Semen (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"semen" |"semen's" |"semina" |"seminal"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:

Prabhupāda: Spirit, as it is, spirit—very small. It is mentioned in the śāstra. The dimension of the spirit is one ten-thousandth portion of the tip of the hair—very small particle, smaller than the atom. This atom enters into the father's semina, and the semina is injected in the mother's womb, and then the two seminas, being emulsified, it creates a small body like a pea. And because the spirit soul is there, it develops into body. This is the science.

Woman (5): Are you saying that the mother does not enter or do anything into the spirit of the child?

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Madhudviṣa: She is speaking for woman's rights.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

Now, our body was formed in the womb of my mother. That is also described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, the physiology, physiology of this body. It is said there that according to our karma we are put through the semina of the father, injected into the womb of the mother. And the father's secretion and the mother's secretion, that is emulsified and takes the form of a pea, and that pea gradually develops. In three months, there are holes, nine holes: the eyes, ears, nose, and the..., just like we have got nine holes. And in seven months the whole body is complete. Then the child gets consciousness. And in ten months it is just ready to come out. So by air, the same air, forces the child to come out of the mother's connection.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- Germany, June 21, 1974:

I dream there is tiger. I go to the forest, and there is a tiger, and it is coming to kill me. Then I am crying, and actually I am crying. Or, in other way, I have gone to some beloved, man and woman. We are embracing, but the bodily action is going on. Otherwise why I am crying? And why there is discharge of semina? So people do not know that I am leaving this gross body, but I am entering into subtle body. Subtle body is there, not question of inside. We are packed up. Just like this body is packed up with shirt and coat, so the coat is the gross body, and the shirt is the subtle body. So when this gross body is resting, the subtle body is working. The subtle body is there. The foolish men, they cannot understand that "I am compact in some body, either subtle body or gross body." One who is too sinful, very much sinful, he does not get the gross body. He remains in the subtle body, and that is called ghost. You have heard.

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Now here is the difference. Lord Śiva, he is the greatest of the demigods. He was also allured by Pārvatī, and as a result of that attraction, this boy Kārttikeya was born. That was the, what is called, conspiracy of the demigods, that unless one son is born out of the semina of Lord Śiva, it is impossible to conquer the demons. So Kārttikeya is considered the commander in chief of the demigods. But here, another example. Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was young boy, about twenty, twenty-four years old, and he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and the landlord in that village, he was very much envious of Haridāsa Ṭhākura. He conspired and engaged one prostitute to defy him. So the prostitute agreed and at dead of night, with very beautiful dress and she was young, and tried to captivate Haridāsa Ṭhākura. But he was not captivated.

Lecture on BG 4.4 -- Bombay, March 24, 1974:

Otherwise, those who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, they will accept another material body. Immediately they'll have to enter into the womb of a mother, particular mother. Daiva-netreṇa. As soon as decision is made by superior power that "This living entity has done such and such thing, he should be promoted or degraded. He should enter into such mother's body through the semina of the father," so immediately he's given place in the material body of a mother.

But those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, immediately they are transferred where Kṛṣṇa is there. This is the process. Immediately, by spiritual force.... Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Mām eti. "Immediately he comes to Me." Kṛṣṇa is there.

Lecture on BG 5.17-25 -- Los Angeles, February 8, 1969:

This body, just like it is bursting. The bursting and the real soul particle comes out. Now he is placed according to his karma, or work. That is under this superior management. That is not in your hands. So if you are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, then you are under the control of this nature. So nature will put you into the semina of a particular father. That means the body which you actually deserve by your activities, so which you are..., that body will be given to you. And if you have desired always Kṛṣṇa, you will have a body where you can enjoy Kṛṣṇa, your spiritual body.

So therefore it is upon me, what we want. So we have to simply pray to Kṛṣṇa, as Lord Caitanya has taught us, ayi nanda-tanuja patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau: "This material atmosphere is a big ocean of nescience. Some how or other I am put into this, fallen. Please pick me up. Please pick me up and make the one dust of Your lotus feet."

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bombay, January 13, 1973:

Eko 'py asau racayitum. Just like this body has developed. How it has developed? Because the spirit soul is there. The spirit soul is injected by the semina of the father, and it is put within the womb of the mother. And then the two secretions develops into small body, like a pea, and that develops, gradually. When the development is complete, on the seventh month, the child moves. His sense, consciousness, comes. He's in the dreaming condition then. In the beginning, he's unconscious. Suṣupti. Then dreaming condition. He returns to his consciousness. And then he wants to come out. And then, in due course of time, at the end of ten months, the child comes out. This is the process of bodily construction, material bodily construction. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). This is the beginning of body. So a dead child, coming out, does not grow because the soul is not there.

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Bombay, February 19, 1974:

So there is soul and there is the gross material body and there is the subtle material body. The soul is the basic principle, but to get a body, as I have already explained, the secretion discharged by the father and the mother, they mix up, they are emulsified and forms in the body of a pea. And the soul comes through the semina of the father and he's situated there. Then the body develops. Now, just try to understand. Because the spirit soul is there, therefore matter is developing. If the soul is not there, if the child is dead, no more development. No more development. No dead child develops a body. Everyone knows. Therefore these material elements come from the spirit soul, not that spirit soul comes from the material elements. This is not. This is wrong theory. If it comes from the material combination, then why you cannot produce a living entity in the laboratory?

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Bombay, February 19, 1974:

This is the definition of perfection. So Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). Matter is produced by Kṛṣṇa's energy. It is not automatically produced. Just like I have given the example that this body, this material gross body, is produced out of the soul which is put into the womb of the mother by the semina of the father. These are... These descriptions are there in the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, very nicely, you consult.

So that knowledge is perfect because experimentally... Science means observation and experiment. If you are observing something, then you must experiment. Jñānaṁ vijñānam. In the previous verses we have already studied that jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam (BG 7.2). Jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam. Theoretical knowledge, that is observation. And sa-vijñānam means experiment. If you say, if you have observed that life is produced of chemical, then make experiment. Then it is science; otherwise it is hodge-podge. It has no meaning.

Lecture on BG 7.4-5 -- Bombay, March 30, 1971:

That means one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair is the dimension of the spirit soul. That spirit soul, on the basis of that spirit soul, this body develops. Any medical scientist knows. And we know from the Vedic literatures that this small particle, atomic particle of spiritual spark, takes shelter in the semina of the father, and the father injects the semina in the womb of the mother. Then, if the situation is favorable, then it takes a form of body just like a pea in the first night. That pealike body develops. Then different holes are manifested. They are developed into eyes, ears, mouth, and so many holes, nine holes in the body. So anyone can understand that that small particle of atomic portion of a spiritual spark develops this body, big body. Not only human body, all sorts of bodies. Similarly, this whole universe is also a development of the spiritual body of Kṛṣṇa, Paramātmā.

Lecture on BG 7.14 -- Hamburg, September 8, 1969:

The misery of taking birth means we have to take, we have to appear... After this body is finished, we have to take another body. How this body is constructed, developed? In the womb of the mother. The father gives the semina with the living entity within, and mother receives it and develops it, body. This is nature's law. So you have to live within the mother, compact, air-tight packed, for ten months, at least. Just imagine if you are packed in a bag and put in a air-tight compartment, locked up, would you like? You'll die within three seconds. But the arrangement is so nice, by nature's law, the intestine, that the mother (child) breathes with the mother's breathing, mother's fooding. Even unconscious, his development of the body goes on. That is nature's arrangement, but you cannot do that. It is by God's grace the child lives. Otherwise, by your so-called scientific calculation, nobody can live in that condition. You just try it.

Lecture on BG 13.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:

The mother distributes. We eat. We live.

Just try to understand in this way. God is the supreme father, and this material nature is the mother. The father... As this father injects the seed of living being within the womb of the mother, similarly, God injects the living being within this material world, and they come out under different forms with a material body. That varieties of material bodies are eight million four hundred thousands of species. As we get according... Yathā yoni yathā bījam. As we are getting life here according to the father's semina and mother's secretion, the body and situation... Somebody is very highly intelligent. Somebody is not so intelligent. Somebody is very rich. Somebody is poor. Somebody is middle class. Somebody is animal. Somebody is tree. Somebody is insect. Somebody is aquatic. Varieties of life.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.3.1 -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1972:

That is the seed. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the seed-giving father."

So just like here, we practically see, the male semina is injected within the womb of the female, and because the living entity, very small, one ten-thousandth part of the tip of, is there, because that living entity's there, the body grows. Unless the living entity's there, there will be no pregnancy. As soon as the living entity is there, the body grows. And that is known as pregnancy. Daily grows. The mother can understand it is growing. Similarly, without the spirit soul entering into the matter, there is no possibility of creation. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, viṣṭabhya aham ekāṁśena.

Lecture on SB 1.3.9 -- Los Angeles, September 15, 1972:

So the thorns they eat, and the thorns cut the tongue, and the blood comes out. It makes a taste, and he is thinking that the thorns are very tasteful. That is camel. Similarly, we are everyone camel because we are enjoying sex. What is this sex? I am spoiling my blood. One drop of semina is created by sixty drops of blood. That is scientific. So when one discharges this semina, he thinks he is enjoying. He does not know that he is spoiling his blood. That is camel. He thinks he is enjoying. He does not think that "I am spoiling my blood. And if I spoil my blood more, then I shall be attacked with so many diseases, I will lose my resistance power." He does not know. But he thinks that sex enjoyment is very nice. It is not nice at all.

Lecture on SB 1.3.19 -- Los Angeles, September 24, 1972:

"Bali Mahārāja, you are performing such a great sacrifice. I am at your door. I am brāhmaṇa. Will you kindly give Me some donation?" "Yes, why not? That is my... I will give you. Whatever You want, I will give You."

So immediately his spiritual master, the demon's spiritual master Śukrācārya... Śukrācārya means... Śukra means semina. Seminal ācārya. Means... You do not know. In India, there is a class of men, they are called gurus. The professional guru, rather. So Śukrācārya. Śukrācārya, he was very learned scholar. He knew everything, that "Here Vāmanadeva, He is incarnation of Viṣṇu. He has come to cheat Bali. He will ask something and then He will take everything from Bali." He knew it. So sometimes cheating also done by the Supreme Lord for the sake of the devotee. So this is not cheating. Just like father sometimes cheats a son. Suppose something is there, and two brothers, small children, they are fighting. One has taken, another is crying. So the one will not deliver to the other.

Lecture on SB 1.3.21 -- Los Angeles, September 26, 1972:

So this was the society principle, how to keep principle. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya. A very exalted status of society. So this Satyavatī is a famous woman in the history. Satyavatī. The whole Pāṇḍu-vaṁśa from Satyavatī. So now, here it is said that tataḥ saptadaśe jātaḥ satyavatyāṁ parāśarāt. Parāśarāt, semina given by Parāśara Muni in the womb of Satyavatī, satyavatyām. And cakre veda-taroḥ śākhāḥ. Veda, the knowledge, he divided. Vyāsadeva divided into many branches. Therefore Vyāsadeva is known as Veda-vyāsa. He expanded the Vedic knowledge. Formerly there was only one Veda, Atharva-veda. And this Atharva-veda was learned by tradition, by hearing from the spiritual master. There was no book. Therefore Veda is known as śruti. Śruti means hearing. The spiritual master will recite Vedic mantra, and the disciples will hear. Just like we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra or any other Vedic mantra. You hear.

Lecture on SB 1.3.30 -- Los Angeles, October 5, 1972:

Otherwise why one man is born rich and other man is working so hard, but he is lying down on the street?

So there is judgment. So the small particle of the living entity, by the judgment, superior judgment, is transferred to the semina of a particular father. And the living entity is injected in the womb of the female, and both secretion combine, the living entity develops body. This is the science. If you use contraceptive, that means if you contaminate the emulsion, the poor living entity cannot take place. That is contra... You cannot kill the living soul, but you make the circumstances unfavorable for his staying, or... Then he has to be transferred to another womb.

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

Saṁsṛteḥ, this material world is called saṁsṛti, continuously suffering. That we cannot understand. This is called ignorance. Continuously suffering. They are thinking, "We are very happy," but this material world means continuously suffering. So one living entity is dying, and his gross body is left and the subtle body, mind, intelligence, ego, carrying him in another body through the semina of the father to the womb of the mother. Then it is placed, and the body again forms, and when the body is formed, then he comes out. And within the womb of the mother there is so much suffering, we know that. Many times we have discussed. And coming, from the very moment the child is crying, there is inconveniences. So many things he cannot express. In this way, within the womb there is suffering, out of the womb there is suffering. Then growing, child or baby or boy, there are so many sufferings. Then young man—suppose he becomes family man—then earn for the family. That is also suffering.

Lecture on SB 1.7.26 -- Vrndavana, September 2, 1976:

Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca: (CC Madhya 19.140) one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. We cannot even imagine what is the length and breadth of the hair, but the soul is one ten-thousandth part. So how you can see the soul? That small particle is being carried by the subtle body—mind, intelligence, and ego. And it is pushed through the semina of the father into the womb of the mother, and another body is manufactured in due course of time, and it comes out and works. This is called transmigration of the soul—from one body to another. That body is given by superior examination, Yamarāja. Yamarāja fixes up what kind of body this soul will get. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1) (SB 3.31.1). Just like in the court, there is case, and the magistrate decides what kind of punishment this criminal should be awarded. So similarly, here in this material world, we are simply engaged in sinful activities. Here the so-called pious and impious, that is simply imagination.

Lecture on SB 1.7.26 -- Vrndavana, September 2, 1976:

There is no profit. Kṛṣṇa says, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna: (BG 8.16) "Even if you approach the topmost planet, Brahmaloka, you have to come back again." Again come back, again become grass and again be eaten by cows, and again somebody drinks milk, and he gets the semina, again gives you birth in the womb of woman. These subtle laws they do not know, how things are happening in the subtle ways.

Therefore Arjuna knows, but for our education he's asking Kṛṣṇa that "Wherefrom this high temperature is coming?" Kim idaṁ svit kuto veti deva-deva na vedmi. We cannot understand. It is not possible. So many things are there even in this material world we cannot understand.

Lecture on SB 1.7.45-46 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1976:

So the guru and the guru's family, they do not require to be chastised or punished. It has been misused in so many ways. In Bengal... Just like they say nityānanda-vaṁśa. Coming from Nityānanda. So Nityānanda had one son, Vīrabhadra. But Vīrabhadra did not marry. So there is no dynasty by semina. By nityānanda-vaṁśa means by disciplic succession. So sometimes extra advantage was taken as nityānanda-vaṁśa. But people have got respect for such thing, dynasty. So not only it is now, from time immemorial, guru, guru's dynasty... Even in Mohammedan religion there is such sentiment, Mohammed and his dynasty, Hussain, they are taken very respectfully. So considering all points, the guru's respect must be maintained. This is the sum and substance of the instruction. But there is other opposite instruction also.

If the guru is not in his proper way according to śāstra... Guru means he must be abiding by the rules and regulation of the śāstra. Sādhu-guru-śāstra.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

Kṛṣṇa personally says, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32). Pāpa-yoni... Those who are born in the family of mlecchas, yavanas, or the śvapacas, they are called pāpa-yoni. But Kṛṣṇa says, "Even they, the born in the pāpa-yoni..." Yathā bījaṁ yathā, yathā bījaṁ yathā yoni. The father is the bījam. He gives the semina, and mother is the source of birth. So combination of father, mother... So pāpa-yoni. Therefore yoni. Yoni means source of birth. So Kṛṣṇa says pāpa-yonayaḥ, plural number, yonayaḥ. Yoni, this word, śabda, so the plural number, yonayaḥ... There are many different types... That is also mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. What are that? Kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ ye 'nye ca pāpāḥ (SB 2.4.18). These are mentioned, pāpa-yoni. And less than them, if there are still pāpa-yoni, śudhyanti yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ, if such persons take shelter of a pure devotee, he's śudhyanti.

Lecture on SB 1.8.44 -- Mayapura, October 24, 1974:

Then again struggle. So our life in this material world is like that. We are struggling from the beginning, very beginning of our life. We are simply struggling. We learn from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that after the sex between the man and the woman, the man injects the semina within the womb of the mother, of the woman, and it is emulsified first night, and immediately forms a pealike form. That pealike form develops. So as soon as it is developed... Of course, in the process of development, there is no consciousness, just like deep sleeping. It is like that. But as soon as the body is little developed, the... There are nine holes: two nostrils, two ears, two eyes, one navel, one genital, one rectum. These nine holes develop. Then the consciousness comes back. And when the consciousness comes back, then he feels pains and pleasure, because when the body is developed... The body is very delicate.

Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Los Angeles, May 9, 1973:

So there was a need of one soldier commander, and the calculation was that such soldier must be there, by the demigods... Because there was always fighting between the demigods and the demons, so to kill the demons, there was need of a very great soldier who must be born by Lord Śiva, by the semina of Lord Śiva. So at that time Pārvatī, Dākṣāyaṇī, after death she has taken another body as daughter of King of Himalaya, Pārvatī. Therefore her name was at that time Pārvatī. Pārvatī means "the daughter of Parvata." Parvata means mountain. So the plan was that within the womb of Pārvatī and by the semina of Lord Śiva, one son must take birth, and later on he took and his name was Kārttikeya. Kārttikeya was born. So, but they were... Lord Śiva was in meditation, and Pārvatī was not married at that time with Lord Śiva, although she was destined to marry Lord Śiva, because in the transcendental world, the husband and wife, they are also eternal. Even the wife or husband changes body, again they become husband and wife.

Lecture on SB 1.8.49 -- Mayapura, October 29, 1974:

"Oh, you are nonsense. You cannot become my spiritual master." Because why? That Śukrācārya, when Bali Mahārāja was going to promise, so Śukrācārya advised, "Don't promise anything. He is Viṣṇu. He has come as dwarf to take everything from you." Then Bali Mahārāja found that "This is a foolish man." This Śukrācārya, Śukrācārya means jāta-gosāi, by semina they become ācārya. The semina. That is the, in India, guru-vaṁśa. Guru-vaṁśa, guru means spiritual master. The spiritual master, vaṁśa. That is disciplic succession. Evaṁ paramparā, that is guru-vaṁśa, not by semina. That is going on. The Śukrācārya: "This is my guru's family." Guru's family... "He has begotten a child, so something must be given. His credit is he's begotten child. Therefore something must be given." So this is going on, Śukrācārya. So Śukrācārya was rejected by Bali Mahārāja, Śukrācārya. "No, this family guru or the jāta-gosāi, no." Real guru.

Lecture on SB 1.15.35 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:

We should always remember that without spirit soul there cannot be any material development. That is practical. Just like the seed, the living soul, for changing his body, he is put into the semina of a male. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). This is the process of changing body. Daiva-netreṇa. This is being how you have to change your body. That is not under your control. After your death you are unconscious. Just like when you are on a surgical operational table you are completely under the surgeon. He puts you on the table, you unconscious, and he is operating as he likes. You don't protest. Similarly, we have got three condition. This is awakened stage we are talking, but at night we dream. That is called svapna stage, dreaming stage. And there is another stage, when you don't dream, you are simply unconsciousness.

Lecture on SB 1.15.37 -- Los Angeles, December 15, 1973:

He is tasting his own blood, and he is finding very tasteful. Similarly, everyone in this material world, he is enjoying sex life. He is enjoying his own blood, but he is thinking, "It is very good enjoyment." That is camel's enjoyment. One drop of semina is manufactured by so much blood. So unnecessarily we discharge semina means we are enjoying, spending your own blood. But the camel does not know. Similarly, camel-like man does not know. Therefore he falls diseased. It is to be used only for purpose of having good children, not for enjoyment. That is false enjoyment. So therefore it has been described as the camel. And ass. Ass means fool number one, because he works very hard. He carried the washerman's load of cloth, two tons of, but not a single cloth belongs to him. Not a single cloth. And he will agree to carry so big burden. What is the profit?

Lecture on SB 1.15.42 -- Los Angeles, December 20, 1973:

So as this body is created by my energy, my subtle energy and my gross energy... It is also... The whole energy... I am also emanation from God. The total energy is God. I am fragment, fragment energy, but still, I have got the same function. Just like I am put into the womb of the mother through the semina of the father. Now, according to my energy, I have placed into a suitable condition. If I have worked for becoming dog, then through the semina of the dog I am put into the womb of a dog mother. And if I have worked as a god, then through the semina of the father, I am put into the womb of a mother. So in this way, my conservation of energy worked there, the supply is there, and I form the body. This body is formed... This is creation. So as my body is formed, similarly, this whole universal body is formed. That is creation. They do not understand.

Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Hawaii, January 16, 1974:

That's in Dakṣa-yajña, was learned about Dakṣa-yajña. So Lord Śiva was performing yoga practice meditation, and in the meantime, his wife Devī, she took birth as daughter of Himalaya, King of Himalaya, Pārvatī. So the..., there was fight between the demigods and the demons. So there was a plan that "If by the semina of Lord Śiva, one son is born, Kārttikeya, then he'll be able to kill these demons; otherwise, it is very difficult." So Lord Śiva was engaged in meditation after the death of his wife. In the meantime, his wife took birth in the Himalaya. So now he, he has to be induced to unite with this Pārvatī. So there was plan made. The plan made that Pārvatī, young age, beautiful girl, and Lord Śiva is meditating naked, and she was offering worshipable flowers on the genital. Still, he was not disturbed. Young girl touching the genital of a person, but he is not disturbed. That is dhīraḥ, that is the example of perfection of dhīraḥ. Even in the presence of being agitated, one who is not agitated, that is called dhīraḥ.

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

"Do the trees not live? Do the bellows of the blacksmith not breathe? All around us, do the beasts not eat and discharge semen?" Purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda. The materialistic man of the modern age will argue that life, or part of it, is never meant for discussion of theosophical or theological arguments. Life is meant for the maximum duration of existence for eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, making merry and enjoying life. The modern man wants to live forever by the advancement of material science, and there are many foolish theories for prolonging life to the maximum duration. But the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam affirms that life is not meant for so-called economic development or advancement of materialistic science for the hedonistic philosophy of eating, mating, drinking and merrymaking. Life is solely meant for tapasya, for purifying existence so that one may enter into eternal life just after the end of the human form of life.

Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 15, 1972:

They also eat. They enjoy. As the camel is enjoying thorny twigs. His enjoyment, that is his enjoyment. Na khādanti na mehanti. Now, another enjoyment. Sex life, discharge. Na mehanti. Again it is described. These are very terse criticism. You see. A fact. Sex enjoyment means you discharge your semina. Your thing, not others. And it is said by medical science, some pounds of blood makes one drop of semina. That means, suppose you allow, if you allow somebody to take your blood, pounds of blood, would you like to do that? Unless it is... Nowadays, blood bank, there is going on. But anyone, if he wants to take your blood, you will protest. But our enjoyment is by giving our own blood. Tul... There is a Hindi poet, din ka ḍākinī, rāt ka bāghinī, palak palak rahe cuṣe duniyā sab bhora hoye, ghara ghara bāghinī pūje (?). It is actual for the materialistic person, that there is an animal, din ka ḍākinī, at, during daytime she is witch, and at night she is tigress.

Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 15, 1972:

Student life, if one remains brahmacārī, he becomes determined. His brain becomes very receptive. Therefore, in the brahmacārī system, complete celibacy, no connection with woman. So up to twenty-five years, if he does not discharge semen, he becomes very stout, strong, and his health is built up for whole life, and he becomes so intelligent that anything he will hear, he will remember immediately. Then after brahmacārī system, if one cannot remain brahmacārī, naiṣṭhika-brahmacārī, then the spiritual master allows him to marry. That is gṛhastha-āśrama. So when one is complete, fit for sex life, he begets children, male children, and after twenty-five years, the child becomes grown up, so he retires. In this way, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. The whole aim is Viṣṇu, how to go back to home, back to Godhead.

Not like, living like this, animals. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-khara. Not to live.

Lecture on SB 3.22.19 -- Tehran, August 8, 1976:

Pradyumna: (chants synonyms, etc.) Translation: "Therefore I shall accept this chaste girl as my wife, on the condition that after she bears semina from my body, I shall accept the life of devotional service accepted by the most perfect human beings. That process was described by Lord Viṣṇu. It is free from envy."

Prabhupāda: Read the purport.

Pradyumna: Purport: "Kardama Muni expressed his desire for a very beautiful wife to Emperor Svāyambhuva, and he accepted his daughter for marriage. He was in the hermitage practicing complete celibacy as a brahmacārī, and although he had the desire to marry, he did not want to be a householder for the whole span of his life because he was conversant with the Vedic principles of human life. According to Vedic principles, the first part of life should be utilized in brahmācārya for the development of character and spiritual qualities. In the next part of life, one may accept a wife and beget children, but one should not beget children like cats and dogs.

Lecture on SB 3.26.23-4 -- Bombay, January 1, 1975:

So the process of creation, how, one after another, it takes place, that is described here. So the total energy, mahat-tattva, by interaction, the begins... The moving, the pushing, begins from the bhagavad-vīryatā. Bhagavad-vīrya-sambhavāt. Vīrya means energy. We understand vīrya sometimes—the semina. It is something like that; not exactly the material semina, but potency or energy, spiritual energy. That is the beginning of creation.

So wherefrom the creative energy begins? That is... In the Vedic literature we understand, sa aikṣata: "Simply by glancing." Not... When there is the word vīrya, it does not mean that, as in the material world, we discharge semina by sex intercourse. It is not like that. That vīrya, that energy, can be emanated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead any way. Therefore bhagavad-vīrya-sambhavāt. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti.

Lecture on SB 3.26.23-4 -- Bombay, January 1, 1975:

So wherefrom the creative energy begins? That is... In the Vedic literature we understand, sa aikṣata: "Simply by glancing." Not... When there is the word vīrya, it does not mean that, as in the material world, we discharge semina by sex intercourse. It is not like that. That vīrya, that energy, can be emanated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead any way. Therefore bhagavad-vīrya-sambhavāt. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. Vīryatā we can understand as semina discharged from the genital. It is not like that. Vīryatā, that vīrya or that energy, can be emanated from any part of the body, of the transcendental spiritual body, everywhere. That is called omnipotency. So just like Lord Brahmā was born not from the womb of Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa... Nārāyaṇa was lying down, and Lakṣmī was present. To beget Lord Brahmā, there was no necessity of taking the help of Lakṣmījī. He sprouted a lotus flower from His navel, and there was Brahmā. So everything is possible from every part of the body, transcendental body. That is spiritual body, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), omnipotent.

Lecture on SB 3.26.29 -- Bombay, January 6, 1975:

So these things are taking place daily within the womb of the mother—how the child is developing from the day of union of the father and the mother, and, on the first day, it is like a pealike form by the semina of father and mother, and then everything develops. Different types of body, different types of intelligence, different types of brain—how it takes place? If it is simply material, then all children would have come out of the same quality. But it does not so come. Every child, baby born, has got everything separate from the others. How subtle laws of nature is working, we can just imagine. It is not possible to understand by our these material senses even this material formation of the body, what to speak of spiritual understanding.

Lecture on SB 3.26.32 -- Bombay, January 9, 1975:

And above that, there is still finer materials: mind, intelligence, ego. And then, behind that, the soul is there. As the material creation, behind everything, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is there, bhagavat-coditāt... It is not automatically taking place. Vikurvāṇād bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt. Just like the sex. When the semina is discharged by the man, then there is pregnancy, not automatically. Similarly, here also, the same thing: bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt, in the tamo-guṇa. That means the origin of this creation is tamo-guṇa, tamas. The whole creation is tamas, ignorance. Every one of us in ignorance. We do not know. Therefore Vedas says, tamasi mā: "Don't stay in this tamasi." Jyotir gama. Jyoti is Brahman. "Try to come out there." And the whole Vedic knowledge is based on this principle, how to again give up this association of tāmasika-guṇa and come to the sattva-guṇa, and then surpass sattva-guṇa, come to the transcendental position of brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20). This is the position.

Lecture on SB 3.26.44 -- Bombay, January 19, 1975:

What is called? Kartāham iti manyate. Actually, these rules of transformation as ordained by daiva-coditāt, by the supreme design, that is going on. But we, under the name of so-called scientist, we are trying to take the credit. Just like they are testing now—in the test tube they are making life. But the substance, the semina, male and female, that you cannot create. That you have to take from the male, from the female, then put together in the test tube. Then it may come. They are very much proud that "Now in the laboratory we are making life by chemical combination." But the actual chemical coming from by this transformation under the supervision of the daiva, daiva-coditāt. Daiva is the principle cause. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). That they do not accept. And people are giving credit to these artificial scientist.

Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Boston, May 4, 1968:

And that is the best type of civilization. Plain living, high thinking. Now, in the modern days, the high living and plain thinking. Eating, sleeping, mating. This is plain thinking. This thinking also in the animals. They are also thinking what to eat, where to live, how to defend, how to have..., have semen or sex life. These are problems in animal life also. So if we keep that animal life problem, at the same time we claim that we are civilized, is it very nice? Civilization means how to get out of this material miseries—birth, death, disease and old age. That is real advancement of civilization. If there is any way and means to get out of this problem, then we must adopt in this human form of life. And that is possible in this human form of life. In no other life.

Lecture on SB 6.1.13-14 -- New York, July 27, 1971:

In our college we read that book in Sanskrit class. Kumāra-sambhava. So he has given one example of dhīra about Lord Śiva, Mahādeva. He was meditating and the demigods, they had a plan, that "The demons are fighting with us. We are being defeated. We want a commander in chief, who must be born out of the semina of Lord Śiva." But he was in meditation. So how to do it? So Pārvatī, she was sent. She was young girl. And she was worshiping the genital of Lord Śiva. So a young girl, touching the genital, and she's present, but still Lord Śiva was in meditation. So Kālidāsa—here is the example of dhīra. He's called dhīra. In spite of presence of a young girl touching the genital, he's not, I mean to say, disturbed. Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. You have heard the Haridāsa Ṭhākura. He was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and somebody wanted to cut down. He was young man.

Lecture on SB 6.1.13-14 -- Los Angeles, June 26, 1975:

In student life there is no sex life. Then his brain will be finished. That is happening nowadays. From the student life they indulge in sex life. Therefore not very big men are coming now—because their brain substance is finished. So a brahmacārī is supposed to raise the semina to the brain, ūrdhvam anti,(?) not discharge, but keep it on the brain. Then their memory becomes very sharp. Once heard from anyone, he will exactly produce, without any forget. Where is that science now? There is no such thing.

So to fulfill the human life aim of human life, we have to become first-class human being. The first-class human being, ideal human being, is the brāhmaṇa. And the second class, the kṣatriya; the third class, vaiśya; and fourth class, śūdra. So at the present moment, Kali-yuga, kalau śūdrā-sambhavāḥ. In Kali-yuga there is no first class, second class, or even third class.

Lecture on SB 6.1.20 -- Honolulu, May 20, 1976:

The dreaming means subtle body is working. So transmigration of the soul means the soul is twice covered—subtle body and gross body—just like shirt and coat. So when this gross body is finished, the subtle body is there. It takes you to another body. The subtle body with the semina of the father, it is injected in the mother's womb, and then again you will develop another body. This is the process of transmigration. So this body, how you'll be transferred to another body, that will be judged by the Yamarāja. Daiva-netreṇa. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). By our activities we shall be judged. Those who are criminal, they will be judged, not that everyone will be judged. So, and because those who are devotees, they are... Mad-yajino 'pi yānti mām (BG 9.25). Those who have devoted their life, dedicated their life only in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are sure. Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). That is sure. They are going back to home, back to Godhead.

Lecture on SB 6.1.28-29 -- Honolulu, May 28, 1976:

And mukti means when there is no more working of the subtle body also. This death, this elimination of this gross body, that is not mukti, because the subtle body will work and subtle body will carry you to the next gross body. The soul will be carried by the subtle body and, according to its mentality, nature will put him into the semina of a certain father, and the father will inject the semina within which the soul is there, and then again, with the mixture of ovam and semen there will be formation a pealike body, and the soul is there, and he'll develop. Then there will be nine holes and hands and legs, and when the complete he comes out, again begin your chapter—either as cat, or as dog or as human being or as tree or as plant, as aquatics. There are so many, 8,400,000. So subtle body's working. Nature's work is so fine that everything... Just like this Yamadūta, immediately there, "Yes, we have come to take."

Lecture on SB 6.1.48 -- Dallas, July 30, 1975:

That is brahmacārī, strictly. Brahmacārati iti brahmacārī. So ordinary brain or brain with cow dung, they cannot understand the spiritual science. Therefore the brahmacārī should be trained up how to control the senses. Then they will be able to understand. The brain will be sharp. Instead of discharging semina, there are brahmacārīs who takes the semina to the brain. They are called ūrdhvaretaḥ, means the brain becomes very, very fertile. Once heard from the spiritual master or teacher, he will remember. He will never forget. Therefore, formerly there was no written book. Śruti, simply by hearing, a brahmacārī would be educated, simply by hearing. There was no need of books, writing. Therefore the Vedic literature is known as śruti. It is to be learned by hearing. Even there is book, still, one has to learn it by hearing from the realized soul. Therefore it is called śruti. So this śruti memorizing power should be increased if one observes strictly the life of celibacy. This is the science.

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

People learn it simply by hearing, śruti. Śrotram. Śrotriyam. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). Śrotriyam means the guru must be (an) expert who has heard from his bona fide spiritual master. That's śrotriyam, not śaukram. Śaukram means generation by semina. And śrotriyam, generation by hearing from the bona fide spiritual master. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. After hearing, one must be firmly fixed up in brahma-jñāna. Brahma-niṣṭham. This is called śrotriyam.

So dvija-bandhu means who has not perfected his knowledge by hearing from the bona fide source. He is called dvija-bandhu. And the śūdras have no facility, neither the woman has got the facility to go to the gurukula and become a brahmacārī and remain there and learn the Vedic literature. Because women were not allowed, neither could follow. It is not discrimination. It is actual fact by nature. There may be some exception, but by nature it is so fixed up.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

That is birth and death. That is birth and death. Death means you give up this body. "You" means the soul. And you carry yourself with your subtle body, mind, intelligence and ego. According to your mental situation you enter into the womb of a mother injected by the semina of your father, you get an opportunity to grow another body. It takes about seven months to grow that body. So during this period, I mean to say, quitting this body, entering into another body and to develop that body, come to the consciousness point of view, it takes seven months. So death means sleeping for seven months.

So this sleeping, our daily sleeping is also a sample of death. We are experiencing for 12 hours only or 10 hours only, but this death means you'll have to sleep for seven months, then when you wake up you'll see that you have got another body. That's all.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 Excerpt -- Toronto, June 17, 1976:

Tathā dehāntara-prāptir. After death we shall get another body, but we do not know what kind of body we are going to get. There are 8,400,000 different types of body and the life begins from the grass, from the ground. We have seen so many grass. And gradually the grass is eaten by some animals or insects, and then there is semina. Then the same semina becomes insect. From insect to bird, bird to beast, from beast to animals. It takes millions and millions of years to come to the form of human being. This is evolution. They do not know it. But that is the process. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma. You must understand that this human form of body you have got after many millions of years. Don't waste it like animals. If we utilize this human form of body just like cats and dogs, what is the difference between my life and dog's life? Therefore he says: durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ tad apy adhruvam arthadam.

Lecture on SB 7.6.16 -- New Vrindaban, June 30, 1976:

Very simply understanding. Everything is grown from the material nature. Our life is also from there. The grass is growing, and the grass is eaten by the animals, and then animals beget another animal, or vegetables we also eat and by eating we live. Then by eating we get our semina. Then we beget another children, another child. So actually we are born, every one of us born and nourished by this material nature. This is a fact, one can see. So who is the father? The mother is there, material nature, and we are children there. There must be father.

So the father's property everyone can enjoy, tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā (ISO 1). Just like these children, father, mother, whatever gives, "My dear child, you eat it." Similarly if we think in that philosophy, our process, this Deity worship, the father or the supreme maintainer gives us prasādam, we take it.

Lecture on SB 7.7.22-26 -- San Francisco, March 10, 1967:

You are not dead. Therefore soul is never dead, even it is unconscious. Just remember this chloroformic condition. You were not dead. Similarly, when you change your body, by nature's way, you wanted certain kind of body, so nature takes you. Nature takes you to such a father and mother and you are placed into the semina of similar father, and by sexual intercourse the father puts the semina in the mother's body, and the mother develops your body, particular. If you are put into the mother dog, then you develop the body of a dog. And if you are put in the mother god, then you develop the body of a god. This the process. Daive, uh, daiva-netreṇa. That carrying out, from this body to another body, that is not in your hands. That is not scientific, scientist's hand or experimental, I say, philosopher's hand. It is completely under the hand of the material nature. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says that daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14).

Lecture on SB 7.9.23 -- Mayapur, March 1, 1976:

After result is very bad. Either illicit sex or legal sex, the after result is not good. There are so many aftereffects. Even if you live... Of course, that is the Vedic training, that dharmāviruddha-kāmaḥ, sex life not against Vedic injunction. Vedic injunction is that "Do not waste your semina unnecessarily. Only you have sex life for begetting nice children, good population," that much order. So even it is done according to the Vedic principle, still, there are so many sufferings—you have to take care of the children; you have to educate them; you have to see that they are well raised. So many. So that is also botheration. But if you can remain brahmacārī, oh, you avoid this botheration.

Lecture on SB 7.9.30 -- Mayapur, March 8, 1976:

Vāstava-vastu, real knowledge. This is real knowledge. In the Bhāgavata it is said, karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantor deho upapatti: (SB 3.31.1) "A living entity gets a body," upapatti, "according to karma." Everything is stated there. After sex, the living entity takes shelter within the semina and ovum of the father and mother, and it be... It is... The formation is just like a small grain. That grain develops because the spirit soul has taken shelter. Then body... It is not that the body develops automatically, and at seven months there is life. No. Life... The consciousness may be there. That is another... Consciousness... Sometimes, if I am surcharged with anesthetics, if I am chloroformed, my consciousness is not there. That does not mean I am not there. Consciousness sometimes may be absent. One man fainted; there is no consciousness. That does not mean there is no life. There is life. The consciousness has not developed.

Lecture on SB 7.9.35 -- Mayapur, March 13, 1976:

That is not possible, although it is simply air, nothing but air. But as soon as it is gone out of it... You are great scientist. Bring this air, pump. No, there is no life. So in this way there is analysis. From water we are getting blood. From blood we are getting semina. From urine... So many things we are getting. So this body is manufactured by these things, by the material elements. So am I this body? If I am this body, then after the death why...? These material elements are there. Why you cannot replace it? I am not body. I'm living within the body. And that is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanam, tathā dehāntara (BG 2.13). Asmin dehe: "In this body there is the living entity."

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1972:

It works. That is our practical experience. Similarly, when this gross body is finished, no more usable, the subtle body carries the soul to another womb of the mother. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantor deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). Through the semina of the father, the living entity is injected within the womb of the mother, and the two secretions becomes emulsified, and it becomes just like a small pea, and within that pea the soul is there, and it develops. This is the process of transmigration of the soul from one body to another.

So soul has got form. It is not formless. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa has got also form. But that form is different from this form. When in the śāstras it is said, nirākāra, nirākāra means nirākṛta ākāra, "This ākāra, this form, is being nullified." Nirākāra does not mean there is no ākāra. This body. When it is said, nirākāra, that means the soul, the Supersoul or the soul, has no this ākāra, as we see. Just like we are seeing some dog or some cat or some hog, some tree, some plants, so many, eight million four hundred thousands of forms, but this is not the form. Nirākāreti.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.154-155 -- Gorakhpur, February 19, 1971 (Krsna Niketan):

That is the way, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya. From the energy... In the Vedas also it is said, sa aikṣata sa asṛjata: "The Supreme Personality of Godhead glanced over." In the Bhagavad-gītā also, ahaṁ bijā-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). In the material energy, Kṛṣṇa gives the seed. Just like a father gives the seed, the semina, within the womb of the mother, and a living entity comes out, similarly, within this material world the Supreme Personality puts, impregnates, the material energy with the living entities, and they come out with different types of bodies, 8,400,000's. This is the creation.

So here Caitanya Mahāprabhu quotes one verse from Viṣṇu Purāṇa: viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā (CC Madhya 6.154). You cannot say that the Absolute Person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has no energy. Niḥśakti. The Māyāvādī philosopher says that the energy generates when impersonal Brahman enters into this material energy, or māyā. He has got a body of māyā. No.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.113 -- London, July 23, 1976:

Then there must be father. And when the father says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4), "I am father," then if we believe this version, then thorough knowledge. Father, mother, children. That is family, creation. So yato ato brahmaṇas tās tu sargādyā bhāva-śaktayaḥ. So this creation is another. Just like children is creation of the semina of the father, similarly, the whole thing is creation of the Absolute Truth. And the example is given: bhavanti tapatāṁ śreṣṭha pāvakasya yathoṣṇatā. The fire, the fire must have heat, and by heat you can create so many things. In the Western countries, the electricity... What is electricity? It is heat. So heat, through electricity so many things are being created, through electric energy. The heat is created and the cool is also created. The refrigerator is going on by electric current, and heater is also going on. Two contradictory, but still, the energy is the same. Similarly, viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā (CC Madhya 6.154). It is, we have already described.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 10 -- Los Angeles, May 15, 1970:

He left this world. That's a Dakṣa-yajña story. You might have heard from Bhāgavatam. So he was engaged in meditation, and there was fight between the demons and the demigods. They wanted a very nice general. So it was concluded that with the semina of Lord Śiva, if a son is born, then he'll be able to fight this great fight between the demons. So Lord Śiva was in meditation, completely naked. So this Pārvatī was sent to worship the Śiva-liṅga just to agitate him for sex. But he was not agitated. He was still silent. So that particular instance is given by Kālidāsa, "Here is a dhīra." Dhīra. He is naked. A young girl is worshiping the genital, touching it; still he's not agitated. So that is the example of being dhīra. Dhīra means there may be causes for agitation, but one shall not be agitated. That is called dhīra. In spite of presence of the agent of agitating... Just like there is a very nice foodstuff, but still, my tongue should not be agitated.

Sri Isopanisad Lecture Excerpt -- Los Angeles, July 8, 1971:

Formerly the spiritual master, the disciplic succession, there are two ways. One is called śaukra and another is called sautra. Śaukra means succession from the seminal. Just like son. Son is born by the semina, and the disciple is born by Vedic knowledge. So the one familywise is called śaukra. Śukra means semina, coming from the śukra, and the other is sautra, by hearing. So spiritual master... In India still there are gotras. Gotras means coming from that great sage. Just like our family belongs to the Gautama gotra. Gautama Ṛṣi, from him the familywise gotra, and similarly disciplic succession is also gotra. There is no difference between putra and chatra. Putra means son, and chatra means disciple. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, putrāṁś ca śiṣyāṁś ca; they are equally treated. Both of them equally eligible for hereditary rites from the person, either he is son or disciple.

Festival Lectures

His Divine Grace Srila Sac-cid-ananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Appearance Day, Lecture -- London, September 3, 1971:

Bring water, water. Water? So today is a very auspicious day, Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda's birthday. Here is the picture of Ṭhākura Sac-cid-ānanda Bhaktivinoda. He was one of the ācāryas of this disciplic succession from Kṛṣṇa. We have got a succession table from Kṛṣṇa, genealogical table. There are two kinds of genealogical tables, one by the semina-father, his son, his son, like that. That is material genealogical table. And there is one spiritual genealogical table, disciplic succession. Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, the original father, Supreme Personality of Godhead, He spoke the Vedic knowledge to Brahma, Lord Brahma. He spoke to Nārada. Nārada spoke to Vyāsa. Vyāsa spoke to Madhvācārya. So in this disciplic succession, Lord Caitanya, from Lord Caitanya, the six Gosvāmīs, and similarly, coming down, down, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, then Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, then my spiritual master, then we are next generation, my disciples.

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

"Where this living entity, where this particular man or dog or anything... He is dying. Where it will be placed?" So when that place is sanctioned, the place is selected, that "This particular man should go in such and such body," then he is at once transferred to the semina. That small particle, spiritual particle, is transferred to the semina of the father, and the father injects the semina into the mother's womb, and it gets a particular type of body according to his karma. That is Bhāgavata's version. But the Sāṅkhya philosophy, they say, because they have no idea that there is spiritual spark, they think simply that, simply the father and mother's or man and woman's sex life produces life.

So here practically the same thing is advocated by Kṛṣṇa, that sattvaṁ rajas tama iti sthity-utpatty-anta-hetavaḥ. Now, the creation of this material world is the three modes of material nature. There is no other cause. There is no other cause.

General Lectures

Pandal Lecture at Cross Maidan -- Bombay, March 26, 1971:

Within this material world, everything is nonpermanent, temporary. Anything you take, it has got its creation, it stays for some time, it produces some by-products, then it grows, and then it dwindles, and then it vanishes. Anything you take. Just like our body. It is produced at a certain time by combination of the semina of father and mother, and then it grows, it stays for some time and it produces some by-products, then becomes older and older, and then vanishes. This is called ṣaḍ-vikāra, six kinds of changes of material world. So although it is temporary, we cannot say it is false. It is not false. That is the difference between Māyāvāda philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy. The Vaiṣṇava philosopher takes the temporary thing, although temporary. They know how to make the best use of a bad bargain. That is Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Nirbandhe kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yukta-vairāgyam ucyate.

Pandal Lecture -- November 14, 1971, Delhi:

He is seeing all your activities. If you desire something, God will remind you. So that is good record. So all this record will be considered about your karma. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye. It will be decided that "This particular or this individual soul, he has to accept such-and-such body." Daiva-netreṇa jantur. Then that soul is transferred to the father's semina, and the father injects the semina in the womb of the woman. And then in the first night, by emulsification of the two seminas, there is a form like a pea, and that pea grows into the body. This is the secret of different types of body.

So we do not know, we are not certain that what kind of body I am going to get next, but we will have one body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). As I am getting one type of body from another type... In my this life, I was a child, I was a baby, I was a boy, I was a young man, now I am old man.

Lecture -- Delhi, December 13, 1971:

That is also arranged by prakṛti, by nature, under the direction of the Supreme. Just like if you have to paint something, then you have to secure different colors, different... Similarly, the particular type of body the soul will get, how it is to be manufactured, that is also by superior intelligence. The soul is put into the semina of a particular type of father and that quality of the semina mixes with the mother's secretion, then that grows. This is the arrangement. Svābhāviki bala-kriyā ca. Svābhāvikī. We have to think how this body will be manufactured, but Kṛṣṇa is so intelligent, His potencies are so great that simply He shall do it—"This soul should get such and such body"—immediately it is manufactured and comes out. This is Kṛṣṇa's intelligence. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). You cannot manufacture this. But under Kṛṣṇa's direction there are certain energies which can immediately manufacture.

Tenth Anniversary Address -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:

Actually, that is the fact. If you study only this verse, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ. There are so many forms of life, beginning from grass. That is also life. The grass is coming from the earth, the trees are coming from the earth, the animals, four-legged animals, they are eating grass, they are forming semina, they are discharging the semina, and the animal species of life are coming. We are eating, either eating the animal or the vegetable, we are also begetting children. The origin is from the earth. Tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir. Mahat-tattva. So we can see practically that these things are there, so many different varieties of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. They are all living entities. Aquatics, nine hundred thousand forms of life within the water, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi, everything accurate. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, the trees, plants, they are standing, sthavara. That is very great punishment.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:

Prabhupāda: Therefore our prescription is that in the beginning of life, teach him brahmācārya restraint, and when he is grown up, he is above twenty, get him married. In the beginning he will learn how to restrain. If you teach your child to become saintly, he retains his semina, his brain becomes strong, he can understand things, because wasting your semina means less intelligence. So from the beginning, if he is brahmacārī, if he stops misuse of semina, then he becomes intelligent and strong and fully grown. For want of education, everything is being stunted-brain, bodily growth, and everything. So after he is trained as a brahmacārī, if he thinks that still he will have sex enjoyment, all right, he can be married. But because he will have strength of body and brain, he will beget a child, immediately there will be male child. This is practical remedy. And because he has been trained from boyhood to renounce this material way of enjoyment, when he is fifty years old, naturally his first-born child must be twenty-five years old, so he can retire from sex life. (indistinct), because household life means a license for sex life. That is all.

Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Aquinas:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: But he goes on to argue, "The inordinate emission of semen is repugnant to the good of nature, which is the conservation of the species. Hence, after the sin of murder, whereby human nature already in actual existence is destroyed, this sort of sin seems to hold a second place whereby the generation of human nature is precluded." Well how, people today would ask, how could the argument of the generation or the, the conservation of the species still hold, since there's so many human beings, since there are almost four billion human beings on this earth, how could this argument still hold that, uh...?

Prabhupāda: That, what is that argument?

Hayagrīva: That sex is only to beget children, for propagation of the species, and any other use is...

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: By see, by exp..., by our present experience we can guess the experience which you have not actually experienced. As we see that everything has got I... I am the proprietor of this body, he is the proprietor of this house, he is the proprietor of that land, he is the proprietor..., that there must be a proprietor of the sea. This is common sense. And that is God. The proprietor of the sun, the proprietor of the moon, the sky, that is God. That is described in the Vedic literature. It is said that the moon is the mind of God, the sun is the eyes of God, the land is the foot of God, the water is the semina of God. Everything is described.

Hayagrīva: So God can be seen in nature.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Presence is just like the water has come from Him. We say the semina of God. The light is coming from God. We say the sun is the eye of God. In this way everything is related, emanation from God. So, so long we do not understand wherefrom these things are coming, it appears God is imperson. But when we understand that "Here is the source of this sky, this air, the light, the water, the land," then He is person. So impersonal feature means a subordinate feature to the person. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam: "All the sky, air, fire, air, land, water, everything, that is My expansion." Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Sarvam means everything. And mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni: (BG 9.4) "They are staying on Me." Just like the sunshine is on the sun. As soon as sun sinks, the sun, there is no sunshine. Similarly, the sunshine appears to be very big and the sun globe appears to be small, but the whole sunshine is depending on the sun globe. Similarly, the whole exhibition of impersonal representation—earth, water, air, fire, sky, so on, they are all depending on God.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: That is his mistake. As you have explained that the sky is also with reference to God... The sky is explained as the heart of God, and the water is explained as the semina of God, the moon is explained as the mind of God, the sun is explained as the eyes of God, the land is explained as the foot of God. So everything is with reference to God. So for a person who understands God, there is nothing existing without God. So how God can be separate? That is the fact. So pantheism or any "ism" you take, it has reference with God. What he says?

Hayagrīva: This, he goes on to say, he says it doesn't belong, strictly belong, strictly belong to theism or pantheism. "The answer must be it is not strictly referable to either taken by itself, that in different respects it belongs to both, and that if a choice must be made, it is theistic," that is personal, "for God for us is..."