Go to Vanipedia | Go to Vanisource | Go to Vanimedia


Vaniquotes - the compiled essence of Vedic knowledge


Senseless

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 1.15, Purport:

Lord Kṛṣṇa is referred to as Hṛṣīkeśa in this verse because He is the owner of all senses. The living entities are part and parcel of Him, and therefore the senses of the living entities are also part and parcel of His senses. The impersonalists cannot account for the senses of the living entities, and therefore they are always anxious to describe all living entities as senseless, or impersonal. The Lord, situated in the hearts of all living entities, directs their senses. But He directs in terms of the surrender of the living entity, and in the case of a pure devotee He directly controls the senses.

BG 2.1, Purport:

Material compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of ignorance of the real self. Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization. The word "Madhusūdana" is significant in this verse. Lord Kṛṣṇa killed the demon Madhu, and now Arjuna wanted Kṛṣṇa to kill the demon of misunderstanding that had overtaken him in the discharge of his duty. No one knows where compassion should be applied. Compassion for the dress of a drowning man is senseless. A man fallen in the ocean of nescience cannot be saved simply by rescuing his outward dress—the gross material body. One who does not know this and laments for the outward dress is called a śūdra, or one who laments unnecessarily. Arjuna was a kṣatriya, and this conduct was not expected from him. Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, can dissipate the lamentation of the ignorant man, and for this purpose the Bhagavad-gītā was sung by Him. This chapter instructs us in self-realization by an analytical study of the material body and the spirit soul, as explained by the supreme authority, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This realization is possible when one works without attachment to fruitive results and is situated in the fixed conception of the real self.

BG 2.71, Purport:

To become desireless means not to desire anything for sense gratification. In other words, desire for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious is actually desirelessness. To understand one's actual position as the eternal servitor of Kṛṣṇa, without falsely claiming this material body to be oneself and without falsely claiming proprietorship over anything in the world, is the perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One who is situated in this perfect stage knows that because Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor of everything, everything must be used for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna did not want to fight for his own sense satisfaction, but when he became fully Kṛṣṇa conscious he fought because Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight. For himself there was no desire to fight, but for Kṛṣṇa the same Arjuna fought to his best ability. Real desirelessness is desire for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, not an artificial attempt to abolish desires. The living entity cannot be desireless or senseless, but he does have to change the quality of the desires. A materially desireless person certainly knows that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa (īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1)), and therefore he does not falsely claim proprietorship over anything. This transcendental knowledge is based on self-realization-namely, knowing perfectly well that every living entity is an eternal part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa in spiritual identity, and that the eternal position of the living entity is therefore never on the level of Kṛṣṇa or greater than Him. This understanding of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the basic principle of real peace.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 2

SB 2.9.39, Purport:

Lord Brahmā thus engaged his senses in the Lord by re-creating the conditioned living entities to act in the re-created universe. This material universe is thus created and annihilated by the will of the Lord. It is created to give the conditioned soul a chance to act to return home, back to Godhead, and servants like Brahmājī, Nāradajī, Vyāsajī and their company become busy with the same purpose of the Lord: to reclaim the conditioned souls from the field of sense gratification and return them to the normal stage of engaging the senses in service of the Lord. Instead of doing so, i.e. converting the actions of the senses, the impersonalists began to make the conditioned souls sense-less, and the Lord also senseless. That is improper treatment for the conditioned souls. The diseased condition of the senses may be treated by curing the defect, but not uprooting the senses altogether. When there is some disease in the eyes, the eyes may be cured to see properly. Plucking out the eyes is no treatment. Similarly, the whole material disease is based on the process of sense gratification, and liberation from the diseased condition is re-engagement of the senses to see the beauty of the Lord, hear His glories, and act on His account. Thus Brahmājī created the universal activities again.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.9.17, Purport:

People in general are all engaged in senseless work. They are systematically unmindful of the real beneficial work, which is the devotional service of the Lord, technically called the arcanā regulations. The arcanā regulations are directly instructed by the Lord in the Nārada Pañcarātra and are strictly followed by the intelligent men, who know well that the highest perfectional goal of life is to reach Lord Viṣṇu, who is the root of the tree called the cosmic manifestation. Also, in the Bhāgavatam and in Bhagavad-gītā such regulative activities are clearly mentioned. Foolish people do not know that their self-interest is in realization of Viṣṇu. The Bhāgavatam (7.5.30-32) says:

matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā
mitho 'bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām
adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ
punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām
na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ
durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ
andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās
te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ
naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ
spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ
mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-'bhiṣekaṁ
niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat

"Persons who are determined to totally rot in false, material happiness cannot become Kṛṣṇa-minded either by instructions from teachers, by self-realization or by parliamentary discussions. They are dragged by the unbridled senses into the darkest region of ignorance, and thus they madly engage in what is called 'chewing the chewed.'

SB Canto 6

SB 6.12.12, Translation:

A foolish, senseless person cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although always dependent, he falsely thinks himself the Supreme. If one thinks, "According to one's previous fruitive actions, one's material body is created by the father and mother, and the same body is annihilated by another agent, as another animal is devoured by a tiger," this is not proper understanding. The Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself creates and devours the living beings through other living beings.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.10.8, Purport:

This is described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī as Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11). As soon as one has material desires, one loses his spiritual identity. Then all the paraphernalia of one's life, including one's senses, body, religion, patience and intelligence, are deviated from one's original Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As soon as one has material desires, one cannot properly use his senses, intelligence, mind and so on for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Māyāvādī philosophers want to become impersonal, senseless and mindless, but that is not possible. The living entity must be living, always existing with desires, ambitions and so on. These should be purified, however, so that one can desire spiritually and be spiritually ambitious, without material contamination. In every living entity these propensities exist because he is a living entity. When materially contaminated, however, one is put into the hands of material misery (janma-mṛtyu jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9)). If one wants to stop repeated birth and death, one must take to the devotional service of the Lord.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.10 Summary:

This chapter describes how Kṛṣṇa broke the twin arjuna trees, from which Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, the sons of Kuvera, then came out.

Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva were great devotees of Lord Śiva, but because of material opulence they became so extravagant and senseless that one day they were enjoying with naked girls in a lake and shamelessly walking here and there. Suddenly Nārada Muni passed by, but they were so maddened by their wealth and false prestige that even though they saw Nārada Muni present, they remained naked and were not even ashamed. In other words, because of opulence and false prestige, they lost their sense of common decency. Of course, it is the nature of the material qualities that when one becomes very much opulent in terms of wealth and a prestigious position, one loses one's sense of etiquette and does not care about anyone, even a sage like Nārada Muni. For such bewildered persons (ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā), who especially deride devotees, the proper punishment is to be again stricken with poverty. The Vedic rules and regulations prescribe how to control the false sense of prestige by the practice of yama, niyama and so on (tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena ca damena ca (SB 6.1.13)). A poor man can be convinced very easily that the prestige of an opulent position in this material world is temporary, but a rich man cannot.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.39.19, Translation:

The gopīs said: O Providence, you have no mercy! You bring embodied creatures together in friendship and love and then senselessly separate them before they fulfill their desires. This whimsical play of yours is like a child's game.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 26:

For the impersonalist and voidist philosophers, the next world is a world of senseless eternity and bliss. The voidist philosophers want to establish that ultimately everything is senseless, and the impersonalists want to establish that in the next world there is simply knowledge without any activities. Thus less intelligent salvationists try to carry imperfect knowledge into the sphere of perfect spiritual activity. Because the impersonalist experiences material activity as miserable, he wants to establish spiritual life without activity. He cannot understand the activities of devotional service. Indeed, spiritual activity in devotional service is unintelligible to the voidist philosophers and impersonalists. The Vaiṣṇava philosophers know perfectly well that the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, can never be impersonal or void, because He possesses innumerable potencies. Through His innumerable energies, He can present Himself in multiple forms and still remain the Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus despite expanding Himself in multiple forms and diffusing His innumerable energies, He can maintain His transcendental position.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 28:

When a person is confused by simultaneous happiness and tribulation and does not know what to do, this state of confusion is called pralaya, or devastation. In this condition of pralaya one sometimes falls down on the ground, and all the symptoms of ecstatic love become manifest. When the gopīs were searching after Kṛṣṇa and all of a sudden He came out from the bushes and creepers, all of them became stunned and almost senseless. In this state the gopīs appeared very beautiful. This is an example of pralaya, or devastation, in happiness.

There are also instances of pralaya in distress. One such example is described in the Tenth Canto, Thirty-ninth Chapter, verse 15, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, wherein Śukadeva Gosvāmī tells King Parīkṣit, "My dear King, when the gopīs were missing Kṛṣṇa, they were so much absorbed in meditation upon Him that all of their senses stopped functioning, and they lost all bodily sense. It was as though they had become liberated from all material conditions."

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.58-59 -- New York, April 27, 1966:

They are to be used at proper time, but not at the dictation of the senses. When one comes to that standard of life, that he is not dictated by the senses but he uses senses when it is properly required... Senses are not to be stopped. That is not prescribed. That is not prescribed. Somebody says that sense control means to use, to stop the action of the senses. No. Senses, action of the senses, cannot be stopped. Simply it has to be purified. The action of the senses has to be purified. That is the whole process. Because as spiritual living entity, we have got our spiritual senses. Those senses are now covered by this matter. We are not senseless. Just like your coat. Your coat is cut according to your hands. Because the coat, you will see, the coat has also got a hand. And why coat has got a hand? Because the user of the coat, he has got a hand. The coat is cut according to the hand of the user of the body. Similarly, this material body has been described in the Bhagavad-gītā as dress. So unless I have got body, wherefrom the dress comes? Dress has no meaning unless I have got body.

Lecture on BG 4.37-40 -- New York, August 21, 1966:

Senses. Yes. Here... Senses... We have got our transcendental senses. Now it is covered. Just like in our diseased condition, the same hand, the same nose, same ear, are there, but we feel something extraordinary. "Oh, my, there is headache. Oh, my hand is burning, burning. Oh!" But when the disease is cured, then you don't feel that sensation. So senses we have got. That is our spiritual senses. So we have to revive our spiritual senses. We are not senseless. As spirit soul, we have got our original senses, but that senses are now covered by this material contamination. Just like my senses, my hand burns during fever, due to the fever. But when the fever is moved, removed, when I get free from the fever attack, then I feel nice, similarly, we have got our senses; when we are freed from this material contamination, then we have got our proper use of the sense and enjoyment.

We have to wait for that purpose. And if our... If we, in our diseased condition, we go on satisfying the senses, then the disease will be aggravated. So for the present, saṁyatendriya, we have to control the senses just to get us cured from this material disease. That is the way. You have not to kill your senses. That is not given. Because your hand is burning, due to some disease, oh, if the physician says, "All right, cut off this hand," oh, that is not treatment. The treatment is that sensation, that burning sensation, should be cured. Hand should live as it is. So we are, we have got all desires, we have got all senses, spiritually. And we have to revive that, and that, Kṛṣṇa consciousness will help us to revive our original status of senses. And that original status of senses, that sense of enjoyment, will be spiritual enjoyment. That will give us real... Sukham atyantikaṁ yat atīndriya-grāhyam (BG 6.21).

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

So this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We haven't got to decry anything. Simply we have to change the consciousness. Everything we are now doing in the matter of sense gratification, we have to prepare ourself, we have to train ourself for the sense gratification of Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So that requires toleration. Now we are practiced to satisfy our own senses since a very, very long time. In every life, either in this human form of life, in other, so many species of life everyone is engaged for sense gratification. Now we have to change the process. Instead to satisfying my senses, we have to agree to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa. Unfortunately we make the Supreme Lord senseless. "God is impersonal; He has no sense. He has no hands. He has no mouth. He has no legs." Then what it is? So we are creating imaginary God in that way. But here is God present, Kṛṣṇa. He's with hands and legs and feet and speaking to Arjuna. So God is not senseless. If He is senseless, then there was no use of speaking this Bhagavad-gītā and taking it so very important book so that world is reading very carefully. He's not senseless. He is full sense. Otherwise His Bhagavad-gītā has no meaning. So He is full sense. Now, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness means that instead of satisfying my senses, we are to satisfy the sense of Kṛṣṇa. A simple process. It is not very difficult.

Lecture on BG 6.46-47 -- Los Angeles, February 21, 1969:

Similarly the same word is used in Bhagavad-gītā: avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11). Mūḍhāḥ means rascals. Only rascals, they think that...do not care for Me. Rascals. He does not know that he will suffer but he dares to say like that, "I don't care for..." that is avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam, paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ (BG 9.11). Without knowing the supreme position of the Lord. Cheaply, cheaply they select God. God has become so cheap. "I am God, you are God." What is the meaning of God? Do you know? If I am God, you are God, then what is the meaning of God? So, avajānanti, this word is very appropriate. Avajānanti means neglectful, don't care. But they are mūḍhāḥ. Mūḍha means senseless, without any knowledge. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Go on.

Devotee: "Only the fools and rascals deride the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa. Such fools take it upon themselves to write commentaries on the Bhagavad-gītā without any attitude of service to the Lord. Consequently they cannot properly distinguish between the word bhajanti and the word worship. So the culmination of all kinds of yoga practice lies in bhakti-yoga. All other yogas are but means to come to the point of bhakti-yoga. Yoga actually means bhakti-yoga. All other yogas are progressions toward this destination. From the beginning of karma-yoga to the end of bhakti-yoga is a long way to self-realization. Karma-yoga without fruitive results is the beginning of this path.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.8.23 -- Los Angeles, April 15, 1973:

"Yes, you take this body of hog, and eat stool." The master is there, Kṛṣṇa.

Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). He gives you the body, reminds you, "My dear living entity, you wanted to eat stool? Now you have got a proper body. Now utilize. Here is stool also." Similarly, if you want to become demigod, that also Kṛṣṇa gives you chance. Anything... There are 8,400,000 forms of life. If you want to engage your senses in any type of body, Kṛṣṇa is giving you: "Come on. Here is the body. You take." But we become exasperated by using our senses. Ultimately we become senseless. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "Don't do like this. Your senses are meant for serving Me. So you are misusing it. By misusing, you are being entrapped in different types of body; therefore to get relief from this tedious business of accepting one body and giving it up, again another body, again another... To continue this material existence, if you give up this process of sense gratification and surrender unto Me, then you are saved." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So at the present moment, our senses are contaminated. I am thinking, "I am American, so my senses should be utilized for the service of my country, my society, my nation." Big, big leaders, big, big so many things. So the real concept is that "I am American, so my senses are American senses. So it must be utilized for America." Similarly Indians thinking, others are thinking. But none of them do know it that senses belong to Kṛṣṇa. This is ignorance. No intelligence. They are thinking for the time being, that these senses, upādhi, designated... American senses, Indian senses, African senses. No.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 11, 1975:

Hṛṣīka means the senses, the material senses and the spiritual senses. So what is the spiritual senses? Spiritual sense is not senselessness. No. Purified senses. In the impurified senses I am thinking, "This body is Indian; therefore I am meant for serving India," "This body is American; therefore I am meant for giving service to America." This is upādhi. But spiritual sense means the sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam—"I am no more Indian, no more American, no more brāhmaṇa, no more śūdra." Then what I am? As Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, as Kṛṣṇa also said, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam... (BG 18.66). That is spiritual platform, that "I am no more belonging to this dharma or that dharma. I am simply surrendered soul to Kṛṣṇa." This is sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). If one can come to this platform of spiritual understanding, that "I am spirit soul. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. I am part and parcel of God..." Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). Kṛṣṇa says, "All these living entities, they are My part and parcel." Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati: (BG 15.7) "He is struggling for existence, being enwrapped by the mind and the body." This is the position.

Lecture on SB 6.2.15 -- Vrndavana, September 18, 1975:

These senses, now it is upādhi. I am thinking, "I am American; therefore my hand is American, my leg is American, my eyes are American." No. You have to become free from these "American eyes" or "Indian eyes" or "brahminical eyes" or... No. Pure eyes. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). When your eyes are purified from all these designations, when your senses are purified, then nirmalaṁ... Nirmalam means purified. That senses... Purification does not mean that you are senseless. No. Just like cataract operation of the eyes does not mean pluck out the eyes. No. The eyes will remain; the cataracts will be taken away. Then you will see. So when your material conception of life is finished, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is called ahaṁ brahmāsmi. And to simply realize ahaṁ brahmāsmi will not stay. You have to go further.

Lecture on SB 7.9.12 -- Mayapur, February 19, 1976:

Kṛṣṇa said, but we do not take Kṛṣṇa's words. Śānti means we have to accept these three principles. What is that? Kṛṣṇa is the enjoyer; He is the master; He is the proprietor. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sar... You are performing yajña. You are performing tapasya, penances. You are observing brahmacarya. So many there are, different rules and regulations. But what is the idea? To serve Kṛṣṇa, or to satisfy... (break) Sense will remain. We do not become imperson, senseless or non-sense. No. The sense must be there. It should be purified. And as soon as we purify, then we have no other business than to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. And so long we are not purified, we satisfy our senses. This is the difference between karma and bhakti.

Lecture on SB 7.9.28 -- Mayapur, March 6, 1976:

Because I am designated, I have taken this designation, "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian." Therefore we cannot take Kṛṣṇa consciousness. "Oh, this is... Kṛṣṇa is Hindu God. Kṛṣṇa is Indian. Why shall I take Kṛṣṇa?" No. "You have to be desireless" means you have to purify your this false understanding that "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," "I am Indian," "I am this." This has to be purified. One has to understand that "I am gopī-bhartur pada-kamalayor dāsa. I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa (CC Madhya 13.80)." That is purification. Then desire. Then you'll not desire anything except Kṛṣṇa's service. That is perfection. When you come to that platform, that you desire nothing but to serve Kṛṣṇa, always, twenty-four hours, then you are liberated. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Then you become nirmalam, without any material tinge. In that position only, hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. Then... My senses will be there; not that I become senseless nonsense. No. My senses are there. They will act. They'll act for simply to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. So that can be possible when you are trained up by the servant of Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise it is not possible.

Lecture on SB Lecture Excerpt -- Los Angeles, June 8, 1972:

And then next body, tathā dehāntara-prāptir... So a devotee at least is not going to be cats and dogs or trees. The nondevotees, they are.

Now they are, now the modern advancement is to be naked. So these people are going to be trees. You know Yamalārjuna. You have seen the picture. They were dancing and they were taking bath naked, and they were not ashamed when Nārada Muni was passing. So he cursed them that "You are so fool, you have lost your sense. All right, next life you become a tree, immediately." So these senseless, shameless persons who are advancing in their knowledge by becoming naked, they are going to be tree next life. The naked tree is standing naked for many thousands of years. Or animals. They have no shame. So if human being becomes so shameless, then next life is to become animal and trees.

But in the universities they say that "What is the wrong if I become an animal?" I asked them, "Do you like to be animal?" "Yes." "Then all right, next time you become animal. (laughter) This is your I give you this blessing. That's all." (laughter) Flatly said, "Yes, yes I will be happy." All right, say it. Kṛṣṇa is so kind: "You want to be naked? All right, you become naked for ten thousand years and stand up." So therefore to save ourself from degradation, to save our, this life We are Actually, we are all eternal, but because we don't want Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we want animal consciousness, tree consciousness, animal consciousness.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

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

Lord Caitanya is playing the part of an ācārya; so His conclusion should be taken. Lord Kṛṣṇa said also that kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajanti anya-devatāḥ: (BG 7.20) "Those who are worshipers of other demigods, they are mad after sense gratification." Oh, that means they are third-class men. Those who are mad after sense gratification, they are not considered first-class men because they are not transcendentalists; they are materialists, just like animals. They do not know anything. Simply sense gratification—āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna: eating, sleeping, mating and defending—that is their business. So those who are engrossed in the matter of sense gratification only, they are not in higher position. Therefore hṛta-jñānāḥ. Hṛta-jñānāḥ means those who have lost their sense. For sense gratification they have lost their sense. Hṛta-jñānāḥ. So Lord Caitanya wants to say that "Don't be hṛta-jñānāḥ. Don't be hṛta-jñānāḥ, or senseless. Be," I mean to say, "senseful."

mukhya-gauṇa-vṛtti, kiṁvā anvaya-vyatireke
vedera pratijñā kevala kahaye kṛṣṇake

In any way you study Vedas—directly, indirectly, this way or that way—the conclusion is that the objective is Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya says. And in the Bhagavad-gītā also we get the same information. You will find in the teachings of Lord Caitanya, the same thing as in the Bhagavad-gītā. That is the beauty of teachings of all ācāryas, that you won't find any deviation from the teachings of Kṛṣṇa and the teachings of ācāryas. Therefore it is said, ācāryavān puruṣo veda: "One who has the guidance of a bona fide ācārya, he knows things. He knows things, what it is." Ācāryavān puruṣo veda: "One who is under the guidance of bona fide ācārya, he knows things, what they are."

General Lectures

Lecture Excerpt -- Los Angeles, June 8, 1972:

After giving up this... This body we have to give up. And then next body, tathā dehāntara-prāptir... So a devotee at least is not going to be cats and dogs or trees. The nondevotees, they are. Now they are... Now the modern advancement is to be naked. So these people are going to be trees. You know Yamalārjuna. You have seen the picture. They were dancing and they were taking bath naked, and they were not ashamed when Nārada Muni was passing. So he cursed them that "You are so fool, you have lost your sense. All right, next life you become a tree, immediately." So these senseless, shameless persons who are advancing in their knowledge by becoming naked, they are going to be tree next life. The naked tree is standing naked for many thousands of years. Or animals—they have no shame. So if human being becomes so shameless, then next life is to become animal and trees. But in the universities they say that "What is the wrong if I become an animal?" I asked them, "Do you like to be animal?" "Yes." "Then all right, next time you become animal. (laughter) This is your... I give you this blessing. That's all." (laughter) Flatly said, "Yes, yes, I will be happy." All right, say it. Kṛṣṇa is so kind: "You want to be naked? All right, you become naked for ten thousand years and stand up."

Lecture -- Jakarta, February 28, 1973:

I became a boy or a child. Then I became a boy; I changed my body. Then I became a young man; I changed my body. Then I became an old man; I changed my body. All those bodies, different types of body—babyhood, childhood, boyhood, youthhood—they are now gone, and now I'm existing in this old body. So it will also go. But that does not mean that I'll be finished. No. I'll accept another body. As I am changing different types of bodies, I am existing. Similarly, when I shall change this body, I shall exist in another body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Dhīra means those who are sober. He's not bewildered. Adhīra. There are two kinds of men—dhīra and adhīra. Adhīra means senseless, crazy, and dhīra means with sense. He's not bewildered. He's called dhīra. So when somebody dies, one who is dhīra, he understands, "My father, my brother, or my relative, or somebody else, he has simply changed this body." Tathā dehāntaraṁ prāptir. "So what is the cause of lamenting?" These things are discussed in the Bhagavad-gītā. But even if you have got affection for that body, still Kṛṣṇa says,

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino anitya
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
(BG 2.14)

"My dear Arjuna, even if you are very much affected when the body of your son or your relative is finished, these things are temporary," āgamāpāyina anitya. This death is also temporary because he'll accept immediately another body.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Interview with a German Girl and Assorted Devotees -- March 30, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: So just see how much ignorance is prevailing. So if you can dissipate this ignorance, darkness...

Girl: (German)

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Girl: (German)

Haṁsadūta: So that... She says, yes, if one thinks in this way, then life has no sense, that there's no sense to it, if one does not believe in a life beyond this life. It is senseless.

Girl: (German) Then it's no life, no life after death.

Haṁsadūta: She says therefore, therefore they feel anything can be done in this life because in next life there is nothing.

Prabhupāda: Nothing. That I talked with big professors. They say. They say like that. Here also, the so-called Indian leaders, they are also thinking like that.

Girl: (German)

Haṁsadūta: She says she has heard that in the universities in America it is being taught about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In some of the universities Kṛṣṇa consciousness is being taught.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 7, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Then there is God?

Devotee: Yes, there may be God, but what does it matter what I do? He is controlling everything. What do I have to say?

Prabhupāda: You are so senseless that you do not understand that you are suffering. That is required, just like cats and dogs, they are suffering, they cannot understand. Your position is like that. So our point is that you are suffering, but if you become obedient to God, you will not suffer, that is our propaganda. But you are so fool, rascal, that you do not know that you are suffering. And still you are denying. God is the master, so if you do something wrong, you must suffer. That you are suffering. And we are preaching, that don't do wrong, be very nice, you will not suffer. This is our propaganda.

Devotee: But the devotees, they seem to be suffering too, from...

Prabhupāda: Yes, you cannot expect, if you are suffering from some disease, you cannot expect to be cured immediately. But one who is taking the medicine, he is intelligent. His sufferings will be gone. But these rascals, they will not take medicine even. They will continue to suffer. This is the position. Devotees actually do not suffer, but you see that he is suffering. Because you are suffering. Devotees do not suffer.

Madhudviṣa: What happens to them?

Prabhupāda: They enjoy. They enjoy. Hare Kṛṣṇa! How you are dancing always, Hare Kṛṣṇa, unless you are enjoying?

Morning Walk -- July 18, 1975, San Francisco:

Paramahaṁsa: Under the threat of nuclear warfare wouldn't Kṛṣṇa consciousness be more easy to spread?

Prabhupāda: No, threat is already there. But they are so fool that they are not afraid of the threat. Threat is already there. Everyone will die. That is the problem. So who is caring for this? They are avoiding this. They cannot take any anti measures.

Yadubara: So it will take a war to bring them to their senses a bit?

Prabhupāda: No, war is going on. But they are so senseless that they will not come to this, so rascal. Therefore they are described as mūḍha, all rascals.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very hard to preach to these fools, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: These people are so stupid, it is very difficult to preach to them.

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) No, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That will be...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, we are hearing from you and your books that we will die, and we must learn to face these problems as you mentioned, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9), but still, even as your disciples, we are not so convinced.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 12, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Anyone impersonalist—"God has no form." There are so many rascals. So he has got form to speak against God, and God has no form. This is going on all over the world. He speaks against the God, that "God is not a person." So he is person, and God is not person. Just see their foolishness. He is made by God, and he is a person, and who made him, he is not a person. This is foolishness.

Indian man: Yes, there's a good sense in it.

Prabhupāda: Everything.... But therefore they are senseless, that "I am person, my father is person..."

Indian man: No, my father is not my person.

Prabhupāda: No, no. It is understood that I am person, my father is person, his father is person, and the supreme father is not a person. Just see. If the supreme father is not a person, then wherefrom these personal fathers came here? Mūḍho nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. "Mām"—this is person. The mūḍhas cannot understand that the supreme father is a person. Therefore Arjuna, at the, when he understood Bhagavad-gītā, he declared that "It is very, very difficult..." (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa. "...to understand Your personality. It is very, very difficult." Arjuna has said. And he has accepted Him as person, puruṣaṁ śāśvatam: "You are eternally person." Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramam, puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam ādyam (BG 10.12). These things are there. The real understanding is there. And he said, "This is.... This is accepted by Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Devala."

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

Prabhupāda: Because, I have got this life, you have got this life, so we shall give up this body, we have to accept another body. We have to enter again in the womb of the mother, and packed up for so many months. And nowadays there's a risk of losing life also. The mother is killing child.

Scheverman: There's an area hopefully where we might be able to cooperate, this area of slaughter, senseless slaughter.

Prabhupāda: So many things. It is going on. So unless there is first-class man, who will guide them?

Kern: I think you ought to eliminate the second-class man who are soldiers. If you're training a man to be a soldier, he wants to fight.

Prabhupāda: That's all right; fighting is also required. When there is enemy, we are not discarding fighting. Fighting there will be. So long we are in the material world, there will be disagreement and there will be fight. You cannot stop it; that is not possible. So a class of men, they should be trained up fighting. A class of men, they should be trained up for teaching. A class of men for producing food. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). There are so many things. If you take advantage of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement cooperatively, it will be very, very good for the whole human society. And if your America takes up this call very seriously, others will follow.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation Varnasrama System Must Be Introduced -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. He has written. Not only that. Nowadays somebody has accused that even in his old age he was having sex with young girls. I do not know. But it is a fact, when he was coming in the meeting he would touch two young girls, granddaughter and granddaughter-in-law, and then come in the meeting. I have seen. One gentleman in our, the Mullick's Thakur Badhi, when we were there. He was attorney. So when there was some function, so all neighboring men were invited. So he was also invited. He would come with at least three, four prostitutes. And he was old man, blind. Asutosh Bhan. He became very rich man by cunning lawyer. He was a lawyer. So he would take a credit that "When I go to a friend's house to keep my invitation, I take some three, four prostitute and flatterer. Then..." And he'd be received very nicely. We have seen when, when we were boys, ten years, twelve years old. I have seen it. Formerly, in our father's time, it was aristocratic to keep one prostitute and keep one garden also. Then he'll get... So this man, dehātma-buddhi and sexually inclined, he is mahātmā. This is the standard of... Ramakrishna, he was worshiping goddess Kālī. It is condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante 'nya-devatāḥ (BG 7.20), that "Anyone who is worshiping a demigod, he is lost of all sense." So this man, by losing his all senses, worshiping a demigod, he became God. People do not take reference from Bhagavad-gītā, that "A demigod worshiper has no sense, and he has become God?" What kind of God? Senseless God? And God's definition is aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47), jñāna. God means full in knowledge. And a man who has no sense, he has become God? From logic. Jñāna-vairāgyayaś caiva. God means he has got full knowledge. And this man is senseless and he has become God. Logic, how you can defy? And they're accepting: "Ramakrishna is God." How you defend it? I am giving this logic. Defend.

Page Title:Senseless
Compiler:Rishab, RupaManjari
Created:23 of Sep, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=3, SB=6, CC=0, OB=2, Lec=13, Con=6, Let=0
No. of Quotes:30