Go to Vanipedia | Go to Vanisource | Go to Vanimedia


Vaniquotes - the compiled essence of Vedic knowledge


Recommendation (Lectures, Other)

Lectures

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 27, 1972:

Sometimes these logicians, they create argumental calamity in the process of devotional service. But Rūpa Gosvāmī recommends that we should not be deviated by the arguments, karmīs, jñānīs and yogis. Let them do their own business. We do not care for them. We give them respect as far as possible, but we don't, don't accept the path of karma-jñāna-yoga. Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). We should not be deviated by the process of karma-jñāna-yoga. That is pure devotional service, śuddha-bhakti. Śuddha-bhakti. We should stay. We should fix up in śuddha-bhakti path. That is the recommendation of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 7, 1972:

Prabhupāda: So, according to Vedic ritualistic ceremony, there is recommendation of prāyaścitta, condon... What is called?

Pradyumna: Atonement?

Prabhupāda: Atonement. Yes. Atonement. So the example is given, just like a thief, he knows that stealing is not good. He has got experience that in the past he committed stealing, committed criminal offense by stealing, and he was arrested. Then he was punished. Still, he's stealing again. A man knows that stealing is not good. By ordinary law, stealing is punished, and in the scriptures also, stealing is prohibited because it is sinful. And one has seen that a person who is a thief was arrested and was punished.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 8, 1972:

So here, Rūpa Gosvāmī says auspicity means that which spreads for everyone, in all parts of the world. That is auspicity. Not partial. In politics or sociology or humanitarian activities, there is partiality for a certain section of human being, or certain section of living beings. But this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, awakening Kṛṣṇa consc..., dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is meant for all living entities. Even birds, beasts, insects, they can also awaken. This is the recommendation of Haridāsa Ṭhākura, that if we chant loudly, the trees will hear, the birds will hear, the insect will hear, and they will be liberated. That is the statement of Nāmācārya Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Therefore chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and awakening of dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the auspicious activities, welfare activities, for every living entity all over the world. Read.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 25, 1973:

He will be thrown into the cycle of birth and death involving 8,400,000 species of life, and his spiritual identity will remain lost. One does not know whether he is going to be a plant or a beast or a bird or something like that, because there are so many species of life. The recommendation of Rūpa Gosvāmī for reviving our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness is that somehow or other we should apply our minds to Kṛṣṇa very seriously and thus become fearless of death. After death we do not know our destination because we are completely under the control of the laws of nature. Only Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is controller over the laws of nature. Therefore if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa seriously, there will be no fear of being thrown back into the cycle of so many species of life. A sincere devotee will surely be transferred to the abode of Kṛṣṇa, as affirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā."

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 13, 1972:

At any moment. Just like when you were coming from that Mr. Choudhuri's house, immediately there would have been a motor accident in this Vṛndāvana. Immediately. So padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām. Here, especially in this Kali-yuga, the time is very bad. At any moment there can be any turmoil and we can die at any moment. Therefore, the recommendation is:

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
(CC Adi 17.21)

You are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. If you..., I die chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, it is a great opportunity.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1972:

"Suppose one does not develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this human form of life. He will be thrown into the cycle of birth and death involving 8,400,000 species of life, and his spiritual identity will remain lost. One does not know whether he is going to be a plant or a beast or a bird or something like that, because there are so many species of life. The recommendation of Rūpa Gosvāmī for reviving our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness is that somehow or other we should apply our minds to Kṛṣṇa very seriously, and thus also become fearless of death. After death, we do not know our destination, because we are completely under the control of the laws of nature. Only Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is controller over the laws of nature. Therefore, if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa seriously, there will be no fear of being thrown back into the cycle of so many species of life.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.98-99 -- Washington, D.C., July 4, 1976:

So now, he's ācārya, Sanātana Gosvāmī, he's ācārya. Ācāryaṁ vijānīyān, māṁ vijānīyāt. Ācāryopāsanam. This is the recommendation of Vedic knowledge. One should worship the ācārya. So Sanātana Gosvāmī was made ācārya. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was made ācārya. Ācārya means one who knows the meaning of śāstra, personally behaves according to the śāstra and teaches his disciple accordingly. He is called ācārya. So Sanātana Gosvāmī is teaching us by his personal behavior how to approach guru. That he's teaching. Tabe sanātana prabhura caraṇe dhariyā. To approach guru the first business is surrender. That is everywhere in the Vedic literature. That is the process.

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

From everyone's experience, you'll find. Everyone is disappointed. Both sides, the lover and the beloved, both sides. You have got very good experience in this country. They marry, again they are divorced, because disappointed. So this is going on. Therefore our love has to be reposed to Kṛṣṇa. That is the recommendation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, premā pumartho mahān. Pumartho, we want some achievement in this life. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Achieve love of Godhead. That is the best." Premā pumartho mahān. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for that purpose, how we can develop our love for Kṛṣṇa. The love is already there, but it is misplaced, misplaced. Somebody is loving somebody, somebody is loving somebody, but it is misplaced. Real love, if it is executed for the service of the Lord, then our life is successful.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.137 -- New York, November 28, 1966:

Three times again, nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā: "There is no other process." So these are stressed by the Vedic literatures. This verse is quoted from Bṛhad-Nāradīya Purāṇa. Out of eighteen Purāṇas, this Bṛhad-Nāradīya Purāṇa is also... So this is recommended. So Lord Caitanya's recommendation also is corroborating. He is not recommending this process by manufacturing Himself, but He is quoting from the authorized scripture and authorized sources so that people can accept it. So we should accept this process—

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.144-146 -- New York, December 1, 1966:

And animal sacrifice is offered before goddess Kālī. So such kind of worship is mentioned in the tamasika Purāṇa. The purpose of such worship and demigods, several times I have explained to you. So Padma Purāṇa is a sattvika Purāṇa, for men who are in the modes of goodness. So here it said that although in the different Purāṇas there are recommendations for worshiping different kinds of demigods, but at the conclusion it is found that Viṣṇu, the Supreme Lord, He is all in all, all in all. Just like... You have not seen in India. Even there is worship of any other demigod, just like Durgā-pūjā, so even in that paraphernalia of gorgeous worshiping arrangement, when the worship will begin, the first worship is offered to Viṣṇu, Yajñeśvara, because, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajante anya-devatāḥ: (BG 7.20)

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.330-335 -- New York, December 23, 1966:

How? Saṅkīrtanaiḥ, this chanting. Keep the picture of Lord Caitanya with His associates, this, as picture we are painting, we have got, and any part of the world, you sit down and go on chanting, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma... So no expense, no nothing. This is the recommendation for this age. Therefore this picture and this sound vibration should be preached all over the world. And rest assured there will be peace and prosperity. This should be the mission of this society, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is Lord Caitanya's mission.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.337-353 -- New York, December 25, 1966:

"All right, you worship. You want this thing, you want a beautiful wife? All right, you worship Umā. You want to be very learned man? All right, you worship this Devī-Sarasvatī. Oh, you want to be, get out of your disease? All right, you worship the sun-god." So in this way, there are recommendations.

But in the Bhāgavata, after all these recommendations, the Bhāgavata concludes,

akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā
mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
yajeta paramaṁ puruṣa
(SB 2.3.10)

If you have got any desire, still, you go to Kṛṣṇa. You worship. Kṛṣṇa recommends. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna. Even if you go to Kṛṣṇa for asking something material profit, still it is better. Don't go to other demigods. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajante anya devatāḥ (BG 7.20). The foolish persons, they do not know that the demigods, they cannot offer any benediction. They cannot offer.

Festival Lectures

Govardhana Puja Lecture -- New York, November 4, 1966:

"Whether this is a superstition?" Just see how Kṛṣṇa is speaking. "Whether it is a superstition or it has got some actual effect." You should not do anything, religious rituals, under superstition. That is the recommendation of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa does not like that people should perform anything under superstition. Suppose if you are sacrificing, if you are doing some ceremony, you must have thorough knowledge that there must be the result. There must be the result. Just like there are many sacrifices recommended in the Vedic literature, putreṣṭī-yajña. Putreṣṭī. Suppose a man has no son, and if he performs that sacrifice, he will have a son. That is a fact. Similarly, so many things there are.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Jayapataka Dasa -- Montreal, July 24, 1968:

He had to preach amongst the atheist class of men who were too much addicted with animal slaughter and he wanted to stop animal slaughter. That was his main business. So I've several times explained. Therefore he rejected Vedic authority. Because in the Vedic authority there is recommendation, under certain condition, of animal sacrifice. But he wanted to stop completely animal sacrifice. Therefore superficially he said, he denied the authority of Vedic ritual. Because if he accepted Vedic rituals then he could not preach this ahiṁsā paramo dharma. So that is a great story. Anyway we accept, we Vaiṣṇavas, we accept Lord Buddha as incarnation. That is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He is incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra. So indirectly the Buddhists are worshiping God. They are denying, there is no existence of God but they are accepting the incarnation of God.

Brahmana Initiation Lecture -- New Vrindaban, May 25, 1969:

"The followers of Buddha, they did not accept Vedic, I mean to say, direction; therefore they are nāstika." What is that Vedic direction? In the Dāsavatāra-stotra by Jayadeva Gosvāmī, he says, nindasi yajña-vidher ahaha śruti-jātam. In the śruti, in the Vedas, there is prescription of sacrifice, and in some of the sacrifice there is recommendation for sacrifice of some animals, goats. So that is... But Lord Buddha says, "No. I want to introduce nonviolence, no animal killing. So even there is Veda, prescription, I don't accept Vedas." Therefore he became nāstika. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that veda nā māniyā bauddha haila nāstika: "Because Lord Buddha did not accept the authority of the Veda, therefore he was considered nāstika, atheist."

Initiation Lecture -- Boston, December 26, 1969:

Those who have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously, even there are some faults, still, they are saintly persons. That is the recommendation of Kṛṣṇa. Because that fault may be due to his past habits, but that is being stopped. Just like you make the switch off, no more electric current will act, but the fan still gives some rounds due to the past force. Similarly, a Kṛṣṇa consciousness person, even if he's found in fault, Kṛṣṇa says, "No." Sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). "He's saintly person, sādhu." Why? Now, the process he has taken up, that will cure him in due course of time. Śaṣvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati. So these who have fortunately come to this platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness by association, by practice, this is the way. So stick to it. Don't go away.

Initiation Lecture -- Boston, December 26, 1969:

Kṛṣṇa-kīrtana is so nice that even without sacred thread, because he is regularly chanting, he is to be supposed to be purified. That is the recommendation given by Jīva Gosvāmī. Anyone who is chanting regularly Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra... Śvādo 'pi sadyaḥ savanāya kalpate. Śvādaḥ. Śvā means dog, and adaḥ, adaḥ means eating. Dog-eaters. The dog-eaters are considered to be the lowest of the mankind. But in the Bhāgavata says that śvādo 'pi sadyaḥ savanāya kalpate. Even if he is dog-eater, but by this process he immediately becomes qualified to offer sacrifice. Savanāya. This fire sacrifice is called savanāya. And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives notes on this line that a person born in the family of a brāhmaṇa awaits the sacred thread ceremony.

General Lectures

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

We don't say that you chant Kṛṣṇa. Just like you are thirsty, you want water. Somebody may call "water," somebody may call "pani," somebody may call "jala." That doesn't matter. But you want water. Similarly, if you have got any name for calling the Supreme Lord, you call in that name. It doesn't matter. That is our recommendation. When we say, harer nāma. Harer nāma means the holy name of the Supreme Lord. Yes?

Lecture -- Seattle, October 11, 1968:

There is no need of... It is not possible to practice that yoga. Yoga practice... That kuṇḍalinī process of yoga is not possible in this age. It is a very difficult process. So we should recommend not to waste your valuable time following something which is not possible to be done by you. That is our recommendation. But if you have got some hobby, that is a different thing. But it will never be successful. It is very difficult to perform. At the present age, as it is recommended and it is followed, practiced, and experienced, this bhakti-yoga is the only possible way for self-realization. It is made very simple: simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma... Anyone can do it. Any part of the world can people practice it, of any age, it doesn't matter, either old, young, or child. We have got many children of our devotees, they are also chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Brandeis University Lecture -- Boston, April 29, 1969:

Therefore it is recommended in this age that for self-realization these mantras, sixteen mantra, should be chanted... Faithfully. It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as follows: kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ (SB 12.3.52). In the Golden Age, when everyone was pious, at that time, meditation was recommendation. Meditation. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇum: meditation on Viṣṇu. Tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ. In the next age, the recommendation was to perform great sacrifices. And the next age was recommended for temple worship, or church worship, or mosque worship. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ, dvāpare paricaryāyām. Dvapar... Next age, just the age about five thousand years ago, the age was called Dvāpara-yuga. At that time temple worship was very gorgeous and very successful. Now, in this age, Kali-yuga, which has begun about five thousand years past, in this age, it is recommended, kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt.

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

So Vedic literature informs us that the meditation process was possible to be successful in the age which is called Satya-yuga, when people used to live for hundred thousands of years. The next age, Tretā-yuga, the self-realization process is offering sacrifices. And the next age, Dvāpara-yuga, when people used to live for one thousand years, the recommendation is temple worship or church worship, like that. But in this age the recommendation is kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt. Kalau. Kalau means in this age, when duration of life is very short. Actually, although officially the age is calculated that we can live for one hundred years, but nobody goes up to that limit. Most utterly, very old man means eighty years or eighty-five years. That's all. But gradually, the duration of age in this period will decrease so much so that it is stated that if a man lives for twenty to thirty years, he'll be considered a very old man.

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

Therefore, wherever you remain, you can simply chant this mahā-mantra—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. That is the recommendation of Vedic literature. Kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt. Simply by chanting these sixteen names, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare... There are actually three words only—Hare, Kṛṣṇa, Rāma—but they are set up very nicely.

So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is just according to the direction of authoritative Vedic literature, and we are distributing this knowledge without any charge. We don't say there is any secrecy. It is wide open. Open secret.

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

Rāmānanda Rāya placed this verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva... Don't be foolishly try to speculate to understand the unlimited. It is not possible. By your tiny senses you cannot understand the unlimited. It is not possible. Therefore the first recommendation is that jñāne prayāsam udapāsya. Don't try to be a dry speculator to understand the ultimate truth. Namanta. Just become meek and humble. Namanta eva san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. And try to receive the message from authorized sources. Then sthane sthitaḥ śruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhiḥ: in whatever condition you are, you don't require to change. You simply hear. Then a day will come when you will be able to conquer the Supreme Lord, who is unconquerable.

Lecture at Harvard University -- Boston, December 24, 1969:

Above that, there is mental consciousness, speculative, philosophical, poetic. Above that, intellectual consciousness. And Kṛṣṇa consciousness—above intellectual consciousness.

So the recommendation is... That was a topic between Mahārāja Nimi and great sages called nine sages, navayogindra. Nava means nine. Yogindra means mystic yogis. So they were talking, and Mahārāja Nimi questioned the different incarnations in different ages. And Camasa Muni was replying. In that replying, he said that in the Kali-yuga, in this age... This age called Kali-yuga. This Kali-yuga has begun about five thousand years ago. So he said, "In the Kali-yuga the process of self-realization is saṅkīrtana movement."

Lecture at Harvard University -- Boston, December 24, 1969:

When congregational chanting is done, that is called saṅkīrtana. So in this age the saṅkīrtana movement is recommended. There is no question of what is your religion, what is my religion. Everyone can join in this saṅkīrtana movement, without any discrimination. That is the recommendation. Yajñair saṅkīrtana. This is also yajña, sacrifice. You are sacrificing some time, your valuable time, in joining with us to perform the saṅkīrtana movement. That is a sacrifice. And sacrifice means to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yajña. Yajña is the name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yajñārthāt karma anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ. Whatever you have to act, you have to act on the basis of pleasing the Supreme Lord.

Lecture at Harvard University -- Boston, December 24, 1969:

Of course, in the beginning I said that there is no question of changing your position. In whatever position you are, either you are a student or a lawyer or something else, you can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and realize yourself. We don't recommend that you change your position. That is not our recommendation. But if you can (be) fully devoted in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is very nice. But don't do it whimsically. There will be a mature platform when you can do that. Just like I was a family man, I was living with my family. I have got my wife, sons, daughters, grandchildren. So in this old age I left them. So I'm not in difficulty although I am alone. I came in your country alone. That's a long history. So that dependence on God, when you actually develop, then you can give up everything, depend only on God. But don't do it by whimsically. No. That will not do.

Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 12, 1971:

Then next day Guru Mahārāja came and he took our..., rescued us. Do you remember that?" Sudāmā Vipra said, "Yes, I remember." So even Lord Kṛṣṇa, what to speak of others. This was the system, to teach from the very beginning of life this Bhāgavatam.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja's recommendation is very genuine. That is the Vedic system. But he was unfortunately born in an asura family. His father was a great asura. Asura means godless. He had also undergone severe austerity to achieve the power. He was defeated by the demigods. So he left his home and underwent severe austerities so that the whole universe became trembled and Brahmājī came to appease him, "What do you want?" He said, "I want to become immortal." So Brahmājī said, "How can I give you the benediction of immortality, because myself I am not immortal?" Everyone has to die in this material world, either one may be Brahmā or a small ant.

Lecture on Gurvastakam at Upsala University -- Stockholm, September 9, 1973:

It requires huge lots of money. They, in this age, people are very poor. They cannot perform. Dvāpare paricaryāyām. And in the Dvāpara-yuga it was possible to worship the Deity in the temple. But nowadays, in this Kali-yuga, that is also very impossible fact. Therefore, the general recommendation is, kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt: "In this age of Kali, simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord, you can get all perfection." All perfection. That is the... Our this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is meant for that purpose. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu... The picture is there, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Here, Ṣaḍ-bhūja. So He inaugurated this movement five hundred years ago, chanting. Chanting and dancing. So this is going on for the last five hundred years. In India it is very popular, but in the Western countries, we have just introduced five or six years ago, and people are taking to it, and they are feeling happy.

Departure Talks

Departure Lecture -- London, March 12, 1975:

Everyone's center is Kṛṣṇa, "How Kṛṣṇa will be happy?" This is Vṛndāvana life. If we try to follow the footsteps of the residents of Vṛndāvana, how to love Kṛṣṇa, then our life is successful.

That is the recommendation of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Premā pum-artho mahān. Pum-artho means puruṣārtha, or the goal of life. The goal of life in the material world, generally, not for the animals but for the human being, the goal of life, generally-religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). Some people are interested to become pious, religious, because by becoming pious and religious their economic development will be automatically there.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Hayagrīva: He couldn't understand devotion to Kṛṣṇa, that's for certain.

Prabhupāda: Because he did not study Bhagavad-gītā as it is recommended. The recommendation is that one should go to guru. And what kind of guru? Who has seen the truth practically. That he did not do. He is simply speculating on his own experience, and although everything is there in the Bhagavad-gītā, he could not see it. That is the defect.

Hayagrīva: As an example of suicide, he gives the..., he says that at the procession of Jagannātha in 1840, eleven Hindus threw themselves under the wheels and were instantly killed. And he also mentions the satī rituals of the woman throwing herself into the sacrificial fire, the fire of her husband's funeral pyre.

Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:

Śyāmasundara: No. He doesn't enjoin that. He is a scientist. He doesn't make any recommendations one way or the other. He is merely trying to analyze what is cause...

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) our solution is this: Your materialistic life is painful. That's a fact. This materialistic life is painful. (indistinct). As soon as you have this material body, then you must suffer these three kinds of miserable condition of life. So our whole program is to stop. Everyone is looking after happiness. We say that unless you stop your materialistic way of life, repeated birth and death, there is no question of happiness. So the whole Vedic civilization is based on this, how one can get out of this disease.

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

Prabhupāda: That is a different thing. But in India all the authorities, all personalities, unless you accept Vedas, you are called nāstika. Therefore Buddha philosophy was driven away, Caitanya Mahāprabhu veda nā māniyā bauddha haila nāstika. Simply Lord Buddha says, "I don't care for your Vedas." Lord Buddha wanted to preach nonviolence, but in the Vedic literature there is violence. There is violence. Just like Gandhi wanted to prove from Bhagavad-gītā nonviolence. Where is nonviolence there? Where is that nonviolence? Kṛṣṇa is inducing Arjuna to fight, to become violent. So how can you prove there is nonviolence? These are all nonsense. So similarly, in the Vedas there is recommendation that animals can be sacrificed in the Vedas with mantra. That... Therefore the process, to test the power of the mantra, that animal is put into the fire and the animal again comes out with a new life.

Purports to Songs

Purport to Parama Koruna -- Atlanta, February 28, 1975:

He was so strict about womanly association. Still, He recommended, ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū-vargabhir yā kalpitā: "There is no better type of worshiping Kṛṣṇa than the system which vraja-vadhū, the gopīs, adopted to love Kṛṣṇa. That is the first-class." That is the recommendation of Vedic śāstra. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). First-class religion Religion means to understand God. That is the sum and substance.

The process may be different according to country, men. Just like we worship the Deity in the temple. This is also bhakti. And the Christians go to the church and offers prayer to God. That is also bhakti. That is also bhakti. Nine items of bhakti. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam, arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyam (SB 7.5.23). Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam, arcanam vandanam. Vandanam is offering prayer.

Page Title:Recommendation (Lectures, Other)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:02 of Dec, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=33, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:33