Reflection (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"reflect" |"reflected" |"reflecting" |"reflecting" |"reflection" |"reflections" |"reflective" |"reflectors" |"reflectory" |"reflects"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Radio Interview -- March 12, 1968, San Francisco:

Interviewer: All right, thank you. Caller, you're on the air with the Swami on KGO.

Caller (woman): Oh, hi. Is this on? I just wanted to ask to Swami where karma enters in as far as his teachings are concerned and also whether his concept of God is that of a being that is good and so reflected through healings?

Interviewer: Okay. Karma, is this a part of your religion?

Prabhupāda: Yes, karma. Karma means work, fruitive work. As you work, as you sow...

Caller: I'll take my answer on the air please, okay?

Interviewer: Go ahead, Swami. She's just going to listen to your answer on the radio. Go ahead with your description of karma.

Prabhupāda: Karma means fruitive work. Just like you are laboring for some wages. You get your wages. Similarly, this material world our work is rewarded. Good work is rewarded with good benefit and bad work is punished. This is the law of karma.

Room Conversation -- March 25, 1968, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Thank you very much. Yes. Thank you for your dreaming like that. It is very pleasing to me. Yes, I want to see like that. (Break)

Devotee: Swamiji, is the dream world the real world?

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is reflection of the real world. Reflection is real for the time being. This world is also dream, for the time being. Because this body is not permanent, so it is also a dream. A dream for 100 years or 50 years or 70 years, but that dream is 50 minutes. At night we see the dream for 50 minutes, and this dream is 50 years. That's all. It is a question of time. It is also dream. But dream is reality... So long we see it and enjoy it, that is reality. Just like a man in dream he's crying. It is dream. But the effect is there. Reaction is there. In that sense, dream is reality. Reality, temporary reality, flickering reality. Otherwise, it is reality.

Room Conversation about Marriage -- September 24, 1968, Seattle:

Prabhupāda: She likes this... (microphone noise) But also marriage problem, one must have a choice. So if we force something, that is not (chuckling) good. At least, in your country it is not... Of course, in your country, the husband...the boys and girls are, I mean to say, not major, whatever the parents force, that is another thing. When the boys and girls are grown up, it is not possible. Just like in India, there was svayaṁvara. Svayaṁvara means the girl will select her own bridegroom. That was allowed to princess. Princess, highly qualified princess. So the father would make a challenge, that "This is the condition. One who can fulfill this condition, I'll offer my daughter to him." So this was generally amongst the princes. So there was great fight. (laughs) Just like Arjuna. Arjuna married Draupadī. You know the condition? Her father made condition: there was a fish on the ceiling and one wheel was circling. So one has to pierce the eyes of the fish through the hole of the circle. And he cannot see directly. He has to see down. There is a reflection in waterpot.

Room Conversation -- October 20, 1968, Seattle:

Prabhupāda: If somebody hears from other room, he'll understand that Swamiji's speaking, but still, that speaking is different from me. Because my energy is working there. Similarly, there are two kinds of energies. Just like when I am speaking, this is my real energy, and when this tape recorder will speak, that is also my energy, but that is separated energy. Similarly, this material manifestation is separated energy, and there is direct energy. The direct... This material energy, separated energy, is the reflection of the direct energy. Just like when this tape recorder will be replayed it is the reflection of my original speech. Similarly, this material manifestation is a reflection of the original energy, internal energy. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that perverted reflection. ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham (BG 15.1), perverted, a tree. This cosmic manifestation is compared just like a tree with root upwards. That means perverted. Have you seen a tree upwards, root?

Room Conversation -- October 20, 1968, Seattle:

Prabhupāda: Yes. So this material world is perverted reflection of the original energy. So this "Hare" means we are directly approaching the original energy of the Supreme Lord. "Please accept me, under You. Now I am under reflection. I am trying to get substance from the reflection." Suppose a tree is reflected by the bank of a river, the exact. So if somebody dives into the river and tries to take fruit from that tree, it will not be possible because that is reflection. One has to go to the real tree. So we are hankering after life, we are hankering after pleasure, but we are seeking pleasure in the reflection, māyā. Therefore we are frustrated, confused. Therefore this prayer is to the original energy. Without energy, without energy the Lord is not without energy. Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, Sītā-Rāma. So God is always with energy. Without energy, he is incomplete. Sun without sunshine is incomplete. Is it possible?

Room Conversation -- October 20, 1968, Seattle:

Prabhupāda: Woman is the energy to the man. Why the creation is not one kind of? Why there is fair sex? They're coming from the same womb of the mother. Why not one, boy only? Why girl? Why nature has provided like that? Let simply boys come. No. It is required. But the whole thing is perverted reflection. Here the man, woman, the energy... It is simply... But by this, one can understand the reality. Just like the shadow, the five fingers. One person who is not misled, he can understand that the original palm has five fingers, although he cannot see it. From the shadow. Similarly, from this energy, work of the energy in this material perverted reflection, one can understand that there is a reality. In the reality, in the abode of Kṛṣṇa, the same things are there, the same trees are there, the same things are there, but they are original, personal energy.

Room Conversation -- October 20, 1968, Seattle:

Prabhupāda: And here, they are simply imitation or perverted reflection. Not imitation. The exact word is perverted reflection. The same example. Just like a tree on the bank of a river is reflected obverted, the root upwards and the branches downwards. So this world is like that, and that is described in the Fifteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. So one has to learn all these things. Everything is there. (end)

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Talk Before Lecture -- January 20, 1969, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: ...ornament Kṛṣṇa, the more you become rich. The reflection, Kṛṣṇa being richly dressed, richly fed, it will be reflected on you. Kṛṣṇa is not in necessity, but we should dress Kṛṣṇa with the first quality ornaments. In India the Deities, They are given very, very valuable jewelry. The Mohammedans were attracted for these jewelries, and they came to India to plunder the temples to get the jewelries. Still, temples have millions of dollars of jewelries. Any such temple. In Jagannātha temple there is a valuable jewel. Just here, it is kept here, in a pocket. So Deity should be very nicely dressed. That is the temple worship. At the same time should be careful also. Chant. (end)

Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: They think that varieties are only in the material world, but actually, real varieties are there in the spiritual world. It is only reflection, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, ūrdhva mūlam adhah-śākha. Adhah-śākham. Aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam. Aśvattha... This material creation, material manifestation is compared with a banyan tree whose root is upward. And that I have explained several times how the tree can be upwards root. That means it is reflection. Just like you stand on the riverside, the tree will be reflected on the river, on the water, as obverted. That means that is reflection. As soon as we say that this is a tree, the root of which is up, that means it is reflection. The Māyāvādī philosopher, they do not take account of the mathematical calculation, 380 degree. They are taking account of... 360 degree, the whole circle. They are taking account only 180 degree. And other 180 degree they're making void. But actually, the whole point is 360 degree. That is geomatrical calculation.

Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: And other 180 degree they're making void. But actually, the whole point is 360 degree. That is geomatrical calculation. If you simply know 180 degree, then the other 180 degree is unknown to you. So real life, real variety, real beauty, real knowledge, everything in reality is there in the spiritual world. It is only reflection. Therefore Bhāgavata explains that janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). The Supreme Absolute Truth is cognizant, abhijñaḥ. Cognizant and svarāṭ. Svarāṭ means independent. In this way, the explanation of Brahma-sūtra is given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is vaiṣṇavānāṁ priyam. Yad vaiṣṇavānāṁ priyam. Yasmin paramahaṁsam ekaṁ paraṁ jñānam jñeyate. The knowledge of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is to be understood by the paramahaṁsa, the highest perfected man, paramahaṁsa. It is not ordinary thing.

Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Devotee: Swamiji, if all things here are a reflection of what is perfect in the spiritual world, then shouldn't hate and frustration and despair and prejudice also appear in the spiritual world?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee: Does it?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee: Then isn't that... Aren't they bad?

Prabhupāda: But that frustration has no disappointment. (laughter) That is the beauty. Just like Lord Caitanya is manifesting that spiritual frustration. "Oh Kṛṣṇa, I could not see You." He's jumping on the sea in frustration. But that frustration is the highest perfection of love. Yes. Everything is there. But without inebriety. You are very intelligent boy. I thank you. Yes. Yes. There is frustration, but not this frustration. Yes. That frustration, I mean to say, enriches one's eagerness of love for Kṛṣṇa. Everything is there, but without inebriety. Everything is there. Yes. Now see, Viṣṇu? Of course, in Vaikuṇṭha-jagat there is no violence. But Viṣṇu is taking the symbol of violence. Otherwise what is the meaning of this disc and club? So when He wants to be violent, He comes here as Nṛsiṁha-mūrti. (laughter) And He sends some of His devotees to play violence.

Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: But that frustration has no disappointment. (laughter) That is the beauty. Just like Lord Caitanya is manifesting that spiritual frustration. "Oh Kṛṣṇa, I could not see You." He's jumping on the sea in frustration. But that frustration is the highest perfection of love. Yes. Everything is there. But without inebriety. You are very intelligent boy. I thank you. Yes. Yes. There is frustration, but not this frustration. Yes. That frustration, I mean to say, enriches one's eagerness of love for Kṛṣṇa. Everything is there, but without inebriety. Everything is there. Yes. Now see, Viṣṇu? Of course, in Vaikuṇṭha-jagat there is no violence. But Viṣṇu is taking the symbol of violence. Otherwise what is the meaning of this disc and club? So when He wants to be violent, He comes here as Nṛsiṁha-mūrti. (laughter) And He sends some of His devotees to play violence. That is Hiraṇyakaśipu. Because there the devotees are so much in accord with Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu that there is no question of disagreement. But violence is when this disagree-ment, atheist. Therefore sometimes a devotee is deputed in this world to play as atheist, and Kṛṣṇa comes to kill him. To teach these people that "If you become atheist, then here is disc and club for you." But it is not possible to be displayed in the Vaikuṇṭha. Otherwise, if there is no the propensity of violence... Just like there is sometimes mock fight. A father is fighting in mock with a small child, and he has become defeated. But there is pleasure. So ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). The Lord is joyful. So there is joy in fighting also sometimes. So your question that everything is there, that is a fact. Everything is there. Otherwise if everything is not there, they cannot be manifested here because it is reflection.

Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: So that friendship between boy and girl is there, but without inebriety. Kṛṣṇa had so many gopīs, girlfriend, but there was no contraceptive pills. (laughter) That is the beauty. Here, the so-called love is lust. And there, that is the highest. The same thing, obverted, perverted reflection. Just like in the original tree the topmost part has come down to the down. Similarly, in the spiritual world the highest, topmost level of love, parakiya... Parakiya means love not by marriage life, by friendship. That is there. But there is no such inebriety. It is pure. So perverted means the topmost thing has come down to the lowest. Here, this parakiya, loving other's wife or other's husband, is most abominable, adultery. Not allowed by society, not allowed by the state. But tendency is there. Even one is married, he wants to love another's wife. Or if the girl married (s)he wants to love another husband. Why? That is there. But without inebriety. That is the beauty. So everything is there, but here, that thing is reflected, pervertedly.

Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: Their idea, in one sense, is right, that how these nonsensical things can exist in the spiritual world? Therefore they make it altogether minus. No variety. Impersonal. That is less intelligence. They cannot understand that photograph is the reflection of the actual person. There is everything in detail. A movie. Actually, the same man is laughing, walking, dress, everything, but it is all false. That they cannot understand. Therefore the Vaiṣṇavas say they are less intelligent. The real understanding should be that if in the real person all these features are not present, how they can be reflected in the photograph? The Māyāvādī says, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is real truth, and this world is mithyā. Then mithyā means it is a reflection or shadow. Mithyā does not mean that it has no existence. The shadow is also existence.

Room Conversation -- April 11, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: The shadow is also existence. Therefore Vaiṣṇava philosophers say that mithyā means temporary. Now you have got this body. This is temporary. That's the real understanding. And if I say it is mithyā, then if I kill you, then why I am punished? I can say, "Oh, it is mithyā, it is false. So what is their fault?" No. It is not mithyā. It is temporary. Not mithyā. Mithyā how can it be? Because it is reflection of the reality, therefore it cannot be mithyā. Then the reality becomes mithyā. Mithyā means not fact. The real explanation is that this is shadow. Shadow, but the reality is in the spiritual world, and that is indicated in the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The fountainhead of all emanation. That is Absolute Truth.

Advaita: Swamiji, last night our window was broken. Was that māyā striking at us?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Advaita: Last night my window was broken. Was that māyā striking?

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- November 4, 1970, Bombay:

Haṁsadūta: Do you want to hear the next letter? This is the second letter. "I do not see why you devoted two full pages to the article on 'Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa,' November 8th. Wearing a plain white sari, applying sandal paste on the forehead and wearing nose-rings do not transform one. Churning milk gopī fashion is no way to attain spiritual bliss. The statements made by the devotees of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement reflect an attitude of escapism."

Prabhupāda: Hm. Anyway, we are getting publicity.

Room Conversation -- November 4, 1970, Bombay:

Haṁsadūta: (laughs) They're angry. "How can the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa purify the mind? It only closes it to everything else. Purity of the mind lies in knowing all evil and yet abstaining from it. The escapist attitude of the devotees of the movement is reflected in the reply of Adhikārī when he bypasses the question of India's poverty by giving irrelevant answers. The poverty of our country is known to all of us. I am not an atheist, but I find it difficult to digest the sentimentalism in the article."

Prabhupāda: What is that sentimentalism?

Haṁsadūta: I didn't read the article. That was in the... Which paper? I think this was in a Bombay paper. What paper is this?

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṭa is the popular word for Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa is always anointed with tilaka. We follow this tilaka, Kṛṣṇa, anointed, with this sandal pulp. So, so far I think, there is some very nearest relationship with this Christian and "Kṛṣṇia". Kṛṣṭa means love, love of Godhead or love. We are preaching also the same philosophy. Try to... Not try. The love of Kṛṣṇa is there in everyone's heart, but it is covered. And being covered, it is misplaced. We are loving our society, loving this body, loving our family, loving our kinsmen, or loving internationally human society. But this love is actually perverted reflection of real love of God. Because the love is not placed in the real place. Therefore we are being frustrated in love. Just like in our country Mahatma Gandhi, he loved his country very much. But at the last moment the countrymen shot him down. He was shot down by his own countrymen. The love was paid by (sic:) shooting him and he lost his life. There are many instances.

Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: So because everything in this material world is the perverted reflection therefore we sometimes love somebody and we become frustrated. So therefore others see that this man has loved that girl and he's now frustrated, "Oh, why shall I love?" That is due to frustration. But there is a perfectional stage. There is a perfectional stage, therefore we say it is perverted reflection. Just like our Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa—that is the perfectional stage of love. Rādhārāṇī is a young girl and Kṛṣṇa is a young boy. There is love. So originally this love between young boy and girl is there but that is in perfect stage. Here in this material world, the same thing is pervertedly reflected. Therefore it is imperfect. So we have come to the perfectional stage, not be afraid and give it up-frustration.

Room Conversation -- December 11, 1971, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: So we have to take knowledge from Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva. How? Vyāsadeva is the learned, most learned than others. How? That is explained in the Bhāgavata, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: bhakti-yogena manasi. Because he has adopted bhakti-yoga, bhakti-yogena manasi samyak praṇihite amale (SB 1.7.4). Bhakti-yogena, by practice of bhakti-yoga one's mind and intelligence become cleansed, dirtiless, dirt..., without any dirt. Just like the mirror, if it is without any dirt, it is cleansed, clear, you can see everything rightly, your face, or even in the spot in the face, everything, corner to corner, very nicely reflected. So bhakti-yogena, by practicing this bhakti-yoga, one becomes cleared in consciousness. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then everything comes. Now suppose personally, myself, we are challenging, we are calling them by names, "rascal," but I am not a scientist. I never studied astronomy, astrology, or anything. But why I am telling? What power I have got? But I am challenging on the words of a superior answer. I am confident that the words spoken by Vyāsadeva or Kṛṣṇa, that is perfect.

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1971, Delhi:

Devotee (4): I think if there is so much fear being preached in Christianity originally the Old Testament was the testament of the vengeful God and the New Testament was supposed to be the love of Christ. So if there is so much fear being preached it seems to be a reflection of individual consciousness more than the religion. They are preaching so much fear, it would seem to stem from their own activities, that maybe they do have this fear rather than the true reflection of the religion that Christ was teaching. He was supposedly (indistinct) to take up the sins of his disciples and to help them lead the nice life and lead them back. He said, he referred to them as his flock. So he was taking the role of a protector and yet the Christians you speak to, they talk about hanging you over hell by a thin thread that can be burnt away at any second. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: What is that?

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Kenneth Keating, U.S. Ambassador to India -- October 14, 1972, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: No, no, first of all, principle of religion. What is the principle of religion?

Mrs. Keating: Well I think it comes from within, inside. I think we are at one with God and I am a reflection of God. I am an idea of God. That's what I believe.

Prabhupāda: That is very nice. Idea of God means whatever you have got, God has got the same idea. Is it not?

Mrs. Keating: Huh?

Prabhupāda: You mean to say like that?

Mrs. Keating: Ah huh.

Prabhupāda: Or you are a sample of God.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 28, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It is a reflection from the sand.

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, there is no, actually there is no water. But the animal runs after that water and dies out of thirst. Because they, he cannot satiate his thirst by such illusory water. Similarly we, ignorant, avidyā kāma-karmabhiḥ, we are trying to manufacture so many things to satisfy our thirst of joyfulness, but we are being baffled. Because it is illusion. Therefore real intelligence is: "Then where is the reality? Where is real water?" That is intelligence. Bhāgavata gives: vāstava-vastu vedyam atra. Vāstava vastu. "Real reality, you'll find here." (end)

Morning Walk -- May 4, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Just see. (pause)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the material world is a reflection of the spiritual world. So we have different variegatedness in the material world, different living entities, plants, animals.

Prabhupāda: Without the inconvenience. Mean, in the material world there are so many inconveniences. So spiritual world, there is no inconvenience. Inebriety. It is a reflection of the spiritual world, but there are so many difficulties here. Therefore it is called material world.

Room Conversation with Krishna Tiwari -- May 22, 1973, New York:

Prabhupāda: Now our, our preaching is, "Here is the controller." Now, you may take it or not take it. That is different thing. But we say "Here is the controller."

Krishna Tiwari: Only difference of opinion is this, that, uh, one... Oh, you say or I say, it doesn't matter. It's not reflected to you. Anybody who says that they know about God, they have actually no, no, no, no way to prove any way, one way or the other.

Prabhupāda: No. We don't know by your process.

Krishna Tiwari: By any process.

Prabhupāda: Your process. Your process is, you are trying to ascend. But we are taking knowledge from directly God. That is the difference.

Krishna Tiwari: That's where my trouble is, and I...

Room Conversation with Lord Brockway -- July 23, 1973, London:

Lord Brockway: No, I'm not saying that democracy as we have it is perfect. I am saying that a people will advance only as it is a reflection of the progress of the people themselves, and that they, and that they cannot be changed by an external pressure...

Prabhupāda: That is not possible.

Lord Brockway: ...which is dictatorship. And even...

Prabhupāda: No, dictatorship, I told you...

Lord Brockway: And even a, a good dictatorship is a bad thing. I would rather have...

Room Conversation -- August 11, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: You preach. You just purify them. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Let him hear. Then he'll accept. Then he will gradually come. Yes. He's now in diseased condition. The best thing is to chant. By hearing the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, he'll be gradually purified, cleansed, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). You must polish him. Just like this is unclean. Polish it and you'll see the reflection. Our process is paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. (break) ...śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi... (SB 1.2.17).

Yogeśvara: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Therefore Bhāgavata begins, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), what is the original source of creation. Not abruptly Kṛṣṇa. Then after developing all such knowledge one can understand what is Kṛṣṇa. But in the spiritual world there are activities like that. The material world is only perverted reflection of these activities of the spiritual world. Perverted reflections. It is reflection, but perverted. Therefore, it is difficult. Everything is there. Basic principle that Kṛṣṇa loved the gopīs... Gopīs were young girls, Kṛṣṇa was young boy, But the same love between young boy and girl here is lust. Therefore, it is perverted. The reflection is there, but it is not love, it is lust.

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: When a man is himself mad, he'll find others mad.

David Lawrence: Yes, true. (laughter) Yes, he sees a reflection of himself.

Prabhupāda: If one is himself deaf, he'll think others are deaf. So ātmavat manyate jagat, everyone thinks the whole world is like him. Therefore they think Kṛṣṇa also like him. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). That is condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā that "These rascals, because I come in human form to benefit them, they take Me as human being." That is mentioned. But these things are taken like that by the mūḍhas. Mūḍhas means rascals, asses.

Room Conversation with Dr. Christian Hauser, Psychiatrist -- September 10, 1973, Stockholm:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Haṁsadūta: The whole society's driving on so many...

Prabhupāda: Therefore we call it is illusion, māyā. Just like I showed you.

Haṁsadūta: Yes, the reflection.

Prabhupāda: Reflection. I, in morning walk, the sun was reflected in a glass exactly it is brilliant as sun. So I showed him: "This is called māyā, illusion. There is no sun, but it appears like sun. Exactly. And it is illuminating also." Reflection of the moon. So one who is less intelligent, he'll see: "Oh, here is a sun, another sun." So he's a madman. One who sees the sun reflection in the glass as sun, he's illusioned. He's mad. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is also psychiatrist movement.

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: His body is sat, cit, sac-cid-ānanda. Now you test. Your body's not sac-cid-ānanda. Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, ānanda means full of bliss. Is, is my body sac-cid-ānanda, this body? No. It is not eternal. It is full of ignorance. It is full of miseries. Then how it can be God? So God, there cannot be many Gods. Many gods, that is not many, that is one. Just like you have got millions of photographs. That does not mean you are million. You are one. But you have expanded millions. Just like the sun is found in every pot. In millions of pot, you keep. And the sun is reflected. Does it mean the sun has become million? No. The sun is one. Similarly...

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Guest (3): Reflections.

Prabhupāda: Reflections. These are examples. Similarly, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). God is everyone's heart. That does not mean God is many. He's one. But He has got such inconceivable power that that oneness can be distributed into millions. Advaya. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Although God expands Himself in many forms, still, He's advaita, one. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣam nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). He's the original person; still, always fresh, young. Nava-yauvanaṁ ca. Therefore Kṛṣṇa, you'll find always fresh. That picture of Kṛṣṇa, you see. Nava-yauvanaṁ ca. Just a fresh, young man. In the Bhagavad-gītā, you see. Kṛṣṇa is driving. He's fresh, young man. But Arjuna has got moustaches.

Guest (3): People who are not aware of Kṛṣṇa, and are living...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- December 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No, no. Unless there is a real man, a real woman, how the illusory man and woman is there, doll? Illusion means which is not fact. So the fact must be there; otherwise how the illusion, reflection, comes? Illusion is exemplified by the mirage, water in the desert. So the man is or the animal is running after water, but that is not water. This is illusion. But that does not mean there is no water. This is the conclusion. Unless there is real water, how... (aside) You can give around here. How this illusion of water is there?

Bali Mardana: Does that mean it is not possible to conceive of something that does not exist somewhere?

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the real fact.

Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, Māyāvādī means those who are in māyā, those who are thinking Kṛṣṇa as one of the human beings, for them, to delude them, He left the body. But actually He departed in His own body. There is no question of... Here is another... But just like this is also, this material world... This is also Kṛṣṇa's body. But this is interesting to the Māyāvādīs, the so-called scientists, so-called philosophers. But it is not interesting to the devotees. They are thinking, "This is all." Is not that? The scientists, the philosophers, they are thinking, "This is all. There is nothing beyond this." This is illusion. This is only reflection of the reality.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That I do not know. The scientists say that it is a blazing fire, sun planet. Fire is generally red color with little yellow. Why it is white? We have no experience of fire, white. So how do they say it is fire? That is my question. (break) ...tell me what blue I have seen. Red I have seen. Where is white?

Guru dāsa: (indistinct) the sun is a reflection of the brahma-jyotir?

Prabhupāda: That is another. First of all, you answer whether it is fire or something else. (break)

Satsvarūpa: ...dew.

Prabhupāda: Where is the moisture? It is clear shine. Where is the moisture? (break) (laughter) It is not fire. It is a brilliant body. It is not fire. (break)

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Stars? They are planets like this planet. Like moon planet, the moon planet. Nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśī. The stars, they are so many moons, not suns. They say "sun." And we say, "No, it is moon." Sun is only one. In each universe there is one sun, but there are many planets like moons.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Reflections.

Prabhupāda: Reflection. We get it from Bhagavad-gītā. Nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśī. (heavy wind noise) (break) ...due to the sun, reflect.

Guru dāsa: Why does the moon reflect? They say the moon is sandy, but this sand here is not reflecting.

Morning Walk -- March 30, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Here... Jyotiṣām api taj jyotiḥ.

Dr. Patel: Jñānam jñeyam jñāna-gamyaṁ...

Prabhupāda: This, this... We have got jyoti calculation of this sun. But the sun is only a reflection of the brahma-jyotir.

Dr. Patel: Jyotiṣām api taj jyotis tamasaḥ param ucyate.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: Jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ jñāna-gamyaṁ hṛdi sarvasya viṣṭhitam.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Dr. Patel: Iti kṣetraṁ tathā jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ coktuṁ samāsataḥ, mad-bhakta etad vijñāya... (BG 13.19).

Morning Walk -- April 3, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: But just like Kṛṣṇa says, "They are just like moon." Just see. Nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśi. So śaśi means the moon. Moon is like one of the stars. So if you say the stars are sūrya, then there is contradiction. How the moon and the sun can be equal? But actually, that is not. According to our Vedic astronomy, there is one sun only in one universe, although there are millions of universes, we cannot count. So there are millions of suns. That is another thing. But within the universe there is only one sun, and by the brilliance of sunshine, all these stars and moons are glittering. Just like moon shining, being reflected by the sun, similarly, all the stars they are glittering, being reflected by the sun, not that all of them are different suns. This theory is refuted.

Morning Walk -- April 7, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...another example. Asaṅgo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ. It is said that this living entity is untouched by this material body. Asaṅgo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ. So the example is given that the moon reflected on water appears to be moving, but moon is separate from that movement. (Hindi) Go on. (Hindi) (break) ...good example. Unnecessarily he thinks that "I belong to this country, I belong to this society." That means he creates another body. And if he knows perfectly well that "I do not belong to any of these bodies," that is brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). That teaching required, that every being is unattached to this body. Therefore yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape... Anyone who is maintaining himself under bodily concept of life, he is no better than the animals. (break) The demonic person does not accept any good lesson. Mūrkhāyopadeṣo hi prakopāya na śāntaye.

Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 1, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Everything is perverted reflection. Janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "Everything is born from the Absolute Truth." So unless there is something in the Absolute Truth, how it can be reflected here? Everything is there.

Dr. Patel: Almost everything. All His śaktis excepting Him.

Prabhupāda: Athāto brahma jijñāsā, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1).

Girirāja: "They began to say that 'The chief gopī, Rādhārāṇī, who was taken alone by Kṛṣṇa must be very proud of Her position, thinking Herself the greatest of the gopīs. Yet how could Kṛṣṇa take Her alone, leaving all of us aside?' "

Prabhupāda: (break) ...by Rūpa Gosvāmī. Rādhe jaya jaya mādhava-dayite.

Dr. Patel: Rādhe jaya jaya mādhava...

Prabhupāda: Mādhava-dayite, gokula... Eh?

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: The māyā is explained very nicely in the Bhāgavata, yathābhāso yathā tamaḥ. Just like sun is reflected in the water, and the light is reflected again on the wall. This is the exact explanation of māyā. Reality, this material world, the man who manufactured all these things, nobody knows where he has gone, but these things are taken as reality. This will be also finished. It will remain as relics, as Rome, relics, but when it was..., the houses were prepared with great enthusiasm as reality. And now it is as relics. So the energy expended for manufacturing those house, that is also māyā, and now they are being visited as relics. That is also māyā. So all these things are māyāra vaibhava, expansion of māyā. So if somebody says that you don't appreciate these things? No, we appreciate, very much appreciate intelligence. But if you, for this appreciation, if you forget, then it is māyā. Forget Kṛṣṇa.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: There is spiritual and material. The material is simply a phantasmagoria. It is the imitation of the reality. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, fifteenth chapter, find out. Ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham (BG 15.1). That is called mirage. In the desert the animal is finding water. There is no water in the desert. But there is water, but not in the desert. That they do not know. So this is just like desert, this material world and everything is reflection like the water. But desert there is no water, it is only reflection. Tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayo yatra tri-sargo 'mṛṣā. Tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayaḥ. Here everything is a transformation of three material things, fire, water, and earth, but it looks like reality. Just like the mirage, that is also tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayaḥ, by reflection of the sun falling on the sand, and it looks like water.

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: What is that? What is that?

Dr. Wolf: There is one.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We say the water. We say the reflection of a real tree.

Dr. Wolf: Right, right.

Prabhupāda: So reflection is not reality and therefore it is compared like that. It is not reality.

Rūpānuga: Otherwise it would be satisfied.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Rūpānuga: If it was real we would be satisfied with it.

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Devotee (2): So the scientists are engaged in minutely analyzing this mirage, the reflection. They're wasting their time.

Prabhupāda: Yes, now you are right.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We have some specific topics that we wanted to have Śrīla Prabhupāda's instruction about these things that we are going to write. So shall I discuss them very briefly?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The title is "The Origin of Life and Matter," and then there will be a sub-title called "Life is a Manifestation of Life Only."

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Sanātana... Yes, religion should be sanātana. Sanātana means there cannot be any change. Just like every living being eats, you cannot change it. You cannot say that this living entity is not eating. Apart from human society, even in animal society, a living being eats. This is his religion. Sleeps, has sex, these are eternal characteristics. Similarly, religion means spiritual characteristics. That spiritual characteristic is also pervertedly reflected in the material world. Just like every one is servant. Anyone, any one of us, we are all servant. You are serving the University. He is serving the...

Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: Yes. India... Formerly your country was part of India, and you belong to the same culture. So far I understand, Iran means Āryan? So Āryan culture was practically all over the world. Āryan culture is based on God consciousness. So amongst the Āryans there is some conception of religion, either Christian religion or Mohammedan religion, Buddhist religion, Vedic religion, based on conception of God. So according to time, country, the ways of understanding may be little different, but the aim is God consciousness. That is Āryan civilization. So God is one; God cannot be two. So the features of God or angle of vision of God may be different. So they have been summarized in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. (Aside:) You can come forward. One feature of God is impersonal. Just like the sunshine. Sunshine is spreading all over the universe. It is impersonal. But the quality of the sunshine is heat and light. The heat and light means energy. So as in the material calculation, the heat and light is the cause of all creation. Just like at the present moment there is not sufficient heat; therefore the trees have no leaves. And as soon as there will be little more heat they will be all green. So you can take it that the creation of the foliage is due to the heat. Similarly light. So heat and light is the cause of all this material creation. And heat and light is coming from the sunshine, er, sun. Therefore heat becomes the origin of creation even in this material world. Similarly, there is another light. That is the original light. This is reflection.

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: That is their poor fund of knowledge. Therefore we are... You are not understanding Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtīv hlādinī-śaktir asmāt. That I am explaining for the last few days. That is not at all this material. So unless there is loving affair in the spiritual world, how here it is as perverted reflection? It is the reflection of the reality. The reality is there. That they cannot understand. That is also hinted in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "There is another feature, or another nature," paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyaḥ (BG 8.20), "which is sanātana, is eternal." Here the rasas, on account of being material, they are flickering. But there, real rasa is permanent. Here the loving affairs between two parties finish as soon as the bodies finish. But there, there is no question of finishing. Increasing. Ānandambudhi-vardhanam, increasing. Harer nāma... (Break)...in reality, "what I am," that can be understood through devotional service, not by karma, jñāna, yoga.

Conversation with Governor -- April 20, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: The Supreme Lord is therefore the beginning of life of every living entity. And the Supreme Lord, by His two energies, His external energy and internal energy, is all-pervading. Therefore one should worship the Supreme Lord with His energies. Generally the Vaiṣṇava devotees worship the Supreme Lord with His internal energy. His external energy is a perverted reflection of the internal energy. The external energy is a background, but the Supreme Lord, by the expansion of His plenary portion as Paramātmā, is situated everywhere. He is the Supersoul of demigods, all human beings, all animals, everywhere. One should therefore know that as part and parcel of the Supreme Lord it is his duty to render service unto the Supreme. Everyone should be engaged in devotional service to the Lord in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is recommended in this verse. Everyone should think that he is engaged in a particular type of occupation by Hṛṣīkeśa, the master of the senses.

Room Conversation with Kim Cornish -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Now, because the ātmā is within the body, if I pinch or if you pinch my body, I feel pains and pleasures. As soon as the ātmā is not there, it will be cut with a chopper, there is no protest. So, that ātmā is present within this body, that is understood by the presence of consciousness. Just like we are here in this room, but this light is the reflection of the sunshine. We understand there is sun in the sky. The light and heat we are feeling, that means the sun is in the sky. Similarly, our consciousness and knowledge, etc., are there, that means that the ātmā is there. The same ātmā, when it will go out of this body, there will be no more consciousness, no more knowledge, no more feelings of pains and pleasures.

Room Conversation with Carol Cameron -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Carol: So you think the Christian faith hasn't been reflected in the behavior of Western people.

Prabhupāda: This is practical. You are maintaining huge slaughterhouses, regular killing. So, you took instruction from Christ, "Thou shall not kill." You first of all killed him, and then the killing process is going on among the animals, and declaring wars every now and then. So the killing business is going on regularly. In your regular life also. You are maintaining big, big slaughterhouses. Then when you accepted the instruction of Christ? That I want to know. What is that date?

Room Conversation with Mr. & Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: That is not possible. That is not possible. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). You have to cleanse the mirror of your consciousness, then the reflection will be properly viewed. If you keep it dirty, then it is not possible. Therefore we require first-class men to understand this philosophy, not the fourth-class man. If you keep him fourth-class man, it is not possible.

Devotee (2): We are giving these books to so many common men. Then the books will attract them to perhaps chanting and following the regulative principles.

Prabhupāda: Yes, if they read. Even if they touch. That is the difference between this book and ordinary book. Even they touch and they read one line and says, "Oh, it is very nice," he makes a step forward. If he simply says this word, "Oh, it is very nice," that is sufficient to bring him. Therefore I am trying to push. He has paid some money. He will then say, "What these nonsense have written. Let me see." (laughter) And if he sees and says, "Oh, it is very nice," then the beginning is immediately. Therefore we are trying to push. At least let him say, "It is very nice." The Kartikeya's mother, the practical experience... The Kartikeya, when he used to go to see his mother, the mother was going to dance, ball dance, and she would not speak: "All right, sit down. I am coming."

Morning Walk -- September 26, 1975, Ahmedabad:

Kartikeya: Because we have got forms. He has got form.

Indian man (3): Just because you have got form, He must also have a form?

Kartikeya: Yes, because we are His reflection; we are His particles.

Indian man (3): No, no, no. We are not His particles. I say it is not...

Prabhupāda: No, no, where you get this idea that formless can give guidance? Where do you get this idea? Where is your experience? Your experience is as soon as there is guidance, there is a form. So how do you get this expe... Why do you talk something which is not within your experience, nobody's experience? As soon as you talk of guidance, there is form.

Morning Walk -- October 9, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: Then why do they say that all the planets look like moon? They say like that.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They think the moon is just reflecting light from the sun.

Prahupada: So why it is not reflecting to other planets, only to the moon? Why special advantage to the moon? They have no reason. All rascals' philosophy. Why particularly to the moon? Why not others? Simply theories and mental speculation. They have no scientific. And the śāstra definitely gives the distance of the moon from the sun planet-1,600,000 miles. Then similarly (sic:) 1,600 million up, the Mars, then Venus, then..., everything. And moon is specifically mentioned that "It is so brilliant because there is fire, blazing fire. And the blazing fire is so illuminating that even at night it looks white, bright."

Morning Walk -- October 9, 1975, Durban:

Prahupada: So why it is not reflecting to other planets, only to the moon? Why special advantage to the moon? They have no reason. All rascals' philosophy. Why particularly to the moon? Why not others? Simply theories and mental speculation. They have no scientific. And the śāstra definitely gives the distance of the moon from the sun planet-1,600,000 miles. Then similarly (sic:) 1,600 million up, the Mars, then Venus, then..., everything. And moon is specifically mentioned that "It is so brilliant because there is fire, blazing fire. And the blazing fire is so illuminating that even at night it looks white, bright." This is reasonable because... Not that it is being reflected by the sun. The sun can reflect other planets, but it is there, fire. Just like sun there is fire, similarly, moon there is fire. The sun is not covered by cool atmosphere, but the moon is covered by cool atmosphere. Therefore it is pleasing. When there is sunshine and breeze, it is very pleasing. And no sunshine, simply breezing—it is not pleasing. And only sunshine, there is no cool atmo... That is also painful. But sunshine and breezing is very pleasing. So there is, like sunshine, blazing fire and surrounded by cool atmosphere. Therefore the moon is so pleasing.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: And the other scientist says this kind dust can be had here. So what is the proof they went there? It can be collected here.

Harikeśa: And their dust does not reflect. They say the moon is reflective, but the dust and the pictures, it was all dark gray. No reflection.

Prabhupāda: So therefore if I say that they did not go to the moon, how they can support?

Harikeśa: They cannot prove. They are so clever and sophisticated with their nonsense, they can even make the astronauts believe...

Prabhupāda: Therefore I asked you to ask them, "Why Sunday first and Monday next?"

Morning Walk -- October 25, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: That is moon.

Indian man: Moon.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They say that every planet gives light. That is not fact.

Indian man: The reflection I think, of the sun...

Prabhupāda: No, there is fire.

Indian man: In the moon too there is fire? But it is cold, as the, our sages say.

Prabhupāda: It is surrounded by cooling atmosphere.

Indian man: It rotates?

Prabhupāda: In a different way, not as they explain.

Morning Walk -- November 4, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That was done by Rāmakrishna also. And when he wanted permission from the proprietor of the temple, that "Now I shall practice the Muslim way of religion. So I shall eat beef," so the proprietor said, "Kindly go out and practice it outside." (laughter) (break) ...exemplified like this: on the glass it appears like a sun, but it is not sun. A reflection, pratibiṁbha. (break) A man can understand that dahi is nothing but milk. (Hindi) Why you wait for the milk? (Hindi)

Indian man (4): Different effect of dahi and dudh.

Prabhupāda: Why different effect? (Hindi) ...milk.

Indian man (4): Pratices are changed after.

Prabhupāda: That one has to understand. (Hindi with Sanskrit quotes) (end)

Morning Walk -- December 23, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is called māyā. (everyone laughs) The light is here, but it appears light is there. This is called māyā. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa! Jaya. The real world is the spiritual world, and here it is simply a reflection, but we are taking this is real world, and spiritual, there is no spiritual. Yathā bhāsaḥ tathā tamo. So Śaṅkarācārya said that this world is false, jagan mithya. So, but brahma satyam, he gave the same information. But we are taking this jagat satyam, and there is no spiritual world. This is the defect. Just like.... (aside:) That's all right. ...the mirage, the foolish animal goes after the water in the desert, but there is no water. He is bewildered. But that does not means there is no water anywhere else. There is water, but this mirage water is false. Similarly, this material world is false, but that does not mean there is no spiritual world. The water is somewhere else. That you do not know.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 7, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: When one is jealous of God, then gradually jealous of everyone.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Jealousy.

Prabhupāda: Jealousy, yes.

Siddha-svarūpananda: So then, if I'm jealous of others, it's really just a reflection of my jealousy of Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Siddha-svarūpananda: And if I am angry at others, it's because I'm angry at Kṛṣṇa also.

Prabhupāda: Everything begins from Kṛṣṇa. Mattaḥ sarvam pravartate. Where is your other friend? Oh, here he is!

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: But moon is far away from the sun. That is from Bhāgavatam.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda, there's another question I have. I remember on a walk.... I have read in your books that the moon's glowing is due to reflecting the sun. Then I remember on a walk in Vṛndāvana you said that the moon is fiery just like the sun, but there's a cooling atmosphere around it. So is it actually fiery glow, or is it simply a reflecting glow?

Prabhupāda: That is stated in Bhāgavatam.

Gurudāsa: It says reflection in the Bhāgavata.

Prabhupāda: No, it is also a fiery place. But it is because it is far away from the sun, it is not so glowing.

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No, it is also a fiery place. But it is because it is far away from the sun, it is not so glowing.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So it's not a question of reflection only.

Prabhupāda: The reflection theory is the modern theory.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because sometimes in the books it's stated...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sometimes I have said or taken this modern theory.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just so that people will understand an example. I see.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Another question is "How do the different seasons come about-winter, summer, spring?"

Morning Walk -- March 21, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Shadow.... "Shadow" means earthly shadow? No.

Haṁsadūta: No no, no. Its own shadow. If this is a ball, and the light is coming from here, see, this portion will be in darkness or shadow. And the other portion will reflect light.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That's not the modern theory.

Devotees: Yes, yes.

Prabhupāda: Is that all right? Explanation?

Devotee (1): Sounds all right.

Haṁsadūta: That's what they say.

Prabhupāda: "They say." What you say?

Morning Walk -- March 21, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: So, so what is the cause of the brightness?

Pañca-draviḍa: The sun.

Prabhupāda: They have brought some dust, but this is not bright.

Trivikrama: They say it's reflected light.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. What is the material that makes it so bright so that whole universe is illuminated?

Haṁsadūta: There's no comment on that point.

Pṛthu-putra: They don't know that.

Prabhupāda: They have brought some dust, but that is not bright. They have said.... The other scientists, they said, "This kind of dust can be available here." Just see. Now, how it is bright?

Morning Walk -- March 21, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: If the moon is illuminating, why can we only see half of the moon?

Prabhupāda: They say there is half of the illuminating.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes, because it's reflected from the sun.

Prabhupāda: The shadow, then there is shadow. It is being shadowed.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: If it's reflection.

Prabhupāda: No, reflection we do not accept.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It's illuminating.

Prabhupāda: It is Illuminating.

Morning Walk -- April 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Eka eka.... (Hindi) "We shall come automatically." So one day it was the turn of a rabbit. So he was a little late, so the lion, "Why you are late? My time is over." "Yes sir, another lion in the way, he wanted to eat me. So I said, 'No, you cannot eat me. I will be eaten by such and such Mr. Lion.' " So he became very..., "Who is that?" "Yes, come on. I will show you." So he got him near a well, and he said that "Here is the lion." So immediately, (growls) "Aww!" (laughter) And there was sound, "Aww!" Then he saw the photo, I mean, the reflection, and immediately jumped over.

Room Conversation with Reporter -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Of course, we do not go into the details of this. My question is that why Sunday first and Monday second? Nobody can apli..., replies.

Rāmeśvara: Prabhupāda once also argued that the dust, the dirt that they brought back, it did not reflect any light, but the moon is always reflecting light. So it was a different substance than what must be on the moon surface.

Prabhupāda: Now, according to our Vedic scripture, Moon is one of the heavenly planets.

Reporter: Are there any other Vedic scriptures that you believe speak to a situation that is greatly misunderstood today besides this?

Prabhupāda: No. Vedic understanding means there is no different Vedic version.

Morning Walk -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Well, let them remain as child.

Candanācārya: Śrīla Prabhupāda once said that if the moon is dirt and dust, how is it that it reflects the light of the sun so much that it lights up the whole planet?

Prabhupāda: Yes. The common sense. They have lost their common sense.

Candanācārya: It's so shiny that it lights up the whole earth planet at night.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.

Candanācārya: How can dirt reflect light like that?

Prabhupāda: That was my first question.

Morning Walk -- June 5, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: (break)...say that all the ten thousand devotees, each of them is a moon, not a star.

Devotees: Jaya!

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And you are the sun, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We are just reflecting your light.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: (break) ...do the work of many stars.

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Ekaś candras tamo hanti. Stars, they cannot do anything; they simply glitter, that's all. Glow-worms.

Room Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

"The Supreme Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is always fully satisfied in Himself. Therefore when something is offered to Him, the offering, by the Lord's mercy, is for the benefit of the devotee, for the Lord does not need service from anyone. To give an example, if one's face is decorated, the reflection of one's face in a mirror is also seen to be decorated."

tasmād ahaṁ vigata-viklava īśvarasya

sarvātmanā mahi gṛṇāmi yathā manīṣam

nīco 'jayā guṇa-visargam anupraviṣṭaḥ

pūyeta yena hi pumān anuvarṇitena

"Therefore, although I was born in a demoniac family, I may without a doubt offer prayers to the Lord with full endeavor, as far as my intelligence allows. Anyone who has been forced by ignorance to enter the material world may be purified of material life if he offers prayers to the Lord and hears the Lord's glories."

Room Conversation with Mother and Sons -- June 13, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: George Harrison? Oh. You came with him?

Guest: I first became interested several years back in what you were writing when I, especially when I began to see the tie with what he was singing. And now, the music he's doing right now reflects what I am looking for myself.

Satsvarūpa: He's more following George Harrison than following you.

Guest: I see the two of you as not...

Prabhupāda: What is George Harrison's? What is the idea? He is...

Guest: I see both of you standing together, I don't see you apart. That's why I'm here right now.

Conversation with Clergymen -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: This book, this book. We are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is.

Scheverman: So this is a collection of the ancient writings as well as modern writings that reflect the way of life.

Prabhupāda: This is the summary of all Vedic literature.

Kern: Of what kind of literature?

Prabhupāda: Vedic.

Scheverman: Vedic, oh, yeah.

Rakṣaṇa: Vedas means knowledge.

Scheverman: This comes out of a Hindu record.

Arrival Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: That is foolishness, that is childish. He does not know what is his position. But he wants position. That means there is a good position for him, but not here. That he does not know. Everyone is hankering after good position, but where is that good position, that he does not know. Everyone is hankering after water, but he is going after water in the desert. That is animalism. The animal runs after the water in the desert, and a human being, he knows, "No, this is not water, this is reflection." The water is there, that's a fact, but not here. That is human... It is reflection of water. Reflection water means the water is there, but it is not here. Similarly, good position is there, but not here. Here it is simply a reflection of that position. That he does not understand. Where is the actual water, wherefrom the reflection comes, that he does not know. Falsely thinking that "Here is everything." Very big, big scientists, they are thinking only on this planet there is life, and all planets are vacant. Too late.(?)

Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: That's all right, when the sun is there.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The moon is actually illuminating.

Prabhupāda: Why it does not illuminate?

Hari-śauri: They only say it reflects the sunlight.

Prabhupāda: Kick their face with shoes. That is the only reward for them. And foolish persons accepting. Just like sun is illuminating. It doesn't require illumination from any other planet. Similarly, if earth is also illuminating, why does it require moonlight in darkness? This common sense does not come into the brain of these rascals who believe that?

Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Their theory is that there's a dark..., that actually the moon is reflecting the sun's light. So there's a dark side of the moon.

Prabhupāda: So far the world is, where is the dark side and the bright side? If you compare like that, then so far this globe is concerned, which one is dark side, which one is bright side?

Hari-śauri: No, they say the earth is spinning on its own axis, so all parts of the earth at one time or another receive sunlight.

Prabhupāda: The moon does not do that?

Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is so brilliant that it is illuminating the whole universe.

Devotee: They say the moon is a reflection.

Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be. Why reflection not come in our Sahara desert? Why you don't see such reflection in the Sahara desert so that the whole world may be illuminated?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This is also going to be very critical.

Prabhupāda: Which one?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This moon is farther away than the sun. That brings a whole new concept that poses some problem.

Room Conversation -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (laughter) Yes. "...which is lathered up and shaved with a safety razor (right side). Even more striking than their saffron dhotis and shawls is the ISKCON men's practice of shaving their heads with the exception of one long lock in the rear, known as the śikhā. The first reaction of the layman is "Why do they do it?" The next is "How do they do it?" The Hare Kṛṣṇaś themselves advance three different answers to the first question. Some say that in countries that have hot climates, the religious have always shaved their heads to insure cleanliness. A clean body reflects a pure spirit."

Prabhupāda: One letter should be written to him that "You have taken so much trouble to describe Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, so thank you for your patience. Now we shall request you to read our books and review it. That will be real presentation of the Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement.

Evening Darsana -- July 13, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: This, this loving affair with the mother and the son is a perverted reflection of that pure love.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I think he's asking a question also that sometimes comes up, that if one loves in this material love, for example one loves a child, or loves humanity, does this help to develop love of God?

Prabhupāda: No. But if you love God. It helps to love the human beings.

Guest (1): I see, it's the other way!

Prabhupāda: Just like if you supply food to the stomach, it helps the eye sight, but if you supply food to the eyes then you become blind. (everybody laughs)

Guest (1): Thank you.

Interview with Newsweek -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: Another important thing to note about this painting is that the material world is said to be a reflection of the spiritual world. Just like here in this universe there are many planets, similarly there are many planets in the spiritual world. But it is a perverted reflection.

Prabhupāda: And besides that, even we are claiming to be very materially advanced, we do not know everything of the material world. Just like so big universe, material, what do you know about that? We have no knowledge practically. Even of the material world we have no sufficient knowledge, what to speak of the spiritual world.

Interview with Religious Editor Of the Associated Press -- July 16, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: That is the goal. When the soul lives without this material body, that is his liberated life. Just like the criminal, he can live within the jail and without the jail. But he's thinking wrongly that without jail he cannot live. But his life without jail is real life.

Interviewer: That reflects the old, the Hindu view that...

Prabhupāda: Why you again bring Hindu view?

Interviewer: Or, the, at least the Eastern religious view, that to leave this life...

Prabhupāda: Why we are bringing Hindu and Muslim view?

Interviewer: Well, O.K., I take that back then. I take that back. Anyway, what you're saying is that this life is a jail and that really the goal is another life.

Prabhupāda: Ah, yes.

Arrival Speech -- July 28, 1976, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Kṣetra-jñākhya tathā para. Avidyā karma saṅgaḥ anya tṛtiya śaktir iśyate. Viṣṇu-śakti, Viṣṇu, the supreme controller, all-pervading Godhead, Viṣṇu, He and His potency, viṣṇu-śakti parā proktaḥ, both of them are transcendental. (someone translates into French throughout) So the Viṣṇu-śakti potency is one. Another reflection of the Viṣṇu-śakti is karma-saṅga anya, that is, you have to work. That is called tṛtiya, the third, karma-saṅga, where you have to work. The idea is that original Viṣṇu potency, you haven't got to work. Everything is supplied automatically. And the avidyā karma-saṅga anya, and the other reflection or perverted reflection, is this material world. Just like you have recited this verse, cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). In the spiritual world the trees are desire tree—means whatever we want, we can get—whereas in this material world, trees are not like that, they are limited potency.

Arrival Speech -- July 28, 1976, Paris:

Prabhupāda: The cows there, unlimited potency. Surabhī means you can milk out as many times as you like, and as much as you like. So the idea is the spiritual world means there is no need of endeavoring for getting anything; everything is there automatically. And the material world, we have got experience, for everything we have to work so hard, then we can get something. So actually this material world is perverted reflection. Just like this body, without the spirit soul, it is useless; similarly, this material world, even if there is no spiritual touch, it is useless. So the more you spiritualize the whole atmosphere, the more you become sufficient and happy. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for that purpose. People cannot understand it. They think that "These people are not working, simply chanting and dancing and eating." But that is our business. (laughter)

Room Conversation -- August 4, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Who?

Hari-śauri: It doesn't give who is speaking, just the quotes. "The editor's vast and deep study of the subject and critical insight are reflected in these notes. We have no doubt that with the publication of these volumes of the rightful interpretations of the Bhāgavatam, which has been the gift of Śrī Caitanya and His Gosvāmī followers, has now been available to the English-knowing world for the first time. The elaborate method is very helpful to the ardent student of Bhāgavatam who lack in Sanskrit language. It is admitted in all hands that Bhāgavatam is the most difficult text amongst the Purāṇas. The author richly deserves the gratitude of the devotees for his pious learned labor of love." And another one.

Morning Walk -- August 12, 1976, Tehran:

Jñānagamya: Yes, you are right, but you do not understand where that lust is coming from. That lust is perverted from Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Obstinate. It is perverted reflection of love. Actually, it is... They say it is love. The sahajiyās in Vṛndāvana, they have got connection with woman. If you criticize them, say "Why you are connected with illicit sex?" "What is the wrong there? It is love." They say it is love.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: What is their definition of love?

Prabhupāda: Rascals, they are all... These sahajiyās, you'll find most of them illiterate. Not a single of them is even literate, they are so low class. Most of them they come to Vṛndāvana... Why Vṛndāvana? There are many other places. Their aim is woman and money. Just like these swamis and yogis, they come.

Room Conversation -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Akhila-rasāmṛta, yes. Akhila-rasāmṛta-sindhu. So you can have all the rasas. That is the origin of bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. In bhakti, that rasa, you become in the ocean of rasa. You're hankering after rasas. There is a Vedic injunction, raso vai saḥ labdhvānandi ānandī.(?) One who has got the rasa, labdhvānandi, then he gets the real ānanda. That ānanda-cinmaya-rasa expansion is Kṛṣṇa's calves, cows, gopī friends, cowherd boy friends, Nanda, Yaśodāmāyi, so many. So to be Kṛṣṇa conscious means to participate with these rasas. It is not dry. It is not dry like, simply so 'ham, so'ham. So 'ham, they do not know the meaning. So 'ham means I belong to the same rasa. I also eligible to enjoy the same rasa. But Kṛṣṇa is... (break) ...and the calves, the cows are enjoying the rasa as predominated. Just like husband and wife, they are enjoying, both. But one is enjoying as the husband, predominator. The husband is forcefully dragging the wife. She's also... While she is dragged by force, she enjoys. That is another rasa. But there is rasa. Combined together it becomes rasa. Similarly Kṛṣṇa does not enjoy this material. This material rasa is the perverted reflection of that cinmaya-rasa.

Room Conversation -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: So we have to get ourselves nil of all these material rasas and we have to be situated in the cinmaya. Then our, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Then our life is perfect. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Rasa is there. Here perverted reflection. This perverted reflection... My Guru Mahārāja used to say to taste milk in white lime water. White lime water, it looks like milk. But it is not milk. It is different thing. Similarly, we are trying to taste the rasa of milk in lime water. Therefore we are baffled.

Guest: That is true. Whole universe is rasa. Even in Mars they're trying to find humidity. What is humidity, rasa. Everything is moving on the rasa only. We are floating on rasa.

Prabhupāda: Our aim of understanding this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is not a sentiment. It is a great science, great science. Otherwise how we are writing so many books? If it was a dry...

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 7, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Just see, a rascal scientist, "Full of dust."

Jagad-guru: Their brains are full of dust.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They have never gone to the moon planet. Simply bluff. (break)

Devotee (3): ...this a reflection of the sun or is it his own light?

Prabhupāda: Own light.

Devotee (3): It comes also from the living entities on the moon?

Prabhupāda: No, there are fire, just like there is fire in the sun, but it is covered with ice. Therefore it is cooling.

Devotee (2): You mean ice is covering the fire?

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 7, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Yes, surrounding, cold atmosphere. Something like... But it is fiery. And how they say that sun reflects some dust? Eh? How people believe it? (break) ...to be given in charge some plot of land to develop it.

Mahāṁśa: One problem that could arise by giving them a fixed place, especially giving these labor people, if we give them a fixed place, then tomorrow they may... If they break the principles we may want to remove them.

Prabhupāda: No, you should change every month.

Mahāṁśa: Yes. Because the new phrases by the government is that "Tillers become owners." Whoever tills the land, he becomes...

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Rāmeśvara: Here's the description of that. "The initial appearance of this luminous being and his questions are the prelude to a moment of startling intensity, during which this luminous being presents to the person a panoramic review of his life. It is obvious that this luminous being can see the individual's whole life and he doesn't need the information," but he is getting the dead man to reflect on his past life. It says that "The remembrance is extraordinarily rapid. Everything appears at once and can be taken in with one mental glance. Yet despite its rapidity, all the..."

Prabhupāda: That is happening in dream also. So many remembrances come together; it becomes topsy-turvied. Therefore we see all of a sudden: "Oh, it is done long, long ago."

Evening Darsana -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: As soon as he separated from Kṛṣṇa to become independent, that is māyā. He has, loses all value, spiritual value. And in connection with māyā, it appears in different forms. And, the example is given, as the moon reflected in the water and when the water is agitated, it is sometimes round, sometimes straight, sometimes broken, sometimes..., like that... So we are eternal spirit soul. As soon as we come in contact with māyā, by agitation of the mind we assume different forms of life—and suffer. Hañā māyāra dāsa kari' nānā abhilāṣa. And that abhilāṣa is the agitation. The same example, that, is given. Moon is sometimes round, sometimes long, sometimes broken, sometimes... It is nothing. It is neither broken, neither round, nor... It is. It is as it is. But on account of agitation of the material body, it appears sometimes demigod, sometimes man, sometimes hog, sometimes cat-change, change of the body, 8,400,000 different change. (aside:) You can keep it there. Can keep it. All right.

Room Conversation with Adi-kesava Swami -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

That is my position. But because I have been impact... (aside:) Again you have the same disease. Attention, you attend, draw there. Don't do that. Very bad habit. Immediately you sit down, you do it. You cannot check it. So actually this is our punishment. This is māyā. That example I have explained this morning, very nice verse, that the moon in the sky is reflected in the water, in hundreds of pots of water, and the wind is agitating the water, and the moon is also agitated—sometimes round, sometimes long, sometimes... The moon is fixed up, but the reflection in the pot making him different. Similarly, I am spirit soul, and I have been captured or I have voluntarily surrendered to this material world, and it is being agitated by the mind, so I am taking this shape, that shape, that shape, this shape, eight million four hundred... That is my trouble. My nature is to be fixed up, always illuminating, but circumstantially I am being agitated by mind, and working with my mind, I am accepting this body, that body, this body, that. So this is very troublesome.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: "It gives me great pleasure to review these publications of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Especially I am appreciating this Hindi edition of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, complete with original Sanskrit text, word-for-word synonyms, and a marvelously lucid Hindi translation. In addition, having read thorough portions of the purports, which in my opinion reflect the vast erudition of the genius of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, I am discovering an unequaled body of literature in terms of scholastic quality and devotional impact both. The real meaning of such bhakti literature can only be disclosed by one who is a truly devotee and a saint. The evidence of these qualities in Swami Bhaktivedanta are highly apparent because of his great dedication and success in spreading the message of the Bhāgavata all over the world, and creating thousands of foreign bhaktas who aptly deserve the title of Vaiṣṇava Brāhmaṇa, due to their strict practice, devotion and learning."

Conversation with Vedic Astronomer -- April 30, 1977, Bombay:

Indian Astronomer: Sun is first. Definitely sun is first because the moon is the reflection of sunshine. (quotes Sanskrit verse) Vedas say (Sanskrit).

Prabhupāda: Candrama has... Candrama has got his own light. It is not reflection.

Indian Astronomer: Not reflection. It has its own importance. But about the lights...

Prabhupāda: As sūrya is blazing, similarly, candrama is also blazing, but it is surrounded by cool cloud. Therefore it is so soothing. But it is above the sun planet, so far it is stated there.

Short Dissertations -- May 24-25, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Dear Mr. Secretary, First of all I take the privileged opportunity of tendering with folded hands my most respectful praṇāma to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swamiji Mahārāja, who was so kind to me during his stay here. Next I sincerely apologize for not being able to complete the task entrusted to me earlier, the reason being that I was taken ill for two days. Thirdly I confess that living out of touch with Hindi legal words, I could not properly reflect correct and appropriate Hindi equivalent words at some places, and therefore I have tried to explain the purport. The translation rendered and tendered..." Very nice way of speaking it.

Prabhupāda: Hm. This is lawyer, judge.

Room Conversation Arrival of Jayatirtha and Harikesa -- October 8, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: What meeting going on?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, very interesting meeting. Paramānanda, Vāmanadeva, Tripurāri Mahārāja, Ādi-keśava Mahārāja and myself discussing our Gītā-nagarī community and talking about varṇāśrama. Very, very... We were trying to reflect on all of the teachings in your books and what we had read about Kṛṣṇa's life and Nanda Mahārāja's community.

Prabhupāda: Hm?