Three hours (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"three hour" |"three hours"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

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

That is the living symptom. Because I am living entity, you are living entity, you have got desire, I have got desire. Not this table. The table has no life; therefore it has no desire. The table cannot say that "I am standing here for so many months. Please move me to another place." No. Because it has no desire. But if I am sitting here for three hours, oh, I'll say, "Oh, I got tired. Please remove me from... Please get me another place." So desire must be there because we are living. We have to change the engagement of desires. If we engage our desires for sense gratification, that is material. But if we engage our desires for acting on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, that is our, we're free from all desires. This is the criterion.

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

So this is spiritual exchange of love. But that will be experienced when we are actually liberated from these designation, designated life. But we can begin, even in this designated life, we can begin just like an apprentice, this devotional service...

And the beginning is to devote some time. You have got twenty-four hours time. You can find out, you can pick up at least one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours. As much as you can, you devote yourself to this service of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, and then gradually you'll be free, free from the designation, and you'll realize yourself what you are and what is your position, and how you are making progress.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972:

So our yoga system is not like that, that we whole day, twenty-three hours and forty-five minutes, I engage myself in all nonsensical activities, and fifteen minutes I concentrate my mind, the meditation. That kind of yoga system is not here. Here, twenty-four-hours' meditation. Even during sleeping. Twenty-four hours means during sleeping also. Life should be melded, molded in such a way that twenty-four hours you'll be able to think of Kṛṣṇa. So we are engaging our students in so many Kṛṣṇa activities. They are going to the park, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, or distributing literature. All these activities, remembering Kṛṣṇa. They have no other, I mean to say, thought except Kṛṣṇa. So this fifteen minutes, twenty-minutes, sitting, is all right. But one who is twenty-four hours thinking of Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, how far he is advanced, that can be imagined. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says personally, yoginām api sarveṣām: (BG 6.47) "Of all the yogis..."

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972:

There are different types of yogis. It is, it is not that... Just like we do some other business, twenty-three hours, forty-five minutes, and fifteen minutes we sit down for meditation. No. Twenty-four hours. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. Sadā means twenty-four hours. That is recommendation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

tṛṇād api sunīcena

taror api sahiṣṇunā

amāninā mānadena

kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

(CC Adi 17.31)

To execute this twenty-four-hours' meditation one has to be, become, has to become, has to become very humble. Because so many people will criticize. Just like last night our Ātreya Ṛṣi was speaking that some of his fellow officer was criticizing him. So we have to tolerate. Just like when the elephant passes, many dogs bark. So we do not care for these dogs barking. As elephant, we must go on gravely. You see.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bombay, December 20, 1975:

That is also not very difficult. Kṛṣṇa says, teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). Anyone who is twenty-four hours engaged in Kṛṣṇa service, satata-yuktānām, not sporadic, that two minutes I meditate upon Kṛṣṇa and twenty-three hours sixty-eight minutes, ah, fifty-eight minutes I remain to satisfy my senses. That is not kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti means satata-yuktānām, twenty-four hours engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Just like these boys are being trained up. They have not come to me for some monetary benefit. What monetary benefit I can give to them? They are rather bringing money, and I am constructing big, big temples, their money. So still they are engaged in carrying out my order. There is no payment, no monetary benefit, because they have understood me, that he is representative of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Bombay, March 29, 1971:

These boys and girls, they are simply engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Twenty-four hours they are simply hearing about Kṛṣṇa. Twenty-four hours. Not that fifteen minutes' meditation and twenty-three hours doing all nonsense. It is twenty-four hours meditation. Even in sleeping, meditation, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.

So ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). If we simply speculate, our senses, it is not possible to understand. But if we take to this process, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau... Jihvā, this tongue, can be engaged in two processes. You can glorify Lord Kṛṣṇa. Simply glorify Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is so great, Kṛṣṇa is so kind, Kṛṣṇa is so beautiful, Kṛṣṇa is so opulent, Kṛṣṇa is so powerful. Why you make Kṛṣṇa as imperson? He has got so many qualities, transcendental qualities. What would you gain simply by saying that Kṛṣṇa is nirākāra, finish all business? No. Try to understand Kṛṣṇa, how much powerful He is, how much strong He is, how beautiful he is, how learned, wise He is, and hear from Him. The śāstras are there. Why you stop your business of Kṛṣṇa consciousness simply by saying that Kṛṣṇa is nirākāra? Kṛṣṇa is not nirākāra. How He can be nirākāra? Sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1).

Lecture on BG 9.3 -- Melbourne, April 21, 1976:

This world is relative. According to your position the relative condition is there. My past and present and future is not the same past, present, future of an ant. The ant's past, future, may be three hours or four hours. Our past, present, means hundred hours, and Brahmā's past, present, millions of years. Everything is relative, according to the position.

So real aim of life is to stop the cycle of birth and death. That is real aim of life. If we do not know this, then we are ignorant. We are ignorant. First of all we must know that "I am eternal." That is... In the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā it is very nicely explained that antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ: (BG 2.18) "My dear Arjuna, this body is destructible, but the proprietor of the body, he is eternal." That is the first instruction. I am not this body, I am the proprietor of this body. You are not this body.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- Bombay, December 26, 1972:

You require money, that's all right, but not for sense gratification, not for going to the cinema. Here in Bombay city, people are earning money, lots of money, but we see there are lots of cinemas advertised, and people go there—there are hundreds and thousands of cinema houses—and spend their money. They're standing for three hours, four hours to take a ticket for going to the cinema. Therefore actually those who are going to be religious for getting relief from this hard struggle for existence, for them arthasya, you require some artha, money... Nārthasya dharmaikāntasya. If you are actually religious, then your artha should not be spent for sense gratification. Na tasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāyo hi smṛtaḥ. Kāmaḥ means sense gratification. It should be properly utilized, if you have got money, that you should be properly utilized, not for sense gratification-wine, women, and hotel, and cinema. No. Then by your artha you are going to hell. Artha, everything.

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Vrndavana, October 21, 1972:

This is the process. We do not ask anybody that "You become Hindu or you become so and so." We simply ask, "Please come and chant with us." This is our program. I began my chanting in New York in a park, Tompkinson Square. Those who are old students... Here is Acyutānanda. He's one of the old students. He first of all came and danced. He and Brahmānanda. So that is the beginning. He knows what was the beginning. I was sitting underneath a tree like this, and no khol. It was some dundubhi. And I was playing on it from two to five, three hours, chanting. And these young boys and girls with their dogs, with their children, they began to dance. Yes. That was the beginning. Gradually, they became student. Here is... Where is our Hayagrīva Prabhu?

Lecture on SB 1.3.10 -- Los Angeles, September 16, 1972:

Side by side. Formerly, a man used to work on his field, a few steps from his house. Now we have created facility of transport; therefore we have to go to work three hundred miles away from home. This is the position. But they have no brain. They're thinking they're advancing. (chuckles) Advancing in this way, that "For my livelihood I have to go three hundred miles, three hours at least, not less than three hours. Or six hours I have to spoil. Then I can go to my office. Then I work there whole day, and again come, again six hours. Then I come at night to sleep along with my family for three hours." Yes. This is our facility. Yes.

One... There is a story. Not story, it is a fact. One day, one grown-up child was asking his mother, "Who is this gentleman?" The father was there. So the mother said, "He is your father, my dear child." So he did not see his father until he grew three years or four years old. Because when he was child, the father was rising early in the morning.

Lecture on SB 1.7.30-31 -- Vrndavana, September 26, 1976:

That is not fact. Because you cannot remain in the zero. That is not possible. We are part and parcel of God. God is ānandamaya, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). By nature, God is ānandamaya. So if you are part and parcel of God, how you can be nirānandamaya? You are also ānandamaya. That quality is there. But do you enjoy alone? You sit down in a room alone for three hours, you'll feel disturbed, immediately. And what to speak of eternally. It is impossible to remain alone. And for want of ānanda you'll again fall down in this material world. The impersonalists who think that "I have become one with the Supreme..." One with the Supreme means that is eternity, fact, sat. Sat cit ānanda. Simply by becoming sat, eternal, you don't get ānanda. That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 1.15.33 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1973:

You come to the temple, engage in the temple service. Naturally your mind will be absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. This temple is open not for making a force; just to make this process, niveśita-ātmā, always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa though. That is the process. Always, twenty-four hours. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). This is the process. Twenty-four hours we shall be engaged. Not that five minutes' meditation and then twenty-three hours, forty minutes engaged in other business. No. Twenty-four hours engaged in Kṛṣṇa's business. That is called niveśita-ātmā.

Then what will be the result? Now, upararāma saṁsṛteḥ. Upararāma means then you become, you cease from this repetition of birth and death. This will be the result. This is the actual aim of human life. Animal life and human life, this is the difference, we repeatedly say. The animal cannot understand, neither they can perform how to check birth, death, old age. That is not possible for the animals. But human being can do that. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). What is that process?

Lecture on SB 1.16.24 -- Hawaii, January 20, 1974:

That is called samādhi. No more breathing. That is Vedic, I mean to say, yogic success. Stop breathing. There are yogis, perfect... not these gymnastic-wala, no. Real yogis. They can remain without breathing for days together. That means the days he does not breathe, so much time saved: he increases his life. Suppose daily if he stops breathing for three hours, that means daily he saves three hours time. So in hundred years about..., so many, so much time. So in this way, the yogi can live for three hundred years, four hundred years, six hundred years. Still there are yogis. This is called yogic success.

So kāla, to control... You cannot control time. Just like if you have got one hundred dollars, if you deposit in a bank, you will get some interest, but you cannot make without any endeavor two hundred dollars. No, that is not possible. But if you don't spend it, then the hundred dollars remains. Similarly, your duration of life is there, and it is being wasted by breathing.

Lecture on SB 1.16.26-30 -- Hawaii, January 23, 1974:

Devotee must rise early in the morning, by four o'clock. By five o'clock, he must finish his bathing and other things. Then he takes to chanting and so many... Twenty-four hours' business must be there. So sleeping is not good. The Gosvāmīs used to sleep only two hours. I also write at night book, and I also sleep, not more then three hours. But I take sometimes little, sleep more. Not like... I don't imitate the Gosvāmīs. That try to avoid. And avoid sleeping means if we eat less, then we'll avoid. Eating, sleeping. After eating, there is sleeping. So if we eat more, then more sleeping. If we eat less, then less sleeping. Eating, sleeping, mating. And mating should be avoided. That is a great stricture. Sex life should be minimized as far as possible. Therefore we have got this restriction, "No illicit sex." Sex life, we don't say... That you cannot do, nobody can do. Therefore sex life means married life, a little concession. A license, "All right, you take this license." But not illicit sex. Then you'll never be able.

Lecture on SB 1.16.35 -- Hawaii, January 28, 1974:

This word is used in the Bhāgavata: dṛḍha-vratāḥ, strong determination: "Yes, in this life I shall go back to home, back to Godhead." This is determination. And what is the difficulty? No difficulty. Chants Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. You are taking the beads, sixteen rounds. You can be finished, utmost two hours or three hours. So you have got twenty-four hours. If you want to sleep, of course, twenty-tlree lours, that is another thing. You have to minimize your sleeping. If you cannot finish sixteen rounds, then you must not sleep on that day, you must not eat. Why don't you forget to eat, forget? Why do you forget chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa? This is negligence, aparādha, offense. Rather, you should forget your sleeping and eating, and must finish sixteen rounds. This is called determination. This is called determined. So you are welcome to take initiation, but if you are neglectful, if you want to make it a farce, that is your business. I cannot give you any protection.

Lecture on SB 2.1.1-2 -- New York, April 19, 1973:

Drum, little drum. So I was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa for from two to five, three hours, and so many boys and girls were coming and joining, and there was first photograph in the Times, New York Times, they appreciated, and people also appreciated. So this chanting, the beginning was only chanting. There was no, nothing more. At that time there was no program of prasāda distribution. That, later on it came. So we should always be confident that this chanting is not a vibration of this material world. This is not vibration of material world. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, golokera prema-dhana hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. It is imported from the spiritual world. It is completely spiritual. Otherwise how it is possible? Sometimes the so-called yogis, they say that chanting... In Bombay there is a so-called rascal, he says, "The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and chanting of Coca-cola is the same." He is such a rascal. He does not know that this is not a vibration of this material world. But one who has no knowledge, they think that "What is the meaning of this chant, 'Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa'?" But they can practically see that we can go on chanting day and night, still we shall not become tired, but any other material name you take, after chanting three times you will feel tired. That is the proof.

Lecture on SB 2.1.2 -- Vrndavana, March 17, 1974:

We should consider that... We should save time always to be absorbed in Kṛṣṇa business. The period we sleep, that is wasted. That is wasted. So we shall try to save time. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). Hari is another name of Kṛṣṇa. Sadā, twenty-four hours. Actually, the Gosvāmīs used to do. They are our examples. They were sleeping not more that two hours or utmost, three hours. So nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau **. They conquered over. This is gosvāmī. They conquered over these things. What is that? Nidrāhāra, nidrā, āhāra, vihāra. Vihāra means sense enjoyment, and āhāra means eating or collecting. Generally, eating. And nidrā. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau. Conquered. That is Vaiṣṇava. Not that out of twenty-four hours, thirty-six hours sleeping. (laughter) And at the same time, passing on as gosvāmī. What is this go...? Go-dāsa. They are go-dāsa. Go means senses, and dāsa means servant.

So our policy should be, instead of becoming servant of the senses, we have to become servant of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Delhi, November 6, 1973:

They will sleep at Delhousie Square with the peon book. I have seen. They thought that "This sleeping is our gain. We are getting salary. That is another gain. But because without working I am sleeping now for three hours in Delhousie Square, it is also another gain."

So this is the conception of the (someone coughs loudly) Disturb... (Hindi) So sleeping is also pleasure, but for the devotees, for advanced devotees, just like Gosvāmīs in Vṛndāvana, śrī-rūpa-sanātana-bhaṭṭa-raghunātha, they conquered over sleeping. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau **. Vijitau, they conquered over sleeping. That is required. Just like Arjuna is addressed, "Guḍākeśa." He conquered over sleeping. To conquer over sleeping is the success of life, not to be servant of sleeping. That is not required. That is for the conditioned soul. Nidrayā hriyate naktam. For conditioned soul. Therefore we have to practice. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau. Śrī-gaurāṅga-guṇānuvarṇana-vidhau śraddhā-samṛddhy-anvitau, nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau cātyanta-dīnau ca yau. This is the description of the gosvāmīs. Rūpa Gosvāmī used to sleep generally one and half hour only. And that is also sometimes not sleeping.

Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Delhi, November 6, 1973:

What you will understand? What is your merit that you will understand?

So everything has become professional. So therefore people are in darkness. One should be very serious, serious to understand the teachings of Bhāgavatam. Then he will actually make profit and make a successful life. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. This... Nityābhiyuktānām. Nityābhiyuktānām. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for engaging the people twenty-four hours in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, twenty-four hours. Not that partial: "Twenty-three hours and sixty minutes I spoil myself in this nidrayā hriyate naktam, and for fifteen minutes I make some Kṛṣṇa consciousness." No, not like that. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ.

Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:

They are simply, practically chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So compare any so-called yogi and jñānī and sannyāsī. They cannot stand before them in their... Even though they are not perfectly advanced, still, they cannot stand. People are appreciating. So stick to your principles.

This morning I was reading Kṛṣṇa's activities. Regularly He was rising three hours before sunrise, regularly. His wives were disgusted. As soon as there will be cock crowing, "Kakako!" Kṛṣṇa immediately... (laughter) That is warning. That is warning, nature's warning. There is no need of alarm bell. And the alarm bell going on, but he is sleeping sound. (laughter) No. And if he by chance rises, immediately stops so that it may disturb, it may not disturb. But there is nature's alarming bell, that cock crowing at three o'clock. According to the... And Kṛṣṇa will immediately rise. Although He was sleeping with His beautiful queens... The queens were disgusted. They were cursing this cock crowing, "Now Kṛṣṇa will go away. Kṛṣṇa will go away."

Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:

Why these books are written? Only for selling? Taking statistics, "How many books you have sold?" You learn, read. Always read, twenty-four hours. As soon as you get time, read. I do that. I do that. Reading, writing, or chanting. But when there is no other way, you sleep little. Not to enjoy sleep, but because it is not possible to continue, all right, sleep one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, five hours. Not more than that. Not that I am sleeping, enjoying life, up to eight o'clock, twelve o'clock.

In Western countries they sleep twelve o'clock. As soon as there was kīrtana, half-naked he used to come in New York. He used to complain, Mr. Chudy, "Oh, it is..." "Mr. Chudy, sir, I cannot do anything. You request them." That was being done in our 26 Avenue. Always police complaint, police used to come. But we did not stop. So things should be learned. We have got so many books, everything is there.

Lecture on SB 3.25.10 -- Bombay, November 10, 1974:

There must be fight." This illusion is going on. But we do not belong to any one of them. It is temporary. Just like in a railway compartment, if there is some crowd, somebody fights, "Why... Why... Why you have pushed me? Why you have taken my seat?" And there is very big fight. And somebody tolerates that "I shall sit here for two hours or for three hours. Why shall I fight?" This is one mentality. And another mentality is that he knows that for the two hours or three hours or some other hours he'll remain in that compartment, but there is fight, because ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). But two hours' seat, he's thinking, "It is my permanent seat. Why you should intrude upon my seat?"

This is going on. Nobody will be allowed to stay here in this material world. He will have to change the body, his position. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). And so long you'll remain here, you'll have to fight, struggle for existence. This is material life. And at the same time, if you make compromise, that "Never mind, it is full of miseries.

Lecture on SB 3.26.31 -- Bombay, January 8, 1975:

What is that? Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ: "He kept always his mind at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa." And his legs engaged for going... He was king, emperor. He had no business to go. But still, he was using his legs to go to the temple. This is this yoga system. You employ your senses. Instead of going to the cinema and standing there for three hours for a ticket, if you engage your legs to come to this temple, it is yoga system, so simple thing. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ. Instead of thinking some beautiful woman or beautiful man, if you think of Kṛṣṇa, the most beautiful person, then it is yoga system, so simple.

So every senses you can engage in Kṛṣṇa's service. Just we have got senses, ten senses, and the mind. So mind engaged in Kṛṣṇa, legs engaged for going to the temple, hands engaged for cleansing the temple, nose engaged for smelling the flower offered to Kṛṣṇa or tulasī offered to Kṛṣṇa, tongue to taste Kṛṣṇa's prasādam, hear Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra—in this way, you can engage all the senses. There is no need of education.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Vrndavana, October 23, 1976:

It is not painful. It is very pleasing. But we avoid it. We think it is painful. "Ah! Who is going to read books? We are meant for selling books, not for reading books." This is not good. We should read also. That is tapasya. Saddhaya. That is tapasya. Don't think that simply our books are meant for selling. No. It is meant for reading also. If we read regularly, at least two hours, three hours, that is tapasya. Tapo divyam (SB 5.5.1). To understand spiritual position, my spiritual position, Kṛṣṇa's spiritual... (aside:) Stop that. (child making noise) So that is tapasya. These are the tapasyas. To rise early in the morning, that is also tapasya. Not that every day we have to ring bell—dung, dung, dung, dung—"Get up! Get up!" "No, I am sleeping." No, you have to accept. These are the tapasyas. We cannot avoid. If we actually want to avoid this body, working like cats and dogs, like animals, then we have to undergo tapasya, a very simple tapasya.

Lecture on SB 6.1.6-8 -- New York, July 21, 1971:

So I had to take trouble to go thirty miles and come thirty miles before I could consult the doctor. You see? And if you have created cars, then you must have meet your friends and necessities thirty miles off, forty miles off. You can go from New York to Boston in one hour, but go to the airport you will take three hours. (laughter) Therefore it is called māyā-sukhāya. (laughter) Māyā means false, illusory. We are trying to create some very comfortable situation, but creating another uncomfortable situation. This is called māyā-su... This is the way of... If you do not be satisfied by the natural comforts offered by God, or nature, if you want to create artificial comfort, then you have to create another discomfort for counteracting. They do not know that. They are thinking that "We are creating very comfortable situation." Fifty miles going to the office. For earning livelihood, fifty miles, from one place to another. I saw in Hawaii.

Lecture on SB 6.1.44 -- Los Angeles, July 25, 1975:

They will go by walking. That is their principle. But we are not following that principle. We are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness... Suppose if I have to come to your country, and if I say, "I will go by walking." (laughter) Then my life will be finished (laughter) before preaching. We are intelligent. Now we have got this aeroplane. Take advantage of and go in three hours to America, speedy. That is our policy. Therefore sometimes people criticize us that we are accepting all material things; still, we are condemning material civilization. They accuse us. But they do not know that we do not distinguish matter and spirit. Anything which is used for Kṛṣṇa, that is spirit. This house, if you use for making a club, dancing club, that is material. And if this house is used for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and dancing, that is spiritual. That is the difference, because actually everything is emanation from the supreme spirit soul, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says bhūmir āpo 'nalaḥ vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca, apareyam. What you say material, that is also expansion of the energy of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 6.1.63 -- Vrndavana, August 30, 1975:

They are going to work, thousands and thousands. And they will come at night. This has begun also in India. We see in big, big cities like Calcutta and Bombay, they are coming early in the morning from home, and going, night, going at home at night, ten o'clock, eleven o'clock, and then sleep for two or three hours and again go to work. So there is a story. Just like a little child, because when his father comes back, he is asleep, and when the father goes out of home, he is asleep. So one night he saw one man is lying there. So he is asking his mother, "Who is this man? Who is this man?" Actually this is the position, that we are working day and... Bombay and Calcutta we have seen that they are hanging on the, what is called, local trains, and there are sometimes accidents.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Montreal, June 16, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Well, that depends on your particular position, you see. Sometimes a Kṛṣṇa conscious persons dreams very seriously. Sometimes communication is there by dreams. Yes?

Guest (2): Normal sleep for a man would be about eight hours. So is it possible to train the body through the use of yoga to decrease the sleep period down to about three hours or two hours?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Yes. Rūpa Gosvāmī, he used to sleep only for one and a half hours.

Guest (2): How long could the body hold up, how many years could the body...

Prabhupāda: Well, there is no guarantee of holding up your body even if you have no sleep or have sleep. The material condition is so cruel that body can be finished at any moment. So that is no consideration. The consideration is how to advance in the spiritual consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And if you make, I mean to say, considerable advance, then the eating and sleeping and sex demand or defense, these things will be negligible. Negligible. These things are depending on our practice. Because actually, I don't depend on sleeping or eating or mating or defending. It is simply due to my bodily consciousness these things are required. But when one is actually spiritually advanced, he has no such appreciation.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3-4 -- San Francisco, March 8, 1967:

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is direct engagement of spiritual activities. This is the concession, this is the concession of this age. We have got very little opportunity in the present age to meditate. It is very difficult. The so-called meditation for fifteen minutes and twenty-three hours all kinds of nonsense activities will never help you. Therefore meditation is out of question at the present age. I am not speaking from my own whims. It is stated in the śāstra. In the śāstra it is said that kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇum (SB 12.3.52). Meditation on Viṣṇu was possible in the golden age, or in the Satya-yuga. Satya-yuga means at that time the people used to live for one hundred thousands of years. And they were all perfect in religious life. There was no flaw. Then came the Tretā-yuga, when they were perfect three-fourths and the duration of life reduced to ten thousand years. The next yuga, next millennium, is called Dvāpara-yuga, when the life of people, half religious, half pious, half vicious, and the duration of life reduced to one thousand years. And this age is called Kali-yuga, the age of quarrel and misunderstanding.

Lecture on SB 7.9.55 -- Vrndavana, April 10, 1976:

"My Lord, I am thinking that these rascals, simply for flimsy happiness, temporary happiness, they are making so gorgeous arrangement." Big, big road, big, big building, big, big car, congested. If you want to go one mile it will take two hours. Māyā-sukhāya. We have seen in your country. You'll go two miles in a car in three hours. So what is the use of this car? In London I have seen. I was going. It was about two miles, and it was so congested that it took two hours. Paris is always congested. So in India also they are becoming like that. So this is māyā-sukhāya. They are thinking that "Getting a car, we shall be very, very happy," but there is no place to drive car. (laughter) Therefore it is called māyā-sukhāya. And for manufacturing this car there are three thousand parts. So many factories are going on for that. Who was telling me that within a few minutes a car is prepared in the Ford's factory? Somebody was telling. They bring the different parts of the car and mix and assemble them within half an hour. That means each half hour they are manufacturing car.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 24, 1972:

Atyāhāra prayāsaḥ, prayāsaḥ. We should not endeavor for anything which requires too much anxiety. That is called prayāsaḥ. Atyāhāra prayāsaḥ. Automatically, by Kṛṣṇa's grace, whatever comes, that's all right. Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca prajalpaḥ (NOI 2). Talking unnecessarily, nonsense. Just like people waste their time talking three hours on some political situation. You see. They have got enough time to discuss newspaper, but when they are invited to our class, they find no time.

So we should not waste our time, a single moment. Time is very valuable. In your country, they say, "Time is money." So either you take money, that is artha, or paramartha. Money is required in the material world, and in spiritual world, paramartha, spiritual asset. Some way or other, even those who are materialists, they do not waste their time. So we are after spiritual realization. How we can waste our time? Time is very valuable. So we should not waste time. Prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ, jana-saṅgaś ca.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 4, 1973:

Prabhupāda: Los Angeles. Yes. Los Angeles at three o'clock. It actually took eleven hours, but it appeared three hours. But there was no sunset. Actually so many hours have been passed. So this is a technique. So similarly, if you keep always yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa will not go away from your sight. He'll not go away from your sight. You must know the technique. Is that all right? Now you have any other question, ask. Yes?

Prabhavati: I understand that you cannot see Kṛṣṇa with your eyes. However, I'm just asking the details of Kṛṣṇa's appearance in the material world. I want to know if Kṛṣṇa appeared on this planet five thousand years ago at a certain time, that means that immediately did He appear again in another universe?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

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

Whatever you may be, it doesn't matter. Please come and join with us, the Hare Kṛṣṇa chanting. Actually, that has become successful. In Tompkins Square, I was sitting underneath a tree and chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra alone. And these young men, they used to assemble and dance also in the tune, for three hours—from two to five. In this way, we got our followers, associates. And gradually it developed into organization. So in the beginning we did not impose so many rules and regulations. There is no rules and regulations. First thing required: ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Unless one's heart is cleansed, he cannot accept rules and regulations. That is not possible. Cora nasane dharme khaiḥ (?). If, if a man is thief, and if you give him moral instruction, that "Stealing is very sinful; do not do it," he will not care for it. A butcher, if you advise him that "Animal killing is very bad. It is sinful," he'll not accept it. That is not possible. His heart should be cleansed. Prāyaścittaṁ vimarśanam.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.385-394 -- New York, January 1, 1967:

They are called pala. Daṇḍa and pala. Sūryodaya haite ṣaṣṭi-pala-kramodaya. And the sun rises in every sixty pala. We can, we can see sun is rising, but not all of a sudden we can see. But gradually. That gradual, I mean to say, elevation of the sun planet is..., takes sixty pala times. Sei eka daṇḍa, aṣṭa daṇḍe 'prahara' haya. Prahara means three hours, and that is aṣṭa daṇḍa.

eka-dui-tina-cāri prahare asta haya

cāri-prahara rātri gele punaḥ sūryodaya

The whole day is divided into four praharas. So at the end of the day, of the four praharas, the Sūrya, this sun planet sets. Cāri prahara rātri gele... And similarly, four praharas, when passed at night, again the sun planet is seen.

Festival Lectures

Ratha-yatra -- Philadelphia, July 12, 1975:

So our only request is, with folded hands and begging you, so many flatterings, we simply request... Dante nidhāya tṛṇakaṁ pādayor nipatya. This is our process. We are not very violent pushing. Now, you see our procession came, so many, for three hours. There was no violence. And the police department of your country, they very much appreciate because they have got experience whenever there is some procession, there is violence. "Window-breaking crowd," they say. But these people are not win-breaking crowd. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement... You have already accepted it, this movement, your so many young men. So we request. This is another occasion to invite you. So our only request is that you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and you will feel very much happy. There will be no anxiety. And then you can do your work. It doesn't matter what you are doing. But chanting of this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra will make you more and more happy, free from material anxieties, and if we continue this process, then everything will be clearly understood about spiritual life, and very easily we shall be able to go back to home, back to Godhead.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Satyabhama Dasi and Gayatri Initiation of Devotees Going to London -- Montreal, July 26, 1968:

So these ten kinds of offenses should be avoided and at least sixteen rounds you must chant. All the Gosvāmīs in Vṛndāvana, they had a limited, not limited, a number, fixed, that "So many times I shall chant." So we are offering only minimum of sixteen rounds. That, it will take, sixteen rounds, it will take about, utmost, three hours. So you should... Out of twenty-four hours, you should engage at least three hours for chanting. So then this is the beginning of initiation, and those who have chanted at least for one year, then the next initiation is to offer him Gāyatrī mantra. Some of the students, boys and girls, will be offered this Gāyatrī mantra. And when the Gāyatrī mantra is offered men, they are offered also sacred thread, and girls, they are not offered sacred thread. If their husband is a brāhmaṇa, she automatically becomes brāhmaṇa because wife is considered to be the half, better half. She is the better portion. So she automatically becomes better brāhmaṇa (laughter). So better brāhmaṇa does not require any thread.

Initiations -- New York, July 23, 1971:

The same thing, to become ruler of the senses. Come on. We are all ruled by the senses. Senses dictate and we follow. This is the general condition, and we have to become ruler of the senses. Then it is successful. Generally people are ruled by the senses. My sense says, "Please take me to the cinema," the eyes. I immediately go and stand there three hours for the ticket. You see? So I am ruled by the senses. And when you will be strong enough, the eyes will say, "Please take me to the cinema," and you will say, "No, you cannot go to the cinema." Then you are ruler. So one is go-dāsa. Go-dāsa means servant of the senses. And one is gosvāmī, master of the senses. That is the difference between gosvāmī and go-dāsa. Go means senses. When we are servant of the senses, then we are in the material world. And when we are master of the senses, then we are in the spiritual world. Come on. Hare Kṛṣṇa. You have got. All right.

General Lectures

Address to Indian Association -- Columbus, May 11, 1969:

Tompkins Square. So I was chanting there for three hours with a little small mṛdaṅga, and these boys, American boys, they assembled, and gradually they joined. And it is increasing. First of all it was started in New York in a storefront, 26 Second Avenue. Then we started our branch in San Francisco, in Los Angeles, in Santa Fe, in Buffalo, then here. We have got now twenty branches, including one in London and one in Hamburg. And in London, the boys—they are all American boys, American boys and girls—they are preaching. They are not sannyāsī, neither they are Vedāntist, neither they are Hindus, neither they are Indian. But they have taken this movement very seriously. Here one lady from London, she has come. She was very much praising about their movement. And in London Times there was an article. They said that "Kṛṣṇa Chanting Startles London." So we have got many followers now. All my disciples till now, at least in this country, they are all Americans and Europeans. They are chanting, dancing. They are issuing paper, Back to Godhead. Now we have published so many books, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Teachings of Lord Caitanya.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Prabhupāda: What it may be, personally, if you simply think that this man comes in the office and sits down in the chair for three hours and he draws salary of six thousand.

Śyāmasundara: He protects my property though.

Prabhupāda: That means not that everyone has to work in the factory to produce.

Śyāmasundara: But he protects what I produce.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. That means brain is required how to give protection. So that is also service. But his theory is unless you give your manual labor in the factory or in the field, you are not doing service. He would simply give credit to the coolies and workers, that's all. But because his basic principle is coolie, coolie philosophy.

Śyāmasundara: Peasants, they're called.

Prabhupāda: That's it.