Solid (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"solid" |"solidification" |"solidified" |"solidifies" |"solidify" |"solidifying" |"solidity" |"solids"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 1.21-22 -- London, July 18, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa says that "I appear when there is discrepancies in the, I mean to say, occupational duties of the living entities." Dharmasya glānir bhavati. We don't translate dharma as "religion." Religion in the English dictionary, it is "a kind of faith." Faith can be changed. But dharma is a word which cannot be changed. If it is changed, it is to be understood artificial. Just like the water. Water is liquid, everyone knows. But sometimes water becomes hard, very hard, ice. So that is not the natural position of water. Artificially, on account of excessive cold or by artificial means the water becomes solid. But the real position of water is liquidity.

Lecture on BG 1.30 -- London, July 23, 1973:

British man: ...made of a very inferior metal, in fact, in lead. But we couldn't think anything better than having this badge made for you in solid gold, twenty-four carat, and hereby we present it on behalf of the members of the guild to you, our most beloved leader.

Prabhupāda: Thank you very much. (devotees all shouting Haribol!) So, how it is to be used?

British man: Just like this, m'Lord. Has a pin on it.

Prabhupāda: Oh, I see. Thank you. Hm. Betiye, saheb. Idara chair ne. (Hindi) This is Part One? Betiye. (end)

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

That we have to change to Kṛṣṇa thinking some way or other. Transferring the thinking or consciousness to Kṛṣṇa. You do it in whatever way you like, but there are some standard way. If you follow, that will be easier. People have some idea of God, they accept. But simply having some idea of God one cannot think. But here is a solid God, Kṛṣṇa, with two hands playing flute, and one can think of Him. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti yaṁ śyāmasundaram (Bs. 5.38). They're thinking of whom? Śyāmasundara. Śyāma, blackish, but very beautiful. Śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpam. With transcendental qualities. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. "I am worshiping that Govinda." So we have to mold our life. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So you have got another good assistant?

Lecture on BG 2.7-11 -- New York, March 2, 1966:

He is present as incarnation. Now, God is all-powerful. God is all-powerful. So if He comes before you, you cannot deny, that "How is that, God has come?" You cannot say that. If God is all-powerful, then it is His choice. It is His free will. He can come before you, come before you, provided you are such qualified devotee. So there cannot be any solid argument that "God cannot come" or "God..." Of course, so far Vedic literatures are concerned, they accept the incarnation of God. So Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and so He is addressed as Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīka... Hṛṣīkeśa, it has got a significant, significant meaning. Hṛṣīka. Hṛṣīka means the senses, hṛṣīka. And īśa. Īśa means Lord. Īśa means Lord. So He is the Lord of the senses. He is the Lord of the senses. Similarly, Govinda, Govinda... Here also, Govinda name is also there.

Lecture on BG 2.10 -- London, August 16, 1973:

So Kṛṣṇa smiling, this smiling is very significant, prahasann. Tam uvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ prahasann iva bhārata, senayor ubhayor viṣīdantam, lamenting. First of all he came with great enthusiasm to fight; now he is lamenting. And Kṛṣṇa is mentioned here as Hṛṣīkeśa. He is solid. He is Acyuta. He is solid. He is not changed. Another significance of this word Hṛṣīkeśa... Because in Nārada-Pañcarātra the bhakti means hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam. Therefore this very name is mentioned here, Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. Bhakti means to serve Hṛṣīkeśa, the master of the senses. And the master of senses, some rascals are describing that Kṛṣṇa is immoral. He is master of senses and He is immoral. Just see how he has studied Bhagavad-gītā. If Kṛṣṇa is perfect brahmacārī... Kṛṣṇa is perfect brahmacārī, for... It was declared by Bhīṣmadeva. Bhīṣmadeva is the first-grade brahmacārī in the universe.

Lecture on BG 2.10 -- London, August 16, 1973:

On this condition you can offer your daughter." So he replied, "No, I cannot." "Why?" "You may not be king, but your son may be king." Just see, this material calculation. Then at that time he said, "No, I shall not marry. That's all. I promise. I shall not marry." So he remained brahmacārī. Therefore his name is Bhīṣma. Bhīṣma means very solid, firmly fixed. So he was a brahmacārī. For the sake, for the satisfaction of his father's senses, he remained brahmacārī.

So Bhīṣmadeva, in Rājasūya-yajña, admitted that "Nobody is better brahmacārī than Kṛṣṇa. He was within the gopīs, all young girls, but He remained a brahmacārī. If I would have been within the gopīs, I do not know what was, what would have been my condition." So therefore Kṛṣṇa is the perfect brahmacārī, Hṛṣīkeśa. And these rascals they are saying that Kṛṣṇa is immoral. No. Kṛṣṇa is perfect brahmacārī. Dhīra. Dhīra means one who is not agitated even there is cause of being agitated.

Lecture on BG Lecture Excerpts 2.44-45, 2.58 -- New York, March 25, 1966:

Now, a patient who is suffering from some disease, he is unable to enjoy, but if he forcibly enjoys, then his life becomes risky. He becomes more implicated. Just like... Of course, in your country I know that there is no such disease as typhoid, but India there is a fever called typhoid. Here it is called typhosis, or something like, medical term. That typhoid is disease of intestine. Now, in that disease, any solid food is strictly forbidden. First time is twenty or fourteen days, then twenty-one days, then forty-one days, up to sixty days. He is to live only on glucose water. That's all. Other things is dangerous for him. Now, if that typhoid patient desires to eat some solid food and if somebody, out of compassion, gives him some solid food, then it is death for him because in that condition he cannot enjoy.

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

You cannot do it. If you have to live, then you have to eat. So here the Lord says, viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ. Just like a person is diseased. He is advised by the doctor that "You shall not take such and such things." So he is starving or he is fasting. Suppose in the typhoid fever the doctor has advised him not to take any solid food. So under the instruction of the doctor, he is not taking any solid food. But suppose his brother is eating some bread. Oh, he likes that "If I could eat." But that means within himself... He is, by force, by the instruction of the physician, he is forced not to eat. But within himself he has got the tendency for eating. But out of fear that "If I eat, there will be very bad reaction of taking solid food," therefore, by force, he is not eating. Similarly, there are so many things which you are refrain from doing by force. No.

Lecture on BG 4.6-8 -- New York, July 20, 1966:

I become a Christian or Muhammadan. That, my real business of rendering service, does not change. So dharma means which you cannot change.

Just like... There are many examples in natural objects. Just like water. Water is liquid. It is not a faith. It is a fact. Water is liquid. You cannot say that water is liquid. If he changes his faith, then he can, it can become solid. No. Liquidity of water cannot be changed. Whenever there is conception, water, if I am blind, so... Suppose somebody gives me, "Take here a glass of water," I know it is liquid. So as the liquidity of water cannot be changed. Now, as soon as you speak of fire, so we understand fire is hot. Now, if you, if you... Can you change that fire becomes cold and still it is fire? No. As... So long it is fire, it is hot. So long it is water, it is liquid. Similarly, everything you analyze. Take for example chili. Chili, red pepper.

Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966:

This point we have already explained. Just like the liquidity of water cannot be changed. If it is changed... Suppose the water becomes solid. Under certain temperature, it becomes ice. But that is not its constitutional position. It is under certain condition. Similarly, our position is, our religion, or dharma, is, that we are part and parcel of the Supreme, and with that supreme consciousness we have to dovetail our activities with the Supreme. That is our constitutional position. That service attitude, transcendental service attitude, which has to be dovetailed with the supreme consciousness, is being misused by our material contact.

Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966:

So this position, this dharma, is not exactly a kind of created faith. It is the constitutional position. Dharma means the constitutional position. Just like sugar. Sugar's constitutional position is to become sweet. Salt—constitutional position is to become salty, alkaline taste. And water is liquid. Stone is solid. These specifical, specific qualification is called dharma. Similarly, we living entities, we have got a specific qualification: the eternal attitude to serve others. So that, how to serve Kṛṣṇa, how to attain Kṛṣṇa consciousness, how to give up our material engagement in different designations—this science and this truth is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). Paritrāṇāya sādhūnām (BG 4.8).

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

Vegam means urge. Just like sex urge. Everyone has got sex urge. Or so many things, we have got some urge. That Kṛṣṇa advises, that before quitting this body... The example is that suppose a man is diseased, is suffering from a type of disease. And doctor has asked him not to take solid food. Now, if he is thinking that... Because he is practiced to take solid food, he is thinking, "I must take solid food. I must take solid food..." But if he can tolerate—"No, doctor has advised not to take solid food"—if he can tolerate, then he becomes very easily cured. Similarly, sense perception, sense pleasure, is reserved for us in our spiritual life. That is actual sense pleasure. Here we are having sense pleasure artificially through this body. Before leaving this body, if we practice to stop sense pleasure as much as possible... There is training, of course. Without training, nothing can be done.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Montreal, June 3, 1968:

There are two kinds of natural sequences. Just like this water is liquid. This is natural. But this water becomes solid also. It becomes ice. That is also natural. So which one is actual natural? Liquidity. Liquidity is actual natural. And to turn into ice, solid, that is temporary natural. So there are two kinds of natural. One kind of natural... Just like we have got this body. This is also natural, but it is temporary natural. But we are eternal, and when we get our eternal existence, that is our real natural. Is that all right? So we are now in artificial natural. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). We are getting our body and finishing. So we have to transfer from this nature to the other nature, spiritual nature.

Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 23, 1976:

Now durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma: "Don't think that your life is guaranteed. We can die at any moment. Better understand the science of God in this early age." This is Prahlāda Mahārāja's recommendation. So this bhāgavata-dharma, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, should be learned from the very beginning. Then it will be solid. By nature's way younger generation, they capture very nicely. Yes. This question was asked by many gentlemen to me, that "Why younger generation attracted?" Because they are receptive. This is the age. So don't waste time. From the very beginning of life, when we can talk, when we can walk, learn Kṛṣṇa consciousness, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Life will be successful.

Lecture on BG 13.15 -- Bombay, October 9, 1973:

Because we are accustomed to see the material things, we have no eyes to see spiritual, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136), therefore Kṛṣṇa, to benefit us, to become merciful upon us, He appears in this form, arcā-vigraha, so that we can see Him. Because we have learned to see wood, stone, earth, some solid materials. We cannot see subtle things.

Lecture on BG 16.8 -- Tokyo, January 28, 1975:

No, no, "by chance." This is childish reason, "by chance." It is not very good reason. A child will say, "(By) chance, it has come." That is childish. You must give solid reason. Chance, you can say anything as chance. Everybody can say like that. That is not reason. When you bring in chance, that is not logic. That is not knowledge. If somebody says, "By chance, I have come in this world," that is not logic. I must have my father. I must have my mother. And on account of father-mother being united, I am... This is scientific. "By chance I have dropped from the sky here," (laughter) this is not logic. This kind of logic is vague only. That is no... It has no value. Do you give any value to this logic, nonsensical logic?

Lecture on BG 18.45 -- Durban, October 11, 1975:

There are many other examples. Just like water. Water is liquid, everyone knows. But sometimes water becomes solid, ice, under certain circumstances. That is not his dharma. To remain liquid-its dharma. Therefore, sometimes water, even it is transformed into solid ice, it melts, again wants to become water. This is dharma. So what is our dharma, we human being. There is no question of any sect, any nation or any party, no, as human being. As human being or living being, what is our dharma? Dharma is to render service. Every one of us is rendering service. As a family man, he is rendering service, as a society man, as a national—everyone is, whatever... Or occupation. As a medical man, you are also offering your service.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.3 -- Caracas, February 24, 1975:

Dharma does not mean a kind of faith, blind faith. Dharma means the real characteristic. For example, just like water is liquid. This is the characteristic of water. That is dharma. Stone is solid. That is the characteristic of stone. That is dharma. So faith is different thing. Faith, I have got faith today in something; tomorrow I may have faith in some other thing. And actually we see. Sometimes a person called a Hindu, he is changing his faith to Muslim or Christian. Or a Christian is changing his faith to another way. So faith can be changed. But the characteristics cannot be changed. Just like water is liquid. The liquidity cannot be changed of water. So in Sanskrit language or in Vedic literature, dharma means the characteristics which cannot be changed.

Lecture on SB 1.1.9 -- Auckland, February 20, 1973:

They are simply aiming at the preyas, immediate pleasing thing. They do not know that immature sex life spoils the brain, spoils strength. Everything is spoiled. In student life, brahmacārī system is very nice. If he keeps brahmacārī without any sex life, then his brain becomes very potent. He can remember, memory becomes very sharp, bodily sense becomes very solid. In this way his life becomes very solid for future śreyas. But that is not being taught at the present moment. But here the ṛṣis, the great sages, they are asking, puṁsām ekāntataḥ śreyas. Tan naḥ śaṁsitum arhasi, "Kindly describe what we should accept." This is called inquiry. Everyone should be inquisitive for the ultimate benefit of life. What is that ultimate benefit of life? The ultimate benefit of life is to stop this repetition of birth and death, old age and disease. That is ultimate benefit of life. But they do not know. Then?

Lecture on SB 1.2.3 -- London, August 24, 1971:

Liberation means sufficient knowledge to understand that one is not this body. That is called liberation. So after liberation there is activity. That they do not know. They think after liberation there is no other activity. Some of them say that when the waterpot is full, there is no more sound. It is solid. But our philosophy is that when one is liberated, his actual life begins. What is that actual life? The actual life is to be engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. That is actual life.

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Montreal, August 2, 1968:

And adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja, this Sanskrit word, is applicable to this Absolute Truth. Akṣaja, adhokṣaja. Akṣaja means experimental knowledge, things which you can perceive by your present senses. Just like you can touch. You can understand a thing by touching, if it is hard or soft, liquid or solid. You can smell, you can hear—so many sensual activities. So things which you can perceive by your sensual activities, they are called direct knowledge or knowledge by experiment. But which is beyond your experiment, that is called adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means beyond your sense perception. So God's another name is Adhokṣaja, means beyond our perception.

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Melbourne, April 3, 1972, Lecture at Christian Monastery:

So it can be changed next day—I accept Hindu religion or Muslim religion. But actually, dharma cannot be changed. The example is given: just like water. The characteristic of water is liquidity. So you cannot change this quality of water, liquidity. Similarly, stone is solid. You cannot change the quality of solid. This unchangeable quality is called dharma. That is really Sanskrit significance. Now, you can argue that water sometimes becomes solid, ice. That is conditional. Under certain conditions, the water becomes solid, but immediately it begins to become liquid. It melts. The tendency is to melt, not to keep solidity. So this consistency of keeping water in liquid form is called dharma.

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- New Vrindaban, September 4, 1972:

You can change your faith. Today you are Hindu; tomorrow you can become Muslim. Today you are Muslim; you can become Christian. So this kind of faith can be changed. So this is not actually dharma. Dharma means which you cannot change. That is called dharma.

Just like water is liquid. You cannot change water to become solid. You can say, argue, that water sometimes becomes solid, ice. But that is not its natural condition. That is artificial. By the temperature going down artificially, it becomes solid. But at the same time, it begins to become liquid. The ice does not remain solid. From the solidification, after refrigeration, it becomes to, become liquid because that is its natural state. So that... As liquidity is natural state of water, similarly, dharma is our natural state, the living entity.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Vrndavana, October 17, 1972:

This pravṛtti-mārga is a diseased condition. Diseased condition means you have to remain. Just like if you are suffering from fever, doctor has prescribed you that "Don't take any solid food." But if you take, you'll increase your fever. That's all. If you have come here for sex life, if you increase your sex life, then you'll be bound up by the material laws. Again accept... If you want to increase your sex life, nature will give you facilities: "All right, you become a hog. You can have sex life without any discrimination." The hog has no discrimination, mother, sister. So nature will give you that facilities. "You want sex life? All right, you get. Un..., without any hindrance, take it."

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 12, 1973:

That is not dharma. Dharma means your constitutional position and duty. That is called dharma. Just like the other day I explained. Just like chili should be pungent, sugar must be sweet, this is the idea. Water must be liquid. A stone must be solid. This is the dharma. You cannot say "liquid stone." No. That is not dharma. As soon as you say "stone," it must be solid. As soon as you say "water," it must be liquid. So this liquidity and water, the liquidity is the dharma of water. The solidity, or dharma... Similarly, we have got a dharma. We are forgotten now what is our dharma. The dharma is... Here it is stated, dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣ... (SB 1.2.8). How to awaken our consciousness to understand Kṛṣṇa, that is real dharma. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6).

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

Hayagrīva: Uh, one is that there was a mass that exploded, and all of these universes came out in the explosion. The other is that the universe is a solid state universe, that it is constantly existing and regenerating itself. These two theories. One's called the "Big Bang Theory," and the other's called "Solid State Theory," "Steady State, Steady State."

Prabhupāda: Anyway...

Hayagrīva: In either case, there was something there.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

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

Descending process. We take knowledge from the authority. Of course, the scientists also say they take from authority, but originally, as explained by our Hayagrīva Prabhu, it does not appear that the knowledge was taken from authority. It is theory. Theory, one can put theory of his own, and there are so many theories. But we don't accept theories. We want solid fact.

The solid fact is the Lord created. In the Bible also it is said that God said, "Let there be creation." So it is from the person. Here also, we find the creation begins from the person. In the Vedas it is said, sa aikṣata. Sa asṛjata. Aikṣata, "By the glance, He looked over, God looked over, and He created." The reference is to the person. We also find from our experience that whenever there is something manufacturing, or creation, we do not find automatically some matter comes into being.

Lecture on SB 1.3.20 -- Los Angeles, September 25, 1972:

And the more we expand how to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, that is spiritual. That is the difference between material and spiritual. It does not mean that material stone, material, and spiritual means it becomes zero. They are thinking like that. Śūnyavādi. They think spiritual means just the opposite number of material. "So material, we have got variegated experience, solid experience, so make it zero." That is not spiritual. That is simply negation. That philosophy is the Buddha philosophy, that "You are suffering from some disease painful, so I cut your throat. That's all. Everything finished. No more suffering. Zero. Make it zero." No. The process should be, if you are diseased, if you are suffering, the suffering should be stopped. Not that to kill you to stop the suffering. No. That is our philosophy.

Lecture on SB 1.3.25 -- Los Angeles, September 30, 1972:

Everything is given there. So why should you be misled?

So we accept incarnation of God when all the descriptions are corroborated in terms of the authorized śāstra. Otherwise we reject. That is our business. So in this verse... Why we accept Vedic scripture as solid truth? Because there is no mistake. Otherwise, how it is predicting that yuga-sandhyāyām, "In the last conjunction of the yugas, there will appear the Lord"? Kalkir nāmnā, nāmnā kalkiḥ. "His name will be Kalki. But He is not ordinary person." Nāmnā kalkir jagat-patiḥ. "He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is not ordinary man.

Lecture on SB 1.5.12-13 -- New Vrindaban, June 11, 1969:

Virakti. Bhagavad-gītā also says that paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). Just like in a hospital a diseased person is forced not to accept a certain type of foodstuff. He has the desire. He has the desire to take such food. Just like a typhoid patient, suffering from typhoid. Doctor says that "You cannot take any solid food. A little liquid food you can take." But he has the desire to take the solid food. "Oh, doctor has asked me not to take such food. All right, what can I do?" But he has got the desire. But a devotee, he hasn't got to be forced just like the physician asks him, "Don't do this." He automatically does so. Why? Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate: he has seen or he has tasted something better for which he doesn't like to take any more this abominable taste. That is bhaktiḥ pareśānu... That means when we become detestful such abominable things, then we should know that we are advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 1.7.13-14 -- Vrndavana, September 12, 1976:

Of course, Kṛṣṇa was there, because Kṛṣṇa was to give hint to Bhīma how to kill Duryodhana. So Duryodhana, by the blessings of his mother, his whole body became iron-like solid. So by beating by the Bhīma, it was not easy. So the story is that Gāndhārī, the mother of Duryodhana, she was great chaste woman. Because her husband was blind, she used to remain as blind woman covering the eyes. But she had some power. Chaste woman, anyone who sticks to the regulative principles, he gets a power, spiritual or material. He gets power. A brahmacārī gets power if he follows brahmacarya. Everyone, if we follow the prescribed rules and regulations, automatically you become powerful.

Lecture on SB 1.7.13-14 -- Vrndavana, September 12, 1976:

So her eldest son, Duryodhana, was advised to see the mother naked. She advised, "My dear son, tomorrow morning when you come to offer your obeisances to me, you come naked. I shall see you and you will be solidified just like iron." So he was going naked and Kṛṣṇa saw. So He asked him, "Where you are going?" "I am going to see my mother." "How is that? You are going naked? At least you have some langota(?). This is not good." So he took the instruction of Kṛṣṇa and covered the private part with a langota. And when Gāndhārī saw, she saw that he was not fully naked, so she regretted, "O my dear son, I asked you to come before me naked. Why you have got this...?" "No, Kṛṣṇa advised." Then she began to smile, that "My attempt is failure."

Lecture on SB 1.8.35 -- Mayapura, October 15, 1974:

I have seen in Calcutta that Sir Asutosh Mukherjee's statue there is in the Chowrangi square. So in the morning, these ordinary sweepers, they'll cleanse the statue with their brush, because the whole year, the crows have passed stool on the face. So it has become a very solid stool, fixed up. So... I have seen it, brushing like this. This is their arcanam. This is allowed. And if you worship the Deity, bathe the Deity, this is idol worship. And that municipal brush, sweeping brush, and on the face of Sir Asutosh Mukharjee, brushing, that is very good. Just see how much rascal they are! In the morning this business is done. And in the evening all big, big men will come and flower him, garland him, full of garlands. And after evening, they'll go away, and again, next morning, the crows will pass stool.

Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Mayapura, October 27, 1974:

In front of our residence there was another neighbor. So the old man had his daughter-in-law. So she was beating her one child. So I inquired through my servant, "Why this young woman is beating her child?" Now, then the servant brought me the news that this boy gave paraṭā to his elder brother who is suffering from typhoid. The typhoid... In typhoid fever, solid food is forbidden strictly, but the boy did not know. He asked his younger brother that "If you steal one paraṭā and if you give me, I am very much hungry." So he became very sympathetic to his brother, and he gave the paraṭā. And the boy was ill; he aggravated the illness. So as soon as the mother heard that he gave a paraṭā to him, he (she) began to beat: "Why did you give?" Now, it was charity, it was affection and sympathetic, but the result was beating with shoes.

Lecture on SB 1.8.48 -- Los Angeles, May 10, 1973:

Prabhupāda: Regiment or something like..., composing. Just like in your country you have got. The Seventh Fleet or something like that was sent to India. They have got a group, so many ships, so many soldiers, so many... But formerly there was no ship, no aeroplane. They used to fight with horses, soldiers, elephants. So the estimation is there. You read the estimation.

Pradyumna: "A solid phalanx of 21,870 chariots, 21,870 elephants, 109,650 infantry and 65,000 cavalry is called an akṣauhiṇī. And many akṣauhiṇīs were killed on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra."

Prabhupāda: So that's all right. Let us have kīrtana.

Lecture on SB 1.8.48 -- Mayapura, October 28, 1974:

So actually, a sane man is thinking that "After all, the idea was that I should be enthroned on this chair, on this throne of the kingdom, and for me so many animals and men were killed." Here it is mentioned, yes (reading), "A solid phalanx of 21,870 chariots, 21,870 elephants, 109,650 infantry and 65,600 calvary is called an akṣauhiṇī." Such eighteen divisions of soldiers were there on one side. "And many akṣauhiṇīs were killed on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, as the most pious king of the world, takes for himself the responsibility of killing such a huge number of living beings because the battle was fought to reinstate him on the throne. This body is, after all, meant for others.

Lecture on SB 1.16.5 -- Los Angeles, January 2, 1974:

So these kinds of plans... Just like Rāvaṇa. He said, "What is the use of becoming devotee? Oh, if you want to go to the heavenly planet, I shall make a solid staircase, reinforced concrete, and you can go there. There is no need of endeavoring for austerities, penances, no." So these people are trying like Rāvaṇa, that "We shall take you to the moon planet, Venus planet, this planet, and give us money. Now we spend. You go on spending... In future, in future." So these karmīs are just like phantasmagoria, will o' the wisp. And jñānī, they are also merging into the effulgence of Brahman. That is also another foolishness, because actually nobody can remain in that. Just like we are feeling happy here because we have got so many friends here, ladies and gentleman, and you are talking.

Lecture on SB 2.3.17 -- Los Angeles, July 12, 1969:

Nobody can keep it; it will be taken away. But the spiritual education which you are receiving in this class, oh, either the sun or sun's father, his father, nobody can take it away. It becomes a solid asset. Therefore we should utilize our consciousness, how to make it a solid asset. And that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you chant twenty-four hours very easy thing—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma... That means this time cannot be taken away by the sun. Just like he has taken away the time of, pertaining to my body. Just like I was also young man sometimes, say, fifty years ago, or, say, some years ago, but that is taken away. Now that cannot be returned. But the spiritual knowledge which I received from my spiritual master, that cannot be taken.

Lecture on SB 2.3.17 -- Los Angeles, July 12, 1969:

Everything. Simply if you understand these things, Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ... Tattvataḥ means reality, scientifically. Not by whims or sentiments or fanaticism. No. Everything. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is everything scientific, solid scientific. It is not bogus. It is not imagination. So tattvataḥ. That is called tattvataḥ, in fact, in reality, in truth. If one understands Kṛṣṇa in truth, then the result is tyaktvā deham. By giving up this body... We have to give up this body, willingly or unwillingly. A day will come when you have to submit to the laws of nature and give up this body.

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

And even stones are eatables for a particular type of animal or bird. But the human being is not meant for eating everything and anything; he is meant to eat grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, sugar, etc. Animal food is not meant for the human being. For chewing solid food, the human being has a particular type of teeth meant for cutting fruits and vegetables. The human being is endowed with two canine teeth as a concession for persons who will eat animal food at any cost. It is known to everyone that one man's food is another man's poison. Human beings are expected to accept the remnants of food offered to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and the Lord accepts foodstuff from the categories of leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. (BG 9.26).

Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972:

Pradyumna: "And even stones are eatables for a particular type of animal or bird. But the human being is not meant for eating everything and anything, save grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, sugar, etc. Animal food is not meant for the human being. For chewing solid food the human being has a particular type of teeth meant for cutting fruits and vegetables. The human being is endowed with two canine teeth as a concession..."

Prabhupāda: Our teeth is just like... You take fruit, you can easily cut. But if you take meat, bite... That is not natural. Unnaturally. But you take fruit, immediately you cut. and... So that is discrimination, that "We have to take some food, but what kind of food we shall take?" So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that you take only kṛṣṇa-prasādam, that's all. You save yourself.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Delhi, November 28, 1975:

The next engagement is tapasya, tapo. Tapasya means austerity, penances, voluntarily acceptance of something, some means of activity which may not be very palatable. But still, we have to do that. Just like a patient, if he is forbidden by the physician not to take a certain type of foodstuff, it may be pain... Just like typhoid fever. The doctor advises, "Don't take any solid food." But if we... I am accustomed to take paratha. So in typhoid to take paratha means death. Similarly, we have to follow the sastric injunction. If we really want to come out this material bondage... Material bondage means this body. Our real problem is this body. That we do not know. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti (SB 5.5.4). This will come, that "We have now become mad after sense gratification." Pramattaḥ. Pramattaḥ means prakṛṣṭa-rūpena mattaḥ.

Lecture on SB 5.5.23 -- Vrndavana, November 10, 1976:

These are required, but not for increasing but decreasing. Just like when a person is diseased he should not eat as he likes. Because he is diseased, doctor prescribes that "You take little barley water or glucose, no solid food, if you want to be cured." Similarly, these things are necessity so long this body is there. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna. But this should be decreased, not increased. That is human civilization, not to increase. Just like the Gosvāmīs in Vṛndāvana. They did not come here to increase āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna. No. They came here to decrease.

Lecture on SB 6.1.8-13 -- New York, July 24, 1971:

It comes out. Therefore in old age, or those who are diseased, they cannot absorb. They pass more urine. Therefore they become lean and thin, weak. They cannot make blood. So many machinery work is going on. And when that secretion comes to the heart, it turns into blood. Then the blood is distributed by air. It becomes solidified. It becomes flesh, it becomes muscle, it becomes bone. So many things are going on. But what we know? We say that "It is my body." What do you know about your body? Still he says that "I am God." He does not know what is going within his body, and still he's supposed to be God. So yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13).

Lecture on SB 6.1.26 -- Chicago, July 11, 1975:

Bhuñjāna, by raising him very affectionately, by giving him all necessities of life, bhuñjānaḥ prapiban, all kinds of drinks, milk, fruit juice, khādan, solid food... There are four kinds of foodstuff: something we chew, something we swallow, something we lick up, and something we drink. So everything was being supplied, bālakam, to that small boy. Every mother, every father does so. It is very natural. Sneha-yantritaḥ. Why do they do so? That is God's arrangement. If the father and mother hasn't got such affection, then the helpless child... In the beginning there is no other means of living. Even cats and dogs, even tigers, they also take care. So this is not very extraordinary thing, that human being has got affection.

Lecture on SB 6.1.32 -- San Francisco, July 17, 1975:

Otherwise how it...? It will be... Suppose a person from, coming from very high family or king's royal family, but he has acted just like dogs and dogs. Then next life he is going to have a body of hog or dog. So therefore he is put into such life, subtle life—that is Yamarāja's business—to be used in that way of life Then he is given a solid body or gross body so that the same royal prince, he can very easily eat stool. This is the process, nature's process is going on. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). They are simply explaining "nature." How nature is working, these foolish rascals, they do not know. They do not know. Nature is working. That is fact. But how the nature is working, how different forms of body, different activities are going on, by whose judgment, who is looking after, these things they do not know. This is the modern education.

Lecture on SB 6.1.45 -- Laguna Beach, July 26, 1975:

Dharma does not mean, as it is stated in some of the English dictionary, "a kind of faith." Faith may be blind. That is not dharma. Dharma means original, constitutional position. That is dharma. I have several times said... Just like water. Water is liquid. That is its dharma. Water, if by circumstantially it becomes solid, ice, but still, it tries to become again liquid because that is its dharma. You put ice, and gradually it will become liquid. That means this solid condition of the water is artificial. By some chemical composition the water has become solid, but by natural course it becomes liquid.

So our present position is solid: "Don't hear anything about God." But natural position is that we are servant of God. Because we are seeking master... The supreme master is Kṛṣṇa. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka maheśvaram (BG 5.29).

Lecture on SB 6.3.12-15 -- Gorakhpur, February 9, 1971:

Arjuna says also in the Bhagavad-gītā, "It is very difficult to understand Your personality." Everyone becomes... The other day in the Melā, Māgha-melā, one Gangeshvarananda, retired high-court judge, he said that "This is the first time, Swamijī, that we are hearing from you on solid basis about the Personality." The whole world, nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi... Nirviśeṣa... Means the impersonalists and voidists, that's all. They have no understanding what is Personality of Godhead. Gobhir indriyair hṛdā cittena na vicakṣate. One cannot, a gobhiḥ, by exercise of the senses. Gobhiḥ and indriyair hṛdā, heart also, meditation. The jñānīs, the speculators, they are speculating by sensual activities, and the yogis, they are trying to find out the Supreme within the heart, cittena.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Hong Kong, April 18, 1972:

It is not that by Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement everything, our daily routine work will be stopped. No. I am very glad to see that these small children are being trained here in such a far distant place from India. I thank our Bhūrijana Prabhu for this work. But this is the aim for training them in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, brahmacārī. If one becomes very solid in Kṛṣṇa consciousness then his further progress of life. Just like I was quoting the instance of Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja was a devotee from the very birth, but he was a great king, he was a great ruler. Dhruva Mahārāja, he was also a devotee from the very beginning of his life, but he was a great ruler, a great king. So do not misunderstand that by accepting Kṛṣṇa consciousness everything will be stopped.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 6, 1973:

It is a fact. It is a fact. Faith, you can believe for some time and again you can reject. That is faith. But what is fact, that cannot be changed. Just like water, water is liquid. That is a fact. It is not a kind of faith, it is a fact. You cannot make water solid. As soon as you talk of water, you have got immediate knowledge that it is a liquid thing. Similarly, if you take stone, the quality of stone, it is hard, it is not liquid. If somebody says, "I have brought some liquid stone." Is it possible? No, what is this nonsense. So dharma means that quality which cannot be changed. As soon as you take water, it must be liquid. If... You can say that water sometimes becomes ice, very hard. But that is not the unnatural, uh, natural state.

Lecture on SB 7.6.9-17 -- San Francisco, March 31, 1969:

The real purpose of life is, especially for the human being, is how to get away from this material bondage. So in the old age, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, when the attachment is too much grown Ko gṛheṣu pumān saktam. The attachment for home, society, friendship, is natural. But when that attachment is very solid and grown strong, at that time he says, sneha-pāśair dṛḍhair baddham. When the affection with one another is very firmly settled, how one can leave? (aside:) I am feeling warm. Wretched(?). I want to take off, yes. (sound of Prabhupāda removing sweater) It is inconveniently turned. (pause) Sneha-pāśair dṛḍhair baddham utsaheta. When our attachment becomes too much strong, it is not possible to give up this material society, friendship, love, and attachment.

Lecture on SB Lecture -- Melbourne, May 19, 1975:

Caitanya Mahāprabhu doesn't say that you chant simply Kṛṣṇa's name. If you have got any relationship with God and if you know His name and address, (laughter) then you chant His name. Unfortunately, you do not know who is God; neither you know His address, neither His activities. So take this Kṛṣṇa. Here is a solid name. And we give you His address, His father's name, His mother's name, everything. So if you have got your own God's name, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said you can chant. Have you got any name, anyone, God's name? Nobody knows?

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 8, 1972:

They meet together with unclean heart; therefore there is no solution. Whereas Kṛṣṇa consciousness means those who are meeting on the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are meeting in cleansed heart. That is the difference. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. Therefore that unity is very solid and sound. And with unclean heart, if we meet, officially, there is no possibility of unity. United Nations, it may be, in the name, but in fact, in fact it cannot be established. Go on.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.294-298 -- New York, December 19, 1966:

He took the incarnation of tortoise, Kūrma. There was a churning of the ocean, and the churning rod must be rested on something solid. So He became the churning rod, resting. And the hill, Mandara Hill, was placed, and He was feeling some itching sensation. So it was nicely itched by churning rod. So this is... He is Kūrmāvatāra. Then Raghunātha. Raghunātha. Raghunātha, this Rāma, Lord Rāma, He came to kill that daśanana, who had ten faces. Vitarasi dikṣu raṇe dik-pati-kamanīyam. So in this way there are innumerable incarnation of pastime. Nṛsiṁha. Nṛsiṁha.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, April 30, 1970:

Whenever you get time, you read the purport, you read the meaning. The whole philosophy is there. Now you are growing. There will be so many questions, so many philosophers. But our philosophy is so sound and solid, that we can meet any philosopher of the world, any philosopher. But you have to learn it. The books are there, your intelligence is there, the guidance is there. Because you are preaching, sometimes we have to meet opposing elements. So if you cannot answer properly, that will be disqualification. So every one of you should learn this philosophy. As soon as you are able to, I mean to say, guide yourself, or save yourself from the attack of the opposing element, then you'll know that you are making progress.

Festival Lectures

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, SB 6.3.24 -- Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971:

Therefore, nature is called mother, Durgā. Just like we develop this body exactly from the mother's womb. The father gives the seed, but the bodily ingredients, that is... Just like mother is developing the body, similarly, she is developing the child's body also, by eating, by the secretion, by development of the secretion, air. Air is solidifying the secretion. It is becoming gradually muscles, skin, bone, as it is becoming harder and harder. A very nice factory is going on. That is also by nature. And nature is working by the order of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, ultimate cause is Kṛṣṇa.

General Lectures

Recorded Speech to Members of ISKCON London -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1968:

Some of them are denying the existence of God, some of them are falsely trying to place themselves in place of God, some of them are in favor of the impersonal feature of God, and, at last, some of them, without being able to reach any right conclusion, are accepting the ultimate goal of life as void, or zero, in utter hopelessness and frustration. But Kṛṣṇa consciousness is solid ground for understanding Kṛṣṇa, or God, directly by the simple method of chanting the holy name of God, or Kṛṣṇa. Misled by blind leaders, the followers who themselves are blind have failed to achieve the desired success, but here is a method called by the name Kṛṣṇa consciousness which is directly offered by Kṛṣṇa, and the instructions are plainly described in the Bhagavad-gītā, given to us five thousand years ago, and again confirmed by Him in the form of Lord Caitanya five hundred years ago.

Lecture at Wayside Chapel -- Sydney, May 13, 1971:

What we mean by the exact word, Sanskrit word, corresponding to religion is dharma, d-h-a-r-m-a. That dharma is different thing from the word religion. Religion is generally understood as a kind of faith, but dharma is not like that. Dharma you cannot change. Just like water. Water is liquid. You cannot make it solid. If water becomes solid, then it is not in the natural state. If you can... You can say the water becomes sometimes solid by less temperature under certain condition. But the tendency of water is to become liquid again. Water cannot stand solid for good. This is called dharma, religion. Or, say, take it for example, a stone. Stone is solid. Stone cannot be liquid. If by chemical process you make stone liquid sometimes, as you transform stone to glass, that liquidness of stone is temporary. Similarly, the solidity of water is also temporary. So similarly, our religion, the dharma...

Lecture -- Detroit, July 16, 1971:

That is our program. It is very nice program. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not an ordinary, bluffing movement. It is a solid, authorized movement, and we are opening branches as far as possible in all parts of the world to give facility to the people, to the civilized men, to understand what is the value of his life, how he can be happy. That is our business. We have no business to cheat you, that "I give you some mantra, and you give me some money. I go away." No. We have come to serve you, so you take advantage. You don't misunderstand us, that "It is a religious sect." No. We are not religious sect. We are cultural sect. We are giving the highest culture to the human society, to awaken his lost consciousness.

Lecture -- Delhi, December 13, 1971:

It is just like it is said that you forward one step, when you see that the forward step is right place, then you take the other step. Like this. When you find this is solid, then you take it away, then you put again. It is like that. So at the time of death, as soon as it is settled up that this soul should migrate to such and such body, by superior. It is not in my hands. Daiva-netreṇa. Daiva-netreṇa means superior examination. That is called day of judgement in the Bible. Whether this soul is going to hell or heaven, that is the day of judgement. But they have insufficient knowledge, therefore they think that all the souls after death they lie down for perpetually. It is not that. Actually the judgement is there immediately and he gets another birth, either hell or heaven.

Lecture at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan -- Bombay, October 18, 1973:

Dharma does not mean you accept this dharma today and tomorrow another dharma. That is not dharma. Dharma means the natural characteristic. Just like sugar is sweet. That is its dharma. And chili is hot. That is its dharma. A snake bites. That is his dharma. Water is liquid. That is its dharma. Stone is solid. That is its dharma. You cannot change. So what is the dharma of the living entities, or the human being? Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has enunciated the dharma of the human being: jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). This is dharma, that every living entity is eternally servant of Kṛṣṇa. He cannot give it up. If he does not serve Kṛṣṇa, then he will have to serve māyā. Service is there. Nobody can say that "I don't serve anyone."

Departure Talks

Departure Address -- Los Angeles, July 15, 1974:

Some way or other, we have introduced this program in the Western countries, and you are so intelligent, you have very soon captured it. So stick to the standard; then your life is successful. It is not at all difficult. But don't deviate. Then you are pakka. Yes. Pakka means solid. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti. If you remain solid in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the māyā cannot touch you. So that is my request.

So I am traveling all over the world. I am going to see how things are going in Dallas or New Vrindaban and another... So my touring is natural. I have started this movement. I want to see that it is going on nicely. So you kindly help me. Don't deviate. That is my only request. (starts to cry) Then you will remain solid.

Departure Conversation -- Los Angeles, June 27, 1975:

Rāmeśvara: You instructed that they should not paint Lord Caitanya transparent even though He's invisible. Just like in the Gītā, when Arjuna saw the universal form, it was painted very solid all over.

Prabhupāda: Arjuna saw solid; others did not.

Rāmeśvara: But whenever it says that Lord Caitanya cannot be seen, still, we should paint Him solid?

Prabhupāda: No, no. Cannot be seen is not that.

Rāmeśvara: Well, invisible except to the eyes of Nityānanda Prabhu.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break)

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: No. This is also nonsense. There is a law. All physical things which are going on, there is a law. Just like while the temperature is below zero, the water becomes solid. That is a physical law.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. That happens when it is below zero, but our understanding of that phenomenon, that law of physics, is only because of our thought process. Our thought process analyzes it.

Prabhupāda: Analysis is also thought process, but you cannot think that when the water becomes solid, at a certain temperature, you cannot think that it is liquid. This is factual. (indistinct) Here is a medical man; there is disease. We may not find out, but he knows it must have been caused.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: Why in your mind? That is the law. When the temperature is reduced to a certain point, the water becomes frozen and becomes solid. That is the law. How can you say without law?

Śyāmasundara: But the concept of law is a mode of thought.

Prabhupāda: Well, that is imperfect human society. But nature's law, God's law, is not like that. Nature's law: just like fire burns; it burns everywhere. It is fact, perpetually. It is not that in certain cases it burns and in certain cases it does not. It burns. Even a child touches the fire, it will burn. No consideration. Just like in human law, a child steals and an adult steals. Court excuses, "He is a child. Let him be." But nature's law is not like that. The fire, whether adult touches or a child touches, it must burn. That is nature's law.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Karandhara: It's just an axiom, that if any part of the knowledge is perfect, then the whole knowledge is perfect. If you have any part of the truth, you have to have the whole truth in the highest sense. So if their theory is at all correct, and any of the premises are solid, then why it doesn't conclude itself by its own logical deduction? Why it would always have to allude to something missing, some missing factor?

Prabhupāda: Jīva jātiṣu. The Padma Purāṇa says jīva jātiṣu, so different species of life. And they give: from this, this; from this, this; from this, this. Then, just like it is said that from bird's life the beast's life comes. Now the beasts, this category is of three millions types of beasts.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Karandhara: What they mean by doctrine is that they can't agree on it and say it's fact. That there's so many short-comings that they will call it a doctrine but they won't call it fact. That's practically the whole story in scientific research: the real scientists, they never call anything a solid fact; it's always a theory or a doctrine because they never find a perfect enough conclusion which takes into account everything and perfectly reconciles...

Prabhupāda: What is that uncertainty? What do you call that?

Śyāmasundara: It's called Theory of Uncertainty. Heisenberg's Theory of Uncertainty.

Prabhupāda: That is also theory.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. You see Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa picture, you see the Deity, well-dressed Deity, artistically, flowers. So always see. Why momentary?

Śyāmasundara: So even aesthetically, one can have permanent salvation.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Aesthetic with a—I mean to say—solid program. Because Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is all goodness. You find whatever the so-called philosophers will describe, we have got already there. Already there. If you say aesthetic salvation, this is aesthetic salvation. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau **. To worship the Deity. And you cannot derive benefit unless the aesthetic sense is applied to the higher authority, with reverence and respect. That is wanted.

Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:

Prabhupāda: Repression means, suppose you have a disease, you are suffering from typhoid fever, and the doctor says that you don't take any solid food. Now if you desire to take a paratha, you have to repress it: "No, I cannot take paratha." Suppose there is looseness of your bile(?), and if you want to take some condensed milk, you have to repress it. (indistinct) go against you, you have to repress. Repress means repressing something which is going against my welfare. So in this brahmacārī system also there is repression. He should not see young woman, he should not sit down with young woman. But he desires. The desire is that "I shall see young woman." He has to repress. So this is called tapasya, voluntary repression.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Śyāmasundara: He says that there are two types of being. There is "being in itself," like this table, which is solid, massive, and then he's saying it doesn't have..., it has a phenomenal...

Prabhupāda: So that we say—the one is matter, another is spirit.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. He says "being in itself" and "being for itself." "Being for itself" means the living entity, because by choosing things he does things for himself; he makes decisions and creates things for himself.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Śyāmasundara: His idea is that because a man or a living entity has no "thingness," no solid mass, he is always changing one thing to another.

Prabhupāda: Solid... We should not be misled simply by a solid mass. The principle which is changing, it may not be a very big solid mass, but it is the active principle which is changing. It doesn't matter it is not like a big hill or mountain, but that is the active principle which is changing.

Śyāmasundara: He says that this no-thingness, nothingness...

Prabhupāda: This is not nothing. This is substance. He cannot say nothingness. He has no eyes to see. The principle which is changing, that is important. He cannot say it is nothing.

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Śyāmasundara: He says that this condition of bad faith must be replaced by solid choosing and faith in our choosing. For instance, if one chooses a certain path of action, that he must have faith that by carrying out this action valiantly, heroically, that he will be doing the right thing.

Prabhupāda: But if his decision is wrong, then what is the use of such heroism?

Śyāmasundara: He says there's no such scale of right and wrong. There is no absolute right and wrong, that everything depends upon how...

Prabhupāda: Then where is the question of responsibility if there is no right and wrong?

Śyāmasundara: Whatever I do, I must do it...

Prabhupāda: Whimsically. Whimsically. Whatever you do, you do it whimsically. Does he mean to say like that?

Philosophy Discussion on Jean-Paul Sartre:

Śyāmasundara: He says that this desire to be makes us seek after "thingness," solidity, density. I want to become like this table, because it is something that exists-stable—but because my nature is unstable, that I am always seeking after "thingness," but my real nature is "no-thingness."

Prabhupāda: The table also will not exist. Just like if I see that a tree is existing ten thousand years and I do not exist one hundred years, that does not mean the tree will exist. It will be finished after one thousand years. Because I do not see the duration of time, of its existence, I think that it will go. Similarly, I am thinking the table is existing. Table also will not exist. That is my deficiency in seeing power. Nothing will exist.

Śyāmasundara: Still this does not prevent me from wanting something solid, something dense, some situation of permanency.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is said... Just like you step forward. You first of all put your leg. When you see that it is fixed up, then you get up (indistinct). Unless you are firm, that "Now I am solid," then you take up the other leg. Similarly death takes place when it is ascertained that this soul has to enter such-and-such body, when it is settled up by higher authority, then he gives up this body and enters into (another) body.

Śyāmasundara: He says that matter is simply a series of events in which energy and not force as the real motive power, that what we call the material world, rather than being described as solid and understood in terms of force, that actually it is energy performing different events.