Rickshaw

Expressions researched:
"ricksha" |"rickshaw" |"rickshawalla" |"rickshaws" |"rickshwa"

SB Canto 2

SB 2.3.19, Purport:

The ass is an animal who is celebrated as the greatest fool, even amongst the animals. The ass works very hard and carries burdens of the maximum weight without making profit for itself. Footnote. The ass is generally engaged by the washerman, whose social position is not very respectable. And the special qualification of the ass is that it is very much accustomed to being kicked by the opposite sex. When the ass begs for sexual intercourse, he is kicked by the fair sex, yet he still follows the female for such sexual pleasure. A henpecked man is compared, therefore, to the ass. The general mass of people work very hard, especially in the age of Kali. In this age the human being is actually engaged in the work of an ass, carrying heavy burdens and driving ṭhelā and rickshaws. The so-called advancement of human civilization has engaged a human being in the work of an ass. The laborers in great factories and workshops are also engaged in such burdensome work, and after working hard during the day, the poor laborer has to be again kicked by the fair sex, not only for sex enjoyment but also for so many household affairs.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

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

Actually we living entities, we are within the body. The bodily pains and pleasure are not the pains and pleasure of the soul within. It is simply abhiniveśa. It is called abhiniveśa, absorption or misidentify. The example I have given many times. Just like you are sitting in a nice motorcar; another man is sitting on a rickshaw. I have seen in India. So the rickshaw has come in front of the nice motorcar, and the driver is asking that man who is drawing the rickshaw, "You rickshaw!" Means he is thinking, he is sitting in a nice motorcar, so he has become a motor, and the man who is drawing the rickshaw, he has become rickshaw. This is the position. Actually the man who is drawing the rickshaw, he is also human being. And the man who is sitting in a nice Rolls Royce car, he is also human being. But the rascal, because he is sitting on a Rolls Royce car, he is thinking, "I am a Rolls Royce, and he is rickshaw." This is material conception of life, that according to the body, we are becoming designated, not as the soul. Just try to understand this very good example. Because that poor fellow is drawing rickshaw, he has been taken as rickshaw. And because I am sitting in a Rolls Royce car, I am thinking, "I am Rolls Royce."

So this bodily conception of life, when we get out of it, that is real knowledge, paṇḍita. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ.

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne

brāhmaṇe gavi hastini

śuni caiva śva-pāke ca

paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

(BG 5.18)

Paṇḍita means those who are learned. Learned means brāhmaṇa, not śūdra. Śūdras, they are not learned. Mlecchas, yavanas, śūdras, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra (SB 2.4.18), so many. Learned means brāhmaṇa. Learned means that one who knows that Brahman. Brahman, the spirit soul, is part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman. So one who has come to that knowledge, that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul; ahaṁ brahmāsmi," that is knowledge. Knowledge begins from there. If one does not reach to that point, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, then he is animal. The animal thinking like that, "I am rickshaw," "I am motorcar," "I am cat," "I am dog," "I am this," "I am that." That is animal thinking. But a person... Learned thinking is that "I am not this body; I am part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi." And when you are farther advanced from Brahman knowledge... The knowledge begins from there. When you make further advancement, then you can understand that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa." This is perfect knowledge. First of all knowledge begins that "I am not this body."

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ

tat-paratvena nirmalam

hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-

sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

(CC Madhya 19.170)

So long we have got this bodily concept of life—"I am Rolls Royce car," "I am rickshaw," "I am American," "I am Englishman," "I am this," "I am that"—so long we are in ignorance. The same example: The man is not rickshaw, I am not motorcar, but I am thinking like that. I am asking that poor fellow, rickshaw wala, scornfully, because I am sitting in a very nice car. This is going on. But when you become learned, then paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). Sama-darśinaḥ means one who is learned, he knows that "Although he is pulling rickshaw, poor man, he is also a human being, and I am, although sitting in a very nice, costly Rolls Royce, I am also human being. As human being, we are the same."

So dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). All of us, the living entity, soul, is within this body. Not this body I am. So one who has realized this thing, that "I am not this body, I am spirit soul, and living by nature's arrangement, I have been allowed to live in such and such body," then he is learned. That is the beginning.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.9 -- Vrndavana, October 20, 1972:

So dharmasya hy āpavargyasya. "A" means negation, negation of pavarga. Pa means pariśrama, labor. Here, in this material world, the sense gratificatory platform is not very easy. You have to work very hard. Karma. Even Arjuna was advised, śarīra-yātrāpi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ: "My dear Arjuna, you are denying to fight, but you do not know that without fighting, you cannot live even. You cannot maintain your body." Śarīra-yātrāpi. Just see how hard they are laboring. Even just like an ass. In big cities, we have seen, human beings are pulling on rickshaws, ṭhelās. What for? Simply for maintaining this body. In the Kali Yuga, the working will be more harder and harder. Just like an ass. Ass, the example is given always, ass. How much hard work it carries on. Tons of cloth, carrying on the back, going to the ghāṭa. What for? Simply little grass. That's all. Therefore it is called ass. The ass is working simply for a morsel of grass. Grass, there are so many. You can get. But it is because it is ass, he's thinking that "The washerman is my master. He'll give me the grass." Just see.

Lecture on SB 1.7.22 -- Vrndavana, September 18, 1976:

We have to collect the stone, we have to collect this brick, we have to... If I cannot work personally, then I have to engage laborer. So this temple is not by accident, automatically, by chunk it has come. No. There must be labor. Pariśrama. That is pa. Then pha. Pha, in the English you can say frustration. Or in Sanskrit the phena, and English word is foam. When you work very hard, everyone, you know, there is foam. We have generally seen, in animals there is foam, in horse. The, hard labor, very hard labor, the foam comes. So first of all, pariśrama, hard labor, then foam. Pa pha. And ba. Ba means vyarthatā. Frustration. Despite so much hard labor, still frustration. Now our leaders are advertising that "Work hard. Work hard." "Sir, I am working so hard that I am working like an ass, like an animal, and I am tired. Still I have to work hard?" "Yes." This is saṁsṛti. They are not satisfied that human being, Indians are working just like an ass, pulling ṭhelā, rickshaw, and still they're requesting work hard.

Lecture on SB 1.16.23 -- Hawaii, January 19, 1974:

Prabhupāda: No, not rickshwa. For carrying loads...?

Devotees: Wheelbarrow.

Prabhupāda: Anyway, we call ṭhelā, in India. So the ṭhelā, in that cart there was sufficient load. So one side of the ṭhelā there was the wife, and the other side was the husband, and they had a little child, and that child was put up on the load. You see? And they were pulling. That means the husband and wife, working as God has given them to work. So they're working, taking care of the child. So after earning money, they'll go home. They have got a little cottage, and the wife will cook, the husband will eat, and they're peaceful. They're peaceful. It doesn't matter whether first-class eating, second-class... It doesn't matter. But still, they have got a home, and there they live peacefully. The wife cooks for the husband, and the husband eats, and the child is also taken care. It is not killed. There is peaceful. Peacefulness there is.

But here, the advanced civilization, the mother is killing the child, abortion. You see? Still, it is called advancement. Mother's duty is to take care of the child, motherly affection. Woman is meant for that. And now the problem is the mother doesn't want children. You see? And to avoid children, they are killing. Regularly they are killing. So what is the use of this civilization? Because you are becoming implicated in sinful activities, and therefore you'll have to be punished. You cannot escape the punishment of God as you can escape the punishment of the state. No. You have no right to kill even an ant without any purpose, without any sanction. So they do not know.

Lecture on SB 2.3.18-19 -- Bombay, March 23, 1977, At Cross Maidan Pandal:

The ass is an animal who is celebrated as the greatest fool, even amongst the animals. The ass works very hard and carries burdens of the maximum weight without making profit for itself. Footnote. The ass is generally engaged by the washerman, whose social position is not very respectable. And the special qualification of the ass is that it is very much accustomed to being kicked by the opposite sex. When the ass begs for sexual intercourse, he is kicked by the fair sex, yet he still follows the female for such sexual pleasure. A henpecked man is compared, therefore, to the ass. The general mass of people work very hard, especially in the age of Kali. In this age the human being is actually engaged in the work of an ass, carrying heavy burdens and driving ṭhelā and rickshaws. The so-called advancement of human civilization has engaged a human being in the work of an ass. The laborers in great factories and workshops are also engaged in such burdensome work, and after working hard during the day, the poor laborer has to be again kicked by the fair sex, not only for sex enjoyment but also for so many household affairs.

Lecture on SB 5.5.4 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1976:

These rascals have become so mad, pramattaḥ. Prakṛṣṭha rūpena mattaḥ. Mattaḥ means mad, intoxicated. And one, another, pra. Pra means prakiṣṭha, sufficiently mad. So these materialistic persons, you will see everywhere. They're running here and there. Especially in the Western countries, from the early morning, from five o'clock or still earlier, the whole street is full of motorcars. They are going to their work. Those who have gone to foreign countries, you have seen. In every big, big city of the Western countries they are always busy. They work. Now we are also imitating them. Our leaders are advertising, "Work hard. Work hard. That you are pulling on rickshaw, that is not sufficient. Still you have to work hard. You are pulling on thela? That is not sufficient. You have to still..." "What I can do more?" This is going on. This is material civilization, Mad. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). And what for they're doing? Yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti. The aim is how to satisfy senses. Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy. That's all. I get money, go to the restaurant, go to the liquor house, go to the prostitute house, and nightclub, and so on, so on, so on. Because they have no other business. They do not know anything more than that. Indriya-prītaya. A little sense gratification.

Lecture on SB 5.6.1 -- Vrndavana, November 23, 1976:

A devotee, for personal... Because they are ātmārāma. They have no business for personal satisfaction. They are completely satisfied, ātmārāma. But they have got another dissatisfaction: that seeing men like us engaged in sense gratification and working whole day and night like dogs and pigs, so they are very much anxious. Tato vimukha-cetasa. "Without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are working so hard day and night like asses and pigs and dogs." They are very much anxious for this, "How to stop this foolish person from this unnecessary trouble?" Unnecessary trouble. That Ṛṣabhādeva has already instructed us in the beginning, that "Don't spoil your life working so hard like hogs and dogs. No, this is not good." Na sādhu manye. "This is not good." But they are thinking... Now it is advertised that "Work hard. Work hard." And the people have come to the stage of pulling thela and rickshaw, and still, they have to work hard. This is the position. Because they do not know what is..., how to become ātmārāma. That is the difficulty.

General Lectures

Lecture at World Health Organization -- Geneva, June 6, 1974:

Guest (2) (Indian man): I would ask the respected swamiji, you referred to the departure of the villagers to the city and getting in that city life and the villagers(?) become factory and all workers the evils which follow. And you suggested as a solution that if you live in the villages and work only for three months, then you'll have food to eat. But I'd like to point out that there is such a vast amount of unemployment in our villages in India. The vast populations are there doomed,(?) and despite all these settlements, (indistinct) are not able to make enough food because they don't own the land and they are not... They are unemployed. And that's why they go into the cities. It is not necessarily the good life in the city which attracts them, but they don't own the land. The land is owned by other people, and they are not free to live in the village as free men and grow enough food for them. Now this is a question of the means of owning of the means of production. And we still have the zamindar system. We still have the system, and the rich people are exploiting. They do. Unless there is some kind of a revolution by which you can curb the power of the landlord, how can you be for land distribution(?) of the village, of those who live in the village, and not go to city to pull a rickshaw or do other labor to...?

Prabhupāda: (aside:) You can come in. Thing is that it is the government's duty to see that nobody's unemployed. That is good government. That is the Vedic system. The society was divided into four divisions: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. And it was the duty of the government or the king to see the brāhmaṇa is doing brāhmaṇa's duty, and the kṣatriya's duty, uh, kṣatriya... His duty is the kṣatriya's duty. Similarly, vaiśya... So it is the government's duty to see that why people are unemployed. Then the question will be solved.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1974, Vrndavana:

Guru dāsa: Do the rickshaw drivers in Letchmore Heath chant Hare Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: No, they were sleeping. (laughter) That is western. Here you will find even the old man rises early in the morning. Yes, take bath. Without any reference to Hare Kṛṣṇa. They chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. In the village, they take bath early in the morning. That is very healthy. (break) ...I have generally... (indistinct) (heavy wind noise)

Satsvarūpa: Mixed with moisture?

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.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Devotees -- April 14, 1975, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Here there are many adopted son. A rich man has no son. He adopts somebody, rascal, and he spends money like... There are so many instance. Squanders. He'll be satisfied after finishing... There are many instances. In our childhood, many you have heard, you have seen one, when the adopted son (indistinct) ...big property and he was not satisfied to squander all the money unless it became (indistinct) That I've seen. He had many cars and I saw him, he was drenched by water, rainfall, sitting in a rickshaw. Nobody cares for him. When he was rich, big, big men would come to see him, even Burdwan Mahārāja. Now I saw him that he was in Dharmatala, it was raining and he was sitting in a rickshaw. Nobody cares for him. And he was satisfied at that time after finishing the whole money. Otherwise hundreds and two hundred friends, there was very big house, bring, I mean to say, received as guests daily. (indistinct) His name was Arendranath(?) Sil.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a Hindu name?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Bengali.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Seak?

Prabhupāda: Sil. Sil means cultured. A cultured man is called sil. Sushil. Sushil means very culture, very... Sushil. So kalo brahm... This is unnatural. Kalo brāhmaṇa kota śūdra bete mussulman, kanki chele... (indistinct) Now generally people, we saw, in our childhood, Europeans were very tall and now they are not coming (indistinct). Naturally when they'll not get sufficient nourishment, they'll be stunted. And Kali-yuga means decrease of nourishment, necessities of life decreasing. We see in such a rich man's house, there is no milk. Milk is one of the important nourishment foods. And there is no milk. So gradually there'll be no milk, no rice, no wheat, no sugar. These are stated. Where you'll get nourishment? And the mango, there'll be no pulp, only the seed. These are predicted. After all, you have to live by nature's gift, but these things will be finished. And Russia there is, already there is no rice. There is no fruit. There is no vegetable. Simply we eat meat.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Everyone is trying to exploit you. They freely say, the rickshawalla, that they will charge five hundred rupees per bīghā to others and they will charge four thousand rupees to you. This is going on. Don't allow them to paint unless the rate is settled.

Bhavānanda: We had one day guard on our front gate last week. He worked for three days. His monthly salary was forty rupees plus his meals. So after he was here for three days the rickshawallas, they said, "Why you are working for them for so little money? They are so wealthy." And he left.

Prabhupāda: Who is supervising this department?

Bhavānanda: Tapomaya.

Prabhupāda: Where is Tapomaya?

Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Because he gets money. One who has got money but no children, he takes some adopted son. So the adopted son thinks that "I have got so much money," and he has never worked. He is spoiled. I have seen many adopted son, our... Got lakhs and lakhs of rupees, and in one night he's spoiled everything. Simply after woman and wine. I have seen it. There was one gentleman, Narendranath Singh. Very big, palatial building and very rich man. And I have seen him when he was finished. He was friend of big, big person, Raja Maharlel (?). And one day I saw in Calcutta, there was raining and he was sitting in a rickshaw. And no friend. He had known practically all big men of Calcutta friend. Nobody is coming. "Well Narendra, you are sitting. Come on in my car." Nobody. I was (indistinct). And he was drenching, there was heavy rain. And sitting a... And he was keeping Rolls Royce car.

Akṣayānanda: Keeping?

Prabhupāda: Rolls Royce. When he was rich man.

Akṣayānanda: Sometimes while traveling I've met some very old rich men lying on their deathbed dying. I approached them to help us. They will not give a single penny. It is all going to the son, and the son is atheist. In the house there is everywhere Kṛṣṇa's picture. Very difficult. They don't know that Kṛṣṇa is giving them a chance. They die, within days some of them can die. They are lying on the bed, passing stool and urine. So rich. But they do not care to help this movement. So many people like that.

Morning Walk -- December 27, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, bhakti means tapasya. Just like they are in the bhakti line. They are doing tapasya. They are rising early in the morning, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, observing maṅgala-ārati, no meat-eating, no illicit sex, no intoxication, so many things. It is tapasya. Whole thing is tapasya, tapaḥ, because by this tapasya the contamination of the soul will be cured. Then, if he understands Kṛṣṇa, then he is transferred to the spiritual world. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). He does not come again to accept the material body, and he permanently lives in the spiritual world. That is perfection. The modern civilization, they do not know all these things. They are misguiding that "You earn to your best extent. Work very hard like hogs." And there is advertisement "Work hard. The next (?)." They are pulling one trailer, rickshaw, still, their leaders are advising, "Work hard. Work still more hard." A human being is pulling on trailer and rickshaw, and still hard work. And that rascal does not know that this hard work like hogs and dogs will not make the solution. But they are enthusing, "Yes, work hard. Be stout and strong, as if becoming stout and strong will save him. That's not possible.

Guest (1): Modern civilization is a civilization of class, and Vedic civilization was a civilization of soul. We can say that is all.

Prabhupāda: That is the real civilization. Soul is enwrapped with this material body and it has to be stopped. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma (BG 4.9). That is civilization. And he has no knowledge, na te viduḥ, what is the civilization. Then andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). The rascal leader is also blind and the followers are blind, so both of them are doomed. Therefore the conclusion is, the modern civilization is misguided. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ. Big, big leaders, they promises big, big ideal that "I shall give you this facility. Just elect me." What facility he will give? No facility. He gives some false promise and gets his election and claps. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ (SB 2.3.19). He does not know what is the aim of life. Puruṣaḥ paśuḥ. He is animal also. And the other animals clapping, "Oh, we have got such a big leader." Big elephant, yes. (laughter) And elephant he may be, but he is, after all, a animal. What he'll do? Misguided. Oh, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. You don't require any covering?

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Yogi Amrit Desai of Kripalu Ashram (PA USA) -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Billiard-playing or some exhibition of singing, and hundreds of men will gather. And they were feasting, first-class food. In this way spending, spending, spending... And then prostitute, aristocracy. In this way one property and one property lost, everything. At last I saw him going by rickshaw. One day it was raining, and I saw that he was sitting in a rickshaw, and no friend asked him that, "Haren Babu, why you are...? You come to my car," so many. And he was friendly to so many zamindars, kings, and very intimate with... But they lost of everything, and nobody cares. His sons, they are of our age. I do not know whether living or not. But most probably they are not living. They became professional singers, coming of such aristocratic father. His father, that Mr. R. N. Singh, was a very good singer. That also was another aristocratic that aristocrat family—art, some art: painter, singer, poets. Just like Rabindranath Tagore. They became famous as artist. Avanindranatha Thakur, he became famous as artist, and Rabindranath Tagore became... They also followed the aristocratic family, Calcutta. Similarly, this R. N. Singh became a singer. Because they are rich men, they have nothing to do, so... And nobody instructed them how to become saintly person. Simply debauchery and... (break) On the whole the whole human civilization is..., and all the directors, they are not giving chance to know the value of life and how to conduct life. It is the first time, that we are giving the real idea of life. Otherwise whole world is in darkness.

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Oh. (pause) I think Mathura train also goes early in the morning. You have taken before?

Jagadīśa: Not from Bombay.

Prabhupāda: Two, three train goes, one Frontier Mail, one Deluxe Express and another-three trains for Delhi. It takes, altogether, from here to Delhi, nineteen hours. And Mathura, still two hours less. And from Mathura it is six miles. There are buses, ricksha.