Prabhupāda: I have already told that religion means searching after God, every religion. The process may be different. The audience may be different. Just like in Christianity there is conception of God, "God created this world." So this is a fact. We also say. But we say in very lucid explanation from the Vedas. We don't stop, simply saying, "God created," but how created, how things developed, these descriptions are there in the Vedic literature. That is the difference. Otherwise there is no difference of opinion. The Christians accept God created this world; the Jewish religion, they also accept God created this world; the Muslims they also accept God created this world; we also accept God created this world.
Searching (Conversations 1976 - 1977)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- February 19, 1976, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: No, no, you, you are scientist, but you are a greater rascal. You cannot explain. Wherefrom this flavor has come?
Acyutānanda: Well, we're working on that, and we'll find out.
Prabhupāda: But working... But we have got the already conclusion. Why should we work like a fool?
Acyutānanda: That's an excuse because you cannot explain to your children when they come.
Prabhupāda: No, no, we are explaining. Kṛṣṇa says, "This is I am." This is God. This is God. You are fool. You are searching after. But we know. Here is God. Puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am this flavor." So as soon as you have this flavor, you understand Kṛṣṇa is there. It is easier. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ.
Acyutānanda: There was an arti...
Prabhupāda: Just like the sunshine is there. Here is Kṛṣṇa. So we have no difficulty. Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. Here is puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca.
Morning Walk -- March 1, 1976, Mayapur:
Prabhupāda: Material energy and spiritual energy. So, so far material energy, they have come to the point of atom, and they are searching out. But Kṛṣṇa says, "Yes, this material atom is all right. But this is apara. This is inferior. There is another superior energy, atom." What is that? "This jīva-bhūta." So why don't you not see it? How rascal they are. Jīva-bhūta is there. He is seeing jīva bhuta, living... So Kṛṣṇa is giving information, "Here is the superior atom." Why don't do they not see to it?
Morning Walk -- March 1, 1976, Mayapur:
Prabhupāda: That's all right. That's all right. The sun is heat. So the water is there from the heat. (break) ...these scientists, making research work to find out what is after atom, proton, neutron. They're searching out.
Acyutānanda: They're never satisfied with their achievements.
Prabhupāda: No, they cannot be because they did not find out what is the ultimate source. They could not. Therefore they cannot be satisfied. If... A really scientist, how he can be satisfied? The goal is not yet achieved. How they can be satisfied? But we are satisfied because we know that the goal, the cause, ultimate cause, is Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...instruction is not blind. It is fact. Just like my body is there, and on account of my energy, so I am getting flesh, I am getting nail.
Morning Walk -- March 1, 1976, Mayapur:
Prabhupāda: But both of them are coming from me. So this sensation, this consciousness, is perfect when it comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is developing, in every living entity is developing. The consciousness, the sensation, is there in the tree also, but he is not developed. When the same consciousness comes to the complete perfection, then he understands, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa." Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). That is perfection. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti: "The real source is Vasudeva." Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Then he glorifies Vasudeva. But to know Vasudeva, you make research. That is one way, going on. But if you accept... Vasudeva says, "I am everything." Then accept immediately. The whole solution is there. Two, two ways: āroha-panthā, avaroha-panthā. You are trying to search out. Go on.
Morning Walk -- March 17, 1976, Mayapura:
Dharmādhyakṣa: Prabhupāda, the one great brain researcher, he spent nineteen years searching for the memory in the brain.
Prabhupāda: There is a story that two friends talking that, on the point that "How this was cut, separated?" So one friend said, "It is by knife." And the other friend said, "No, it was by scissor." So they went on.... One said, "No! It is knife." He said, "No! It is scissor." So the knife man was very strong. So he took him to the water, that "You say it is knife. Otherwise I shall drown you." (laughter) So he said, "I'll never say." Then he said.... When he was drowning, he was doing like this, (Prabhupāda gesticulates) (laughter) "Scissor, scissor."
Morning Walk -- March 19, 1976, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: (break) ...therefore they search. And who goes to the airport? All respectable gentlemen, who can pay lump sum for air fare. So he's also searched out. That means there is no gentlemen. The airport security is searching through. Then in this world there is no gentleman, no honest men.
Haṁsadūta: Everyone is suspected.
Prabhupāda: All rascals. This is the position.
Morning Walk -- March 19, 1976, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: They also sometimes show me the favor, but generally.... Sometimes they also search.
Guru-kṛpā: Search your pockets?
Prabhupāda: Yes. No, like this. (laughter) That way.
Devotee (1): That's a great mercy for them.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is mercy. When they excuse a saintly person, that is, that is their great mercy. Now, according to Vedic law, a saintly person is never subjected to any law. He's paramahaṁsa.
Morning Walk -- March 19, 1976, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is mercy. When they excuse a saintly person, that is, that is their great mercy. Now, according to Vedic law, a saintly person is never subjected to any law. He's paramahaṁsa. He's never.... Rather, the order is he must be given all help that he wants. That is the Vedic civilization. And brahmacārī, sannyāsīs, they should be treated as children at home, so that wherever they go, they will be treated just like children: "Oh, he's my son. He's my dependent." They will treat like that. And they also go to every home: "Mother, give me some food." So he's children, as the child asks from the mother, "Give me some food." This is system. This is civilization. And M.A., Ph.D., and searching after woman, how to induce her, and being searched out in the airport, whether he's a rogue—what is this education? We don't want this education.
Morning Walk -- April 9, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Gentleman means that if you go to a gentleman's store, "Beware of the dog. Beware of the revolver." This is your culture. And when you go to the airport everyone is searched out, pocket. So who is gentleman? Is that gentleman? There is no gentleman in the world. All rogues and thieves, cheaters, bluffers. Now we are creating gentlemen. Otherwise there is no gentlemen. Here is the proof. If we are gentleman, why we are being checked in the airport? Hm? This is the proof. There is no gentlemen.
Akṣayānanda: Because they're not expecting any gentlemen.
Prabhupāda: That means there is no.... In other words, there is no gentlemen.
Morning Walk -- April 15, 1976, Bombay:
Dr. Patel: No, he had no job. He then searched out a job. In those days, there was no job visas there anywhere.
Prabhupāda: No, during Partition (break) ...policy to attract these, all the intelligent class of Indian, to India..., er...
Devotee (2): England.
Prabhupāda: There is job visa. They gave indiscriminately job visa, so that India will be vacant of all intelligent persons and they cannot make... That was the policy.
Morning Walk -- April 16, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: But he thinks there is job. He leaves.
Dr. Patel: Yes, they come here in search of job.
Prabhupāda: Yes. They suffer. They live in the huts and very nasty place, still expecting.
Dr. Patel: But the highly advanced countries like the States, United States, the agricultural.... I mean, this industry is completely contracted. A percentage the population is getting less and less in agriculture than before. Now hardly ten percent, people are...
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa advises...
Morning Walk -- April 17, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...is a word declared to the asuras. You see? Therefore everyone is our enemy. Nobody likes us, because a declaration of war against the asura... And we are fighting with some tiny soldiers, that's all. And they are very strong. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. Thank you. Jaya. (break) ...we don't want who says that "Why you are searching after God? The gods are loitering in the street." Of course, it is in higher sense, but you cannot say respectively(?), "Everyone is God." Maybe.... (Hindi)
Dr. Patel: Now we must not.... (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: That very word suggests that he is not to that stage where he can see Nārāyaṇa everywhere.
Morning Walk -- April 24, 1976, Melbourne:
Prabhupāda: Superior? That means you have got, you, a separate utility for superior consciousness. So we have to search out what is the end of the superior consciousness.
Guru-kṛpā: I think that's mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18).
Prabhupāda: Ah, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayeteta kovidaḥ. That is intelligence. (break) ...intelligence. Why should you stop in one point? Make further progress.
Guru-kṛpā: (break) ...the jñānī, to try to seek out, is better than to be a karmī.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Morning Walk -- May 28, 1976, Honolulu:
Devotee (2): If when one comes to spiritual life, is he coming because of material exhaustion, so much pain in the material world, so therefore he's searching?
Prabhupāda: Voluntary.
Devotee (2): Voluntary.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee (2): Ah.
Prabhupāda: When one is actually in service, then he comes to.... "So I have enjoyed. Now, no I don't want. Now I want Kṛṣṇa." That is voluntary.
Garden Conversation -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Sometimes the atheists, they say there is no soul-intuition. So we do not accept this proposal. The soul, when he is in particular situation, he remembers immediately what he has to do. Just like the small puppies, they have not even opened the eyes, but still, immediately after birth they're searching after food and goes immediately to the nipples of the mother. So how he goes there? They say it is intuition, but it is not intuition. The soul, being put into that body, immediately remembers all the activities of the body. Just like in Los Angeles. When I am in tour in other places I forget about Los Angeles, but as soon as I come here, I know where is my bedroom, where is my sitting room, where is my garden, immediately. I haven't got to be taught that "Here is your sitting room, here is your sleeping room." Immediately, I remember.
Garden Conversation -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Ah. And these things are available without any endeavor, as we get distressed condition of life without any endeavor. There are two things in this world: distress and happiness. So we don't call for distress, that "Malaria fever comes to me. I shall enjoy." Nobody says, but it comes. So similarly, this is distress. If distress comes by the superior arrangement, so happiness also will come by superior arrangement. So why should we bother about these things? Now tasyaiva hetoḥ praya... Therefore our endeavor should be for understanding ourself, self-realization, and our relationship with God or what is God, what is the nature. These things, athāto brahma jijñāsā, this is our business, not to waste our valuable time for searching after sense gratification. It is not human civilization, and that is..., that is demonic civilization. That is Prahlāda Mahārāja, stressing. Sukham aindriyakaṁ yad... Read it?
Magazine Interview -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes, this nonsense talking that chemical combination, there is life. Why don't you do it?
Interviewer: I think it's a continuing to search for whatever...
Prabhupāda: That any nonsense can say, that "I am continuing," but where is the result? When the result is expected?
Interviewer: I'm sorry, I can't understand.
Prabhupāda: When the result will be out!
Magazine Interview -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:
Rāmeśvara: No. He means in terms of the scientists discovering how to make, create life, or how to put life back into a dead body. They say that it is chemical reaction. Therefore one day they should be able to discover how to do it if it's simply chemicals. So when will that day come? Prabhupāda's point is that it's not chemicals, but that there's actually a spiritual element. And because they don't accept that there's a spiritual element, they're not searching for it. They're simply studying the chemicals. So in that way they're not, they'll never reach the right conclusion about what is life, what makes this body move, what is death. Because they're missing the essential point, the spiritual element. So his question was What do you think about it?
Interviewer: Ah, my spiritualness is strongly absent from my own person. I...
Prabhupāda: How? Why do you say absent? You are talking.
Interview with Jackie Vaughn (Black Congressman) -- July 12, 1976, Detroit:
Jackie Vaughn: Yes. I continue to search.
Śrutakīrti: If you have any questions you can ask him.
Jackie Vaughn: The last time I was here you were kind enough to address to the basic point-we're in the world and yet how can we not be a part of the world.
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Hari-śauri: He says we're in the world, but how can we be aloof from it? How can we not be a part of it?
Conversation with Clergymen -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:
Dhṛṣṭadyumna: "O best among the Bhāratas, four kind of pious men render devotional service unto Me—the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute Truth."
Prabhupāda: These are four classes. One distressed, he also seeks the help of God. And another?
Dhṛṣṭadyumna: The desirer of wealth.
Prabhupāda: Yes. In need of money, "God, I am so poor. Kindly give me some money." So he's approached God. That is his piety. Although God should not be asked. Pure devotion means God should not be bothered. Simply we shall render service. "God is great. I am His servant. So my duty is to render service without any profit." The profit is there. To be accepted as God's servant, that is the greatest profit.
Morning Walk -- June 17, 1976, Toronto:
Bhakta Gene: This is what prompted me to ask my first question, Your Grace. What has brought me here has been my search...
Prabhupāda: No, it is God's desire that you are sincere, you have come. Now utilize the association and the opportunity, your life will be successful. We have got enough books to convince you about this science. So you read it.
Bhakta Gene: I am convinced.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Why one should be after mysticism? What is the benefit?
Bhakta Gene: It was the mystics that brought me here. This was the thing. It was their love of God...
Morning Walk -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:
Prabhupāda: Because he has approached God, therefore he's pious. Even though he has got material desires. Akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā mokṣa-kāma (SB 2.3.10). One day, he'll become devotee. Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. He went to search God for some material benefit, but when he became perfect, he became pure devotee. (break)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...are better off than the godless philosophers and jñānīs? These people are better off than the mental speculator jñānīs?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, oh, yes, thousand times. (break) ...gentleman has not come?
Devotee: Yesterday? No. Bhāgya.
Prabhupāda: So 'haṁ bhāgya (Hindi conversation)
Garden Conversation -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:
Devotee (3): The so-called intelligent people in this country, like the professors in universities, they sometimes argue that the progressive value of life is to search for knowledge, the quest of knowledge.
Prabhupāda: Yes, here is the ultimate knowledge, what is God. You do not know. You are still professing as professor, as learned scholar, but you do not know what is God. Also you write, "In God We Trust." What is this nonsense? Where is your professorship? You explain God. Suppose I am a layman. I am asking "Why you have written in the bill? Please let me know what is God." Do you know? Then where is your knowledge?
Garden Conversation -- June 22, 1976, New Vrindaban:
Kīrtanānanda: They say that real knowledge is to know that there is no such thing as absolute knowledge but simply this process of searching for knowledge.
Prabhupāda: No. That is ignorance. As knowledge you are receiving... Just like I've come to you, I'm a layman, I've come to you for knowledge. Unfortunately, you have not received knowledge from that source. Therefore you are useless. I cannot have knowledge from you. Knowledge means to take it from higher personality. That is knowledge. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Knowledge means you have to receive it from a superior person. Otherwise, there is no knowledge.
Room Conversation -- June 24, 1976, New Vrindaban:
Prabhupāda: Now suppose these electric lights. So, crude form of light, we grow some castor seed, everything from the earth. This also you are getting from earth, petroleum, and running on machine, and electricity is generated. But really you are getting the impetus from the earth. As soon as the petroleum supply is stopped, everything stopped. But for this purpose you have to search out petroleum from the middle of ocean, boring. Therefore it is ugra-karma. The purpose is that you grow some castor seed, press it, get oil, put in any pot, and one wick, the light is there. So even understanding that you have improved the lighting system, but that is not the only necessity of my life.
Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: The so-called Vedantists are bluffers. They do not know what is Vedānta. But the things are going on that people want to be bluffed and the bluffers take advantage of it, and therefore... Veda means knowledge, and anta means end of knowledge. That is the combination of Vedānta. So in the Vedānta the beginning is, Vedānta-sūtra, athāto brahma jijñāsāḥ. "Now, in the human form of life, they should inquire about the Absolute Truth." That is the Vedānta philosophy. And what is that Absolute Truth? Sūtra means in aphorism, in small words, a big philosophy is given. That is called sūtra. A little link. So Vedānta-sūtra begins when one is inquisitive to understand the Absolute Truth. That is called Vedānta-sūtra. And it is answered, first question is now about brahma-jijñāsa, inquisitive, inquiry about Brahman. So Brahman is, in nutshell, described: "Brahman means the origin of everything." Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). And in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). All the Vedas, all the book of knowledge, their business is how to search out God.
Garden Conversation -- June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban:
Prabhupāda: You have to accept this paper money. That's all. Don't ask for gold. And there is no honesty at all. I can take paper money for my convenience sake, but how you can force me to take paper money? That is not honesty. So dishonesty begins from the government. You cannot keep gold. If you have kept gold, there will be searching, and if it is found that you have gold, you'll be punished. In India it is now being done. There is no freedom even at your home, in your private life. Formerly, any common man could keep gold according to his desire. There was no such thing. Sometimes he would hide it even within the ground, because there was no bank. At least in India this was the practice.
Room Conversation After Film -- June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban:
Prabhupāda: Yes. How can you deny God? All the scientists, they deny God. This simple fact that there is... (break) ...is mother, and beginning from grass to the highest form of human being there are children. The mother is there; the children are there. Who is the father? How you can say there is no father? If the mother is there, then child is there, there must be father. I do not know how they can deny a supreme father. Anyway, this New Vrindaban life will attract people gradually, this peaceful life. They are searching after alternative.
Hari-śauri: In the Vedic culture did they have sheep? Sheep herds? Did they keep sheep?
Prabhupāda: Who?
Room Conversation -- July 2, 1976, New Vrindaban:
Prabhupāda: That is another similar verse. Yes, you quoted me. And there is another verse by Bilvamaṅgala, in Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta. The Muslim, he said "I was searching after the Param Brahma, and now I see here He is playing with the gopīs." What they will speculate? Everything is there in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Where this picture is given? (Prabhupāda is being massaged)
Pradyumna: Which book is it in?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It was on the cover of one Back to Godhead magazine.
Hari-śauri: But it's in one of the books.
Pradyumna: Lord Caitanya did the same thing. He did the same thing, and it was compared Kṛṣṇa also had done.
'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:
Prabhupāda: So you are searching, you are surprised how this direction is coming. Here is the answer, mattaḥ, "from Me." The answer is there.
Sadāpūta: A comparison can be made with things like this, and, say, a computerized factory. A computerized factory, there has to be direction all the time, or else it breaks down.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that direction is coming from Kṛṣṇa. He is all-perfect.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: The instructions are given so vividly here, that first there is called the initiation step. It has to get specific information coded in this, they are called bases, and now, then it elongates, and then finally it's called stop signal. There's some message coming that "You stop right there." And if there is some mistake or something wrong along the path, then there will be a correction signal: "You made a mistake, so correct there." This type of...
Morning Walk -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:
Prabhupāda: India, Vedic civilization never cared for anything which is searched out by imperfect human beings. They never cared for it. Because he knows the man who is searching after, he's imperfect. Whatever he'll do, that is imperfect. Therefore neglect it. That is Vedic civilization. Śruti-pramāṇa: whether it is evident from the śrutis, from the Vedas. Otherwise, they reject it.
Vipina: Prabhupāda, if spiritual life and Kṛṣṇa are stronger than māyā, then how is it that religion was ever overcome to the extent it is now? In Kali-yuga it's so much neglected, whereas in past ages we learn that it wasn't neglected. How is it that māyā got such a stronghold?
Morning Walk -- July 13, 1976, New York:
Hari-śauri: He had a muzzle on. See this man here, Śrīla Prabhupāda? He's emptied out all the wastepaper baskets all over the grass, and now he's searching through to see if there's anything of any value.
Prabhupāda: What is valuable there?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Someone may have thrown something out which he could use. He's a bum.
Prabhupāda: Another madman. In Hong Kong I have seen, they are searching some food.
Interview with Trans-India Magazine -- July 17, 1976, New York:
Prabhupāda: So I have got great desire to... Because India is by nature Kṛṣṇa conscious, but our modern leaders keeping them suppressed. That is the difficulty. There are so many other difficulties, and leaders are misinterpreting Bhagavad-gītā. To tell you frankly, there are so many commentaries on Bhagavad-gītā by Dr. Radhakrishna, by Gandhi, by Tilak, by Aurobindo, or many others. But nobody has said that "Here is God, Kṛṣṇa." Do you admit or not? Has anybody said that, "Here is God, Kṛṣṇa. You are searching after God. Here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Worship Him"? Nobody has stated. Am I right or not?
Interviewer: I am not that... I have not read all the, I have read Gandhiji's, I have read Radhakrishna's, I have.
Conversation at House of Ksirodakasayi dasa -- July 25, 1976, London:
Prabhupāda: Every religion has conception of God, but no religious system in this world has got any clear conception of God. But in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement it is not actually a so-called religious movement, but it is an educational movement to give information to the human society about God, that "Here is God." You are searching after God, and somebody, in disappointment saying that "God is dead." God is neither dead, nor it is fictitious, but it is factual, and here is this God, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). This is the verdict of the Vedic literature. There may be many other gods. They are expansions of the original Personality of Godhead. If anyone is interested to study the science of God, you'll find it in the Vedic literature, how Kṛṣṇa expands by His plenary portion in different names of God.
Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):
Hari-śauri: People's minds are so much agitated by false desire that they can't appreciate anything. Real beauty they overlook, searching for something else.
Prabhupāda: My mother used to make puffed rice at home. So there is special rice available for making puffed rice. Either you can prepare at home or you can purchase in the market, special rice. So she was preparing nice puffed rice, very, very nice. In a sand pot. My mother was always engaged in making some food preparation. Some pickle, some chutney, and this puffed rice, or something else, something else, something else. Besides cooking for the family, she was being assisted by my sisters. Always palatable foodstuff. So many guests were there, and if son-in-law would come, they would specially prepare food for him.
Room Conversation with Professor Francois Chenique -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):
Prabhupāda: Yes. Anyone who is after truth, he'll appreciate truth. That's a fact. Satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1). That is the Bhāgavata beginning. Satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. If one is after truth, he'll appreciate truth wherever it is. Every point, from any angle of vision, those who are searching after truth, everything is explained. Primarily in the Bhagavad-gītā, and elaborately in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So about the Christian religion, what is the conception of God?
Bhūgarbha: (translating) If I speak in English then I'll say that God is the father, the son and the Holy Ghost—not one person, but three persons. But if I want to say the same thing in Sanskrit, then I'll say sac-cid-ānanda.
Prabhupāda: Three persons? God is three persons?
Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: That is all right, but if God has given you so many basic things, then you can use your intelligence. Otherwise, your intelligence... There is a story that one man was asked by his friend, "Have you got intelligence?" He began to search out here. So, "What is this?" He said, "Intelligence means when there is money here. Otherwise, I am even though I have got intelligence, useless." You can utilize your intelligence provided you have got the means. Intelligence also you cannot utilize properly if there is no supply.
Room Conversation -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: Real meditation is to find out the Supersoul within the core of the heart. That is real meditation. God is situated in everyone's heart, so the yogis, they try to find out the Supersoul within the heart. That is real yogi. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginam. This is real yogi, trying to contact the Supersoul. They are searching after the God in His all-pervading feature. But, ah, some of them, they want to become one. That is asuric. One with God, that is asuric. Because they are being defeated by God, so therefore they want to become God to stop this defeat. That is asuric. Therefore they will never be able to be, but they are trying for it.
Evening Darsana -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: This is their accident. Accidentally there is sex desire and something is produced. Still, they cannot say causeless. Because here it is said kāma-haitukam, the lusty desire was there. So therefore the lusty desire is the cause. You cannot say causeless. That is not possible. Aparaspara-sambhūtam, two, man and woman meets, aparaspara-sambhūtam. Para, apara. But kāma-haitukam. So you cannot say causeless. Then you have to search out wherefrom this lusty desire came. That is kāraṇa. Find out one cause after another, another, another. Then you'll find sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). If you go on searching out, you have to find out this cause. Because you are saying kāma-haitukam, the lusty desire is the cause, nothing else. But if you are a philosopher, then you must find out wherefrom the lusty desire comes.
Evening Darsana -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: That's all right, but that means cause after cause you have to find how the combination came. That is called philosophy. Go on searching out, searching out. Then you'll find sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). We say that kāma-haitukam, that desire is there in Kṛṣṇa. And therefore, you are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, that desire has come to you. We see Kṛṣṇa's dealing with gopīs, with Rādhārāṇī, exactly like young man, young woman. The kāma-haitukam is there. It is not fictitious. It has come down, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2). Mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate. Kṛṣṇa says... The kāma also, you have to accept it, because Kṛṣṇa says mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate. "Whatever you have got, that is from Me." Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8).
Press Interview at Muthilal Rao's House -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: Those who are not searching after self-realization, they have got many subject matter for hearing and deliberate. That means material subject matter. We have in the newspaper different subject matters for different public interest, but those who are searching after spiritual realization, athāto brahma jijñāsā. As it is stated in the Vedānta-sūtra, also in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. Human life means tattva-jijñāsā, inquiry about the Absolute Truth. That is now stopped. People are not interested, self-realization, tattva-jijñāsā. So this is an attempt to revive their spiritual consciousness, and it is authorized on the basis of Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without misinterpretation, and people are taking to it.
Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:
Jayapatākā: Well, it's an unusual story that that man was a pilot in the World War, and he was flying over Himalayas or something, and he saw Kṛṣṇa in his mind's eye or something, and then, then he was shot down, he saw Kṛṣṇa, and then, when he landed, he searched out who he saw, and he came to Vṛndāvana or something and saw the Deity of Kṛṣṇa, and he became initiated at Rādhā-Rāmaṇa temple.
Prabhupāda: Rādhā-Rāmaṇa
Jayapatākā: This is that guru story. Now he only made a few disciples, and he always was chanting. Also Panditji, he knew more. I don't know so much about his guru but I've heard a little bit that his foreigner became a guru or became a Vaiṣṇava.
Prabhupāda: Nixon?
Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: It is Kṛṣṇa's desire. Nobody is useless. I was also useless. I could not do in India alone anything. This is... Again this example (laughs). Two useless makes useful. Intelligence alone cannot work. Money is required. One man was challenged, "You have no intelligence." So he said, "Yes." He was searching these..."No, why you are searching here?" "No, here is intelligence. If here is money, then my intelligence can work. Otherwise what is the use of intelligence?" But he was searching here," Whether I have got intelligence?" Simply intelligence... In industry also: land labor capital, organization, four things. Simple capital will not do. Simple organization will not do. A man may have very good brain power, organization, but if he has no money-useless. So four things required: land, labor, capital, organization.
Room Conversation -- August 22, 1976, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: Hailstorm. And they became entrapped in the jungle whole night. And in the morning guru with other disciples came to search out them. And this Sudāmā Vipra and Kṛṣṇa was stranded, and they were found out, then taken back. So even Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He served the guru as menial. The guru's wife asked Him, "Bring some fuel from the jungle," and they went immediately. This is gurukula. No, I mean to say, prestigious position. "Guru has said—has to be done." This training. Then?
Room Conversation -- August 22, 1976, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: And when he first came to me he expressed that "I was searching this institution. Now I'll join." And he was getting at that time four hundred dollars?
Gargamuni: Yes. A school teacher.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So he was paying everything almost, keeping little money. And then he brought him.
Hari-śauri: I have a picture of you with your hair. I'll show you. I have a picture of Gargamuni Swami when he still had hair and karmī clothes.
Gargamuni: "Shakespearean locks." Prabhupāda used to call me that.
Room Conversation with Pandita from Tirupati and Government Minister -- August 24, 1976, Hyderabad:
Paṇḍita: So this is how for the past twelve years I have been going in search of this sources from where I can get all this knowledge, and after much roaming about, I have got this knowledge. So I would like to put it to proper use. I would like to teach it to so many people who are interested in it. At least...
Prabhupāda: So that opportunity you'll get in our mission.
Paṇḍita: That is how I want to serve.
Prabhupāda: That opportunity you'll get. So now give him some resting place just now. And you take some of our books and go on. Then, after taking my meals, I shall come.
Meeting with Endowments Commissioner -- August 24, 1976, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: No, those who are approved śāstra is accepted by the ācāryas. Śāstra, which is accepted by the ācārya, that is śāstra. You cannot make. As you cannot manufacture religion, you cannot manufacture śāstras. Approved by the ācāryas. Ācāryopāsanam. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says also that you should know from the ācārya. Everyone. They are preaching Bhagavad-gītā with the purpose of killing Kṛṣṇa. Everyone. The politicians, the scholars, the rascals, and everyone. The main purpose is how to kill Kṛṣṇa. In Bombay I have got a very big friend, you know him. I do not wish to disclose his name. He has set aside ten lakhs of rupees for preaching Gītā. But he wants Gītā without Kṛṣṇa. Rāma without Sītā. Rāvaṇa's policy. Take away Sītā. Rāma will remain alone. So take away Gītā and cut Kṛṣṇa. But I cannot make any compromise I shall... My life is ended, now eighty-one. I do not... But so long I shall live I shall make no compromise, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Dṛḍha-vrata. And that is a fact. Why shall I mislead people? They are searching after God, what is God. Here is God. Why don't you take it. See His activities.
Room Conversation -- November 2, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the European, you don't get the result, go on researching and spoil the money.
Devotee (2): Kṛṣṇa has manufactured everything in such a complicated way, that their search is never-ending.
Prabhupāda: That article written by Svarūpa Dāmodara in the recent Back to Godhead.
Hari-Sauri: That was not.... Oh, which one?
Prabhupāda: The recent this.
Hari-Sauri: The newest one? That was not by Svarūpa Dāmodara. That was by...
Prabhupāda: You have got?
Room Conversation -- December 20, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Then you first of all learn Sanskrit, then you (indistinct). If there is (indistinct). This practice should be stopped. If you want to preach Bhagavad-gītā, and if you want to preach your own philosophy through Bhagavad-gītā, don't do this preaching. You preach your philosophy, your (indistinct). You can preach any philosophy you like, but don't take Bhagavad-gītā and (indistinct) on it. (?) That is my (indistinct). That is being done. That is being done. So therefore, instead of studying, collecting so many literatures, why not take Bhagavad-gītā as it is and preach? And as evidence to prove he is (indistinct) ...all over the world. Before me for 200 years there was preaching of Bhagavad-gītā. Not a single person became... It is the history of (indistinct). Now you see thousands. Why? Because there is no interpretation. There is no interpretation. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the Supreme." Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). We are presenting, "Here is God." You are searching after God, Kṛṣṇa, and they are accepting. They do not (indistinct), what is Kṛṣṇa.
Room Conversation with Indian Man -- December 22, 1976, Poona:
Prabhupāda: They do not know what is the actual aim of life. But they are devising different plans, that I shall be happy in this way." This is called karmī. He does not take the standard way of happiness. Then the next elevated person is jñānī. He thinks, ponders, that "I have worked so hard, but still I could not become happy." The jñānī. He searches out philosophically. Then next class, yogi. Yogi concentrates the mind to think over, "What is my problem? Why I am not happy? How he can become happy?" He is trying to, very soberly, to understand. Yoga means controlling the senses, and the master of the senses is the mind. So he, trying to make the mind concentrated on the fact, he is yogi. And then the next stage is... If he is yogi, then there are different types of yoga system. But when he comes to the point that "I am not master. There is one master, controller. So master, whatever master orders, I have to execute that. That is my real happiness." Bhakta.
Room Conversation with Indian Man -- December 22, 1976, Poona:
Indian man: When the disciple is ready, the master comes. When the disciple is ready the master appears, comes, comes. It is not that the disciple has to search for the master. The master is also to search after the disciples.
Prabhupāda: Well, it is just like there is a school. The school is also advertising that you come here, you will get education. And one who is in need of education, he is also trying to come to school. So the school must be bona fide and the student must be bona fide. Then things will come at. If the school is bogus, then what the student will learn? They will not learn.
Room Conversation with Indian Man -- December 22, 1976, Poona:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore you have to go to the right master.
Indian man: They say in their own way. How you search out the right master.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So I am speaking on the basis of the Bhagavad-gītā. I am not manufacturing.
Indian man: True.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is master. Master means he will not manufacture. Lawyer means who will speak in the court with reference to the lawbook. Not that "My Lordship I have manufactured this way. You accept it." "Get out. Get out, rascal. You are not a lawyer." So this is going on. The rascals are going to be lawyer, without understanding.
Room Conversation with Indian Man -- December 22, 1976, Poona:
Prabhupāda: No, no, beautifully, yes, everything is beautiful. We first know that without father, mother, there cannot be birth. So everything, whatever you, sarva-bhūtāni, sarva-bhūtāni, whatever is coming out, they are coming out as child of the earth. And you do not know who is the father. The father says ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). You understand the father. How you do not understand? The father says, "I am the father." You are searching after the father, and father says, and mother certifies, "Yes, He is your father." You don't require any other knowledge.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Rāmeśvara: And they say you can understand a person not by hearing his words but by catching the thoughts from his mind. These people report that kind of experience, that they can understand another man from his thoughts even before he speaks. But the most fantastic thing of all, which I'm not clear about, is they have a description... Almost every person that they interviewed had the same experience of a very bright light. Now this is the way they describe it. "The first appearance of this light is very dim, but rapidly it gets brighter and brighter until it reaches an unearthly brilliance." Every person agreed that this light was actually a living being and it had a definite personality. It was emanating a feeling of warmth and friendship, and it was asking them questions. And it describes the two main questions: "Are you ready to die?" "What have you done with your life to show me? What have you done with your life that is sufficient?" And then it goes on to say that all these people felt that this being who appeared to be like a luminous being was concerned with two things: how they had developed love and how they were searching for knowledge. Every one of them had this same description of a being of light. A luminous being.
Prabhupāda: That is fact. Because we are part and parcel of God, therefore there is illumination.
Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Rāmeśvara: And according to these people, this luminous being is inquiring from them how they have lived their life and is inquiring them about searching for knowledge and about developing love.
Prabhupāda: That is not... That is some imagination.
Rāmeśvara: Something imagination.
Hari-śauri: The thing is they all report having that experience.
Room Conversation with Sannyasis -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: We shall do it. I am searching after some astronomer.
Rāmeśvara: There is also a review from one Indian professor, how this science...
Prabhupāda: Anyway, they have become interested in our literature.
Satsvarūpa: Yes. Whether he completely agrees or not, he's fascinated by it.
Prabhupāda: That is another thing. But...
Rāmeśvara: From Dr. Jagadish Sharma. He wrote that "This edition of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will go a long way to help the scientists in rediscovering phenomena of the universe which is yet to be discovered."
Room Conversation with Sannyasis -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Satsvarūpa: "The transcendental form of God can be immediately experienced by a person who is duly prepared, as it is told in Chapter Eleven. Just these two points are, I think, the reason for the interest in the Gītā among persons with a searching spirit. Swami Bhaktivedanta's translation and commentary do deliver this message very convincingly indeed."
Rāmeśvara: Jaya!
Prabhupāda: He is a big professor.
Room Conversation with Film Producer about Krsna Lila -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Guest (2): When you are giving a darśana... Yesterday we came to see you. That, these people, had to go to Bombay yesterday. But when a certain uttered that you have come here, we were astonished. They ran to my office, told me that "Guruji has come." "No, you are wrong." "No, you see. It is from our local newspaper." He's from Bengal. So he came for us and told me he would let us go and see. By five o'clock they had told him... "Let us go." We came here, and there's some people here I was talking to him. That engineer when Guruji tell that no rain, he was searching for the water, (indistinct) in that I was telling him that way. So Guruji when you are giving the light, wisdom, or making blessing that you become filled the superness. You surrender yourself.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is our propaganda.
Room Conversation with Film Producer about Krsna Lila -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Guest (2): So eleven or twelve days' time... We have posted the letter on seventh, and yesterday this gentleman from here rang me that "You were searching for the Guruji, and he is at..." "Nonsense." When I am busy giving some dictation to my steno. "He is humbug." So from there we came here.
Prabhupāda: Thank you. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So if you want to give education, take it from the very beginning, ABCD, and present nicely so that people may..., can take advantage.
Room Conversation -- January 28, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, this is the position. Those who are neophyte, they are always in danger. Therefore their duty is to be guided by sādhu-śāstra-guru. That's all. That is our... Now, I'll say from my practical life... It is not pride. Actually everyone knows that my Guru Mahārāja had thousands of disciples. So out of thousands of disciples, practically I am little successful. That everyone knows. Why? Because I firmly believed in the words of my guru. That's all. This is the... There may be many other Godbrother, maybe very learned and very advanced, whatever it may be, favored, and... Everyone claims that "I am the most favorite." And practical point of view... So I think sometimes that "Why this wonderful thing has happened to me?" So I search out. I search out only that I cent percent believe in the words of my spiritual... That's all, nothing else. Guru-mukha-padma-vākya, cittete koriyā aikya, āra nā koriho mane āśā **. Don't think of any nonsense. Simply execute what your guru has said. That is success.
Room Conversation -- January 31, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Einstein admitted that. That is real scientific brain. And so nicely it is going on without any brain behind it? How it can go so nice? Mūḍho nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. That brain is Kṛṣṇa. That they do not know. Now our business is: "Here is the brain. If you take it, you benefit it. What you are actually searching, here is." Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Find out this verse. Mūḍho nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam.
Hari-śauri: Even for a crude machine, it requires some intelligence to construct a design.
Room Conversation -- January 31, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: That means more rascaldom. That is intelligence, they "I am trying to make the flowers more beautiful by setting up in this way, then who has made these beautiful flowers?" That is intelligence. There must be some brain. That is intelligence. That is philosophy. Philosophy means to search out the ultimate?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Absolute truth.
Prabhupāda: That's it. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). This is philosophy. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. That is philosophy. Philosophy is the science of science. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). The science of science.
Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: Just like mother says, "He is your father." Still, he'll not accept. Rascal number one. There is no other way. Huh? He is searching after his father. Mother says, "My dear boy, here is your father." "No, I don't believe. No." He's a rascal number one.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They're obstinate.
Prabhupāda: Obstinate. That scissors philosophy. There is no other way to understand it, but he'll not accept. That is his misfortune. Mūḍha. Bokā. And our problem is that these bokās, rascals, they are leading the society. And they are suffering. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). He's blind. We are also blind. And they're leading us.
Room Conversation -- February 3, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: Yes. The Japanese had no honesty, dishonest. You see? They thought "This is the opportunity that this Indian leader wants our help. So with his help we enter India. And this is the opportunity to occupy India." Because they are searching after land. They are very poor in land. They have no place, and very little land. Therefore they are now going to Hawaii to settle down. They have no place.
Bhāgavata: How did Subash Bose get from India to Germany?
Prabhupāda: That is also political. He was, what is called, interned at home.
Bhāgavata: By the British. Kept in his house.
Room Conversation Varnasrama System Must Be Introduced -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: No, you are advertising, "Ramakrishna Avatara." "Bhagavan Ramakrishna." "Bhagavan Ramakrishna." Everyone is God—then why you are after God? You remain. You are servant of your wife, your prostitute. Then you are also devotee because everyone is God. A prostitute-hunter is also devotee because he's devoted to the prostitute and prostitute is God. Then why you search out another God? Hm? Everyone is God. Why you search out another God? Why you bring Ramakrishna God? Better remain satisfied with your prostitute, your dog. (pause-talking in background) That Dr. Sharma has given very good (indistinct)?
Room Conversation Varnasrama System Must Be Introduced -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: That is not the meaning. The meaning is: "Everyone is searching after Me, but they, unless they come to Me, they will search one after another position." What is the purport?
Bhavānanda: "Everyone is searching for Kṛṣṇa in different aspects of His manifestations. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is partially realized in His impersonal brahma-jyotir effulgence and as the all-pervading Supersoul dwelling within everything including the particles of atoms. But Kṛṣṇa is only fully realized by His pure devotees. Consequently Kṛṣṇa is the object of everyone's realization and thus anyone and everyone is satisfied according to one's desire to have him. In the transcendental..."
Room Conversation Varnasrama System Must Be Introduced -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Demigod. Everyone is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. But he's searching after real Kṛṣṇa.
Bhavānanda: But what is the harm? Durgā, she is in charge of... She is Kṛṣṇa's agent, so what is the harm in worshiping Durgā?
Prabhupāda: Harm means you remain with Durgā's province. Yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). You cannot expect to go to Kṛṣṇa's place. You have to satisfy yourself and remain within this material world. This is Durgā's place.
Room Conversation about BTG the Moon -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Of course, ācārya means director. That is another... But why they search out?(?)
Satsvarūpa: One difficulty is later in the issue they referred to Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja as "founder and director." So it makes him... "Of New Vrindaban." So you're director and he's director, so you're equal. They're described as equals. But if you were ācārya, he could not be also called ācārya of New Vrindaban.
Prabhupāda: No, it should be continued as "ācārya"
Ādi-keśava: In one place they say that if you read your Perfection of Yoga, you will sleep better.
Room Conversation with Adi-kesava Swami -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: No, we... "It is voluntary. In our society we find so many brahmacārīs, so many gṛhasthas. And if you cannot stop this itching sensation, all right, marry one girl and live peacefully like a gentle... What is this nonsense, every three weeks divorce? We are not so rascal. If we accept one girl as my wife, I take full responsibility. Because I require a girl or woman, so this woman, that one... We are not so rascal that at home I have got woman, I am searching after another woman, another naked woman. We are not so madman. The sex pleasure is there at home, and I am seeking after sex pleasure in here, here, in the club, in the... What is that? Is that vagina is different? You are so fool.
Room Conversation with Adi-kesava Swami -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Why you are going here and there, here and there, here and there? Even old man is going to the nightclub to lick another vagina. Is that civilization? You are proud of your civilization." Tell them like that. "Licking of the vagina, different, obnoxious smell. You are less than the dog. The dog likes to smell the vagina. You are like that. What is business of going another vagina? You require vagina. Take one and be satisfied. That is intelligence. First of all there is no need of vagina. But if you want, take one and be satisfied. Why you are searching after dog vagina, this vagina, that vagina, that vagina? Is that civilization?" Expose them like that. "Your brain is filled with so much stool, so we are washing it. What is the wrong there?"
Ādi-keśava: Actually they all need brainwashing.
Arrival of Devotees -- February 24, 1977, Mayapura:
Rāmeśvara: This is very timely, because the President's mother, of United States, just came to India, and it's all over the American press how she was in the Peace Corps. So this book, the copy on the back cover, "A search for meaning carries a young American Peace Corps worker to ancient city in West Bengal..." There he meets you and finds out everything he ever wanted to know. It's very timely.
Gargamuni: Why don't you put the Jimmy Carter quote on it too?
Rādhā-vallabha: This is Satsvarūpa's book.
Prabhupāda: Hm. Buses arrived?
Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In that particular Purāṇa? He says he is sorry to take your very precious time, and he prays that you answer all of his questions, which you have done. So he thanks you very much for reading this letter and for your expected help. He asks one last question in a P.S., which I think is practically an important question. He says, "To practically follow Jesus Christ for a sincere searcher of the truth who does not recognize and accept the external manifestations of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is it possible to attain love of God?" No.
Prabhupāda: Love of God means God's mercy. If God is pleased, He can do anything. So that pleasure of God can be awakened by love. This is called in Sanskrit kṛpā-siddhi. Perfection out of affection. Out of mercy.
Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Now they are atheists. They will become first-class theists. I think that there is... Just like Jagāi and Mādhāi. Jagāi and Mādhāi became great devotees. Vālmīki. Vālmīki was a dacoit. He became a... There are so many cases. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement is so superexcellent that we can turn the whole Russia to devotee. That is possible. They are searching after something solid and factual. They are harassed with this so-called Christian religion, Pope, and... That is a fact. They do not want anything humbug. But when they very critically read our literature, they will become devotee.
Morning Talk -- April 18, 1977, Bombay:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. None at all. Everybody thinks that he must have drowned himself in one of the rivers here in India, because the day that he disappeared he asked you a question, out of..., just without any reason he asked you to explain the disappearance of Junior Haridāsa. That was on the roof at Māyāpur. Thereafter, that morning, he was not seen again. And neither, I think... He's not in the West... In America no one has seen him. His parents have searched for him. They cannot find him.
Prabhupāda: Even if he has committed suicide, he'll be saved.
Room Conversation -- April 19, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: And we may be rascal; we do not know who is father. The father Himself says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā: (BG 14.4) "Here." We accept Kṛṣṇa. This is intelligence. The father is present. He says, ahaṁ bīja... The rascal is searching out: "There is no father." So immediately who denies the existence of God, he is a rascal. He is to slapped only, with shoes. That is the only remedy. Anyone who denies the existence of God. He's a rascal. He should be properly treated with shoes and beaten.
Room Conversation -- April 22, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: No. They are searching after some guide.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I've notice in Bengal, the aristocratic Bengalis, they come to our temple.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I mean, Bengalis, they're more intelligent.
Prabhupāda: They are educated.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're not smārta, not like that.
Morning Conversation -- April 29, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: So immediately I transferred myself to Jergens, keeping my goods at Mukunda's place, Michael. Then I searched out that 26 Second Avenue. From going to 26 Second Avenue taking this risk of two hundred dollars, then I became little relieved. Before that, I was simply vagabond. That was the first shelter. Then this Kīrtanānanda, Hayagrīva, Satsvarūpa, Umāpati, they guided. Brahmānanda. Some other boys also came, and they left.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Stryadhīśa.
Evening Darsana -- May 11, 1977, Hrishikesh:
Prabhupāda: You are searching after that one who has become many.
German man (1): I don't say. I don't say. All prophet is one?
Prabhupāda: You said that you are searching after that one.
German man (1): I thought...?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
German man (1): No.
Prabhupāda: You told me. You did not?
Evening Darsana -- May 11, 1977, Hrishikesh:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You stated you were searching or looking for the one in many.
German man (1): Ācchā. Yes, I looked the one in many. Yes, I saw it, the one in many.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You saw.
German man (1): If I see, I'll be able to see the one...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
German man (1): ...in many. Not to thought, but to see. I said to see.
Prabhupāda: Here you can see. Why don't you see Kṛṣṇa?
Evening Darsana -- May 11, 1977, Hrishikesh:
Prabhupāda: No, you feel. That is another thing. You can feel so many things. That is not authorized. But if you are searching after that one, here is the one. That is accepted by the all authorities and ācāryas. And He showed His viśva-rūpa, virāḍ-rūpa, that everything is there. Practically Arjuna was shown the virāḍ-rūpa. So why don't you accept Him? What is your objection?
German man (1): I have no objection.
Prabhupāda: Then why don't you accept?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then why don't you accept?
Srila Prabhupada Vigil -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: This Nitāi, as soon as he mixed with some pseudo devotee, fell down. Rascal. He's searching after guru. And where is now?
Rāmeśvara: In America.
Prabhupāda: What does he do?
Rāmeśvara: Some karmī job to get money.
Prabhupāda: Just see. (laughs) And he's asking my blessings for a guru. He's a fanatic. (break) ...know that story, punar muṣako bhava. (laughter)
Jayatīrtha: Yes. That's a very suitable story for this case.
Morning Conversation -- June 23, 1977, Vrndavana:
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty-fifth Street is midtown, middle of the... But actually that was the right place to be, because there were many young people at that time in the East Village who were searching for something.
Prabhupāda: Yes. I think Mukunda selected for that.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just like in San Francisco, that same kind of place we got. So many young people were there, Haight Street, Haight-Ashbury. Now those two places have become ghettoes practically.
Prabhupāda: Dangerous.
Conversation: 'How to Secure Brahmacaris' -- June 24, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: As soon as one is not devotee, we tell him, narādhama. Bas. That's all, finished. Why should I waste my time with...? But for some business we have to do, associate. That is another thing. So the student, the ideal... Then think of managerial arrangements. "Don't keep your head on the northern side." And he searched out, "There is a whole head. Oh!" On the northern or western side. So anything, if you have to inquire, you can put. (break)...Kali-yuga. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). They like this disturbed condition. "Politics, diplomacy, crookercy, I like." This is the position. One is a great cheater, crooked, diplomat—"Oh, he's very nice." You have seen it. This Sanjay Gandhi ruined the whole Congress organization, and he was being worshiped. Just see practically. It is due to him that the old, oldest political party, Congress, is ruined. And he was being worshiped. This is society's position.
Conversation -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:
Mr. Myer: We need in this country very much, in every city, in every town. For twenty years I was searching for something like this, and I think something exactly what I have dreamt of. And I think there are some very few problems that might come up, because most of the people are sannyāsīs. They are doing lot of preaching work. They aren't necessarily bothered with lot of administrative work. And if their administrative work is done by some other people, then they can concentrate more on preaching, which is very necessary.
Prabhupāda: Yes, sannyāsī, brahmacārī, means preaching. They are not meant for material management. They have dedicated their life for spiritual-although this material service is also spiritual—but they are doing on such a strength.
Room Conversation with Vrindavan De -- July 6, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: No, no. Munayaḥ sādhu pṛṣṭo 'haṁ bhavadbhir loka-maṅgalam, kṛṣṇa-sampraśno yenātmā suprasīdati (SB 1.2.5). Happiness is there. Unless you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, there is no question of... This is a false happiness, that "If I get money, I'll be happy." That is false. So many men, they have got money. We see practically. The whole European civilization, American civilization, is based on this fundamental idea that "Let us have money and we shall be happy." And nobody is happy. Nobody is happy, a single man. Very big, big buildings, very nice car, very nice road, but there is no question of happiness. Always restlessness. Is it not? They are practically proved. And becoming implicated, karma-bandha, loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9), one after another, one after another. Because he is not independent, he is under karma-bandhana. If you touch fire, it must burn you. You cannot avoid it. That is not possible. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sar... (BG 3.27), ahaṅkāra-vimūḍha. Are you independent? Suppose if you touch fire, are you independent that your finger will not burn? It must burn. So you'll search after so much so-called happiness—they're simply burning their finger, that's all.
Room Conversation Varnasrama -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: That's what I... Similarly, weaver, that cloth weaving, "kat, kat." The wife is spinning, her husband is weaving, the children is weaving, and combinedly at the end of the day there is a cloth. And people were satisfied with simple necessities. They would not charge very much for the labor. And one nice cloth requires half a pound cotton. Half a pound cotton means maybe one rupee. Another one rupee for the labor. So now they are paying twenty to thirty rupees. Unnecessarily he has to earn this money and pay to the millionaires, and he will keep three dozen motorcars, so another man will be engaged in motorcar industry. In this way time is being wasted without any search after spiritual realization. Time is wasted in such so-called technology advancement.
Room Conversation -- October 28, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: So you have to search out.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, but I've actually been doing that. And I've also been checking whenever they give interest that it's exactly the right amount. I make sure each year they credit the interest, keeping watch carefully of the fixed deposits to see when they come matured, like that.
Prabhupāda: Only thing is that M. M. De and Sulaksmana. They should not be given more than twelve...(?) (two hundred...?)
Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:
Gaura-govinda: Oh, many criticisms. Many criticisms. I also heard. There was one custom that there are some specific persons, pāṇḍās, they would go out all directions to search that wood, specific nim wood from which the new body would be carved. There are some symptoms in the wood, that nim tree. They would find it out. And they go all directions. But this year they never gone anywhere. Last time from where they have pulled up the trees, they went there, and without proper ceremony they cut down the trees and came. This was also criticism. They never followed this thing this year.
Prabhupāda: The pāṇḍās are doing...
| Page Title: | Searching (Conversations 1976 - 1977) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 03 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=89, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 89 |