuna's physical powers, prowess, was much greater, and that was, what, five thousand years ago. So isn't, instead of improving, instead of the race improving in strength and other qualities, isn't it actually...

Prabhupāda: They are degrading.

Hayagrīva: ...degenerating. What is the cause of man's physical, mental and spiritual deterioration in the succeeding yugas?

Prabhupāda: That is education. Every individual person, he is a soul, and he has got a particular type of body. Especially in the human body he requires education. What is this animal and what is higher than human race, these are Vedic description. So there are 8,400,000 different forms of life, and the body is being evolved. The body is machine, and the individual soul desires and he gets a suitable body made by material nature under the order of God. This is Vedic idea, as it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). God is existing within the core of everyone's heart, and the individual soul is desiring something, and upon the order God he is given a machine made by material nature. So this is evolution, and even a man, although he is human form of body, he can again degenerate to animal form of body according to his desire. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). He has to change the body, and the body is changed according to his work and desire. In the animal kingdom they have also desires, but they are under the laws of nature changing body, and one is given the chance to become a human being, and then he may desire, and according to his desires he gets the next body. If he likes, he can go higher forms of life, and if he degenerates he goes lower form of life.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1972, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: Law of gravity... The big, big planets are floating in the air. Now you can explain how it is it's floating. The hint is already there in the Bhagavad-gītā, that He enters. Viṣṭabhyā idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42), (Sanskrit) that "I enter into this universe, and by My prowess they are floating." These hints are there. Now you are a scientist; if you are actually devotee, then you try to explain from your scientific explanation that this floating is possible because God has entered within it. That is your duty. And because you're scientist, your explanation from the scientific point of view, how God has entered, how He is acting, that will be very well received by the public. So that will be great service. Actually that is the fact. It is already stated there that "I enter." We can understand. Yes, we believe.

Page Title:Prowess (Lectures and Conversations)
Compiler:Rishab, Haripriya
Created:18 of May, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=5, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:6