Trance (Conv and Letters)

Expressions researched:
"trance" |"trances"

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

First thing that you said, that Bhagavad-gītā was given in seven verses, and later on, Vyāsadeva has expanded.

Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:

Guest (1): Then just to prove... (indistinct) According to me, when Lord Kṛṣṇa... (indistinct) When the ātmā goes into the trance, the mind goes into the trance, and into the śuddha-sattva, then he gets the vision of all, past, future, and present.

Prabhupāda: First thing that you said, that Bhagavad-gītā was given in seven verses, and later on, Vyāsadeva has expanded. Now, suppose accepting that Vyāsadeva has expanded, do you find any difference between Vyāsadeva's explanation and the original seven verses?

Guest (1): No. Of course, that is... (unintelligible)

Prabhupāda: Then, accepting even that Vyāsadeva has expanded, so there is no difference. Therefore, even if we take the Bhagavad-gītā as it is presented by Vyāsadeva, so there is nothing to be said against it.

Trance is... The actual meditation means concentrate one's mind on Viṣṇu form.

Room Conversation -- December 21, 1970, Surat:

Guest (3): What is the trance that... The meditation, trance enters. It is called...

Prabhupāda: Trance is... The actual meditation means concentrate one's mind on Viṣṇu form. That is real meditation. But now they have, the impersonalists and voidists, they have manufactured so many things, but actual meditation means...

Guest (3): Transcendental meditation. Trans...?

Prabhupāda: Transcendental meditation. The transcendental meditation means to think of Lord Viṣṇu.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

They say also like that! They... These hippies, they also say that by marijuana... They call marijuana... They call marijuana? Or what is called? Marijuana. So they learned this gañjā smoking... They came here for spiritual enlightenment, but they do not know who can give them spiritual enlightenment.

Morning Walk -- February 20, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: All right, I am quiet. Lay down now. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: No, actually, this is a fact. This gañjā smoking, they have learned from India.

Dr. Patel: No, but gañjā, they say, some of the people say that you come in such trance. It's an artificial trance.

Prabhupāda: They say also like that!

Dr. Patel: Hm. These boys.

Prabhupāda: They... These hippies, they also say that by marijuana... They call marijuana... They call marijuana? Or what is called?

Devotees: Marijuana.

Prabhupāda: Marijuana. So they learned this gañjā smoking... They came here for spiritual enlightenment, but they do not know who can give them spiritual enlightenment. They went to these rascals, gañjā-smoker, having long beard...

You have got appreciation for this trance.

Morning Walk -- February 20, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Eh? In Calcutta there was a big poet, Girish-chandra Ghosh. Perhaps you heard his name.

Dr. Patel: Yes.

Prabhupāda: He started Indian state. He was a first-class gañjā smoker.

Dr. Patel: They get in a trance, and...

Prabhupāda: That, that... You have got appreciation for this trance.

Dr. Patel: They have got a trance. They get a trance...

Prabhupāda: You are, you are smelling.

Dr. Patel: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You never condemn it.

Dr. Patel: I won't condemn it if it is good, and if it is bad, I will condemn it.

Prabhupāda: No, no. It is bad.

Dr. Patel: Every bad thing has good also. Some good quality must be there.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) No, no, no.

Dr. Patel: So they have taken to it. I don't...

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. That is another thing. Just like opium. Opium, for common man, it is bad. But you are a physician; you can use opium, tincture opium for some certain use.

And as it is recommended in this book, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: (BG 18.65) "Always think of Me"

Room Conversation with Catholic Cardinal and Secretary to the Pope -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Nitāi: For those who are sinful, atheistic, foolish and deceitful, it is very difficult to transcend the duality of desire and hate. Only those who have passed their lives in practicing the regulative principles of religion, who have acted piously and have conquered sinful reactions can accept devotional service and gradually rise to the pure knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then, gradually, they can meditate in trance on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the process of being situated on the spiritual platform. This elevation is possible in Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the association of pure devotees who can deliver one from delusion. It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that if one actually wants to be liberated he must render service to the devotees; but one who associates with materialistic people is on the path leading to the darkest region of existence. All the devotees of the Lord traverse this earth just to recover the conditioned souls from their delusion. The impersonalists do not know that forgetting their constitutional position as subordinate to the Supreme Lord is the greatest violation of God's law. Unless one is reinstated in his own constitutional position, it is not possible to understand the Supreme Personality or to be fully engaged in His transcendental loving service with determination.

Prabhupāda: So we forbid our students to refrain from four sinful activities: No illicit sex life, no meat-eating, and no intoxication, up to drinking tea, coffee or smoking. They are also intoxicants. And no gambling. These four principles, they avoid completely. And as it is recommended in this book, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: (BG 18.65) "Always think of Me," man-manā. "Just become My devotee. Just offer your obeisances unto Me, and just worship Me." Four principles. If you follow these four principles without any offense, then you go back to home, back to Godhead. So for remembering God, you chant always God's name on these beads.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

This is perfection of astanga-yoga, samādhi, to remain in trance.

Morning Walk -- October 26, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: So the news was there that Jesus Christ, after crucification, he was alive, and he went to... (aside:) Not so near. And he went to Kashmir. So by the yogic process, in samādhi one can remain alive although superficially he is seen that he is killed. That is possible. Hiraṇyakaśipu did that. He was undergoing tapasya for one hundred years of the demigods. Their duration of time is: our six months, their one day. So such a long time he was undergoing austerity, penance, and thus he became perfect. So his body was practically finished by the earthworm, what is called, moths and ants.

Brahmānanda: Because he was standing still?

Prabhupāda: Yes. For so many years everything was eaten. Only on the bones were there.

Brahmānanda: So he appeared to be dead, but he wasn't.

Prabhupāda: No, he was not dead. He was living on bones. Bones were there. Mean, life is not dependent on this material body. One can practice this by yoga. Without this body he can live. Just like ghost. That is possible.

Brahmānanda: Yes, the yogis are able to stop their breathing...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Brahmānanda: ...and stop their heart beating, and still they are not dead.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is perfection of astanga-yoga, samādhi, to remain in trance. (break) Yes. Actually he was not dead.

Cyavana: He never died.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He practiced yoga from India. For twelve years he was there.

He lived by trance.

Morning Walk -- November 20, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Christ, sir, really taught absolutely bhāgavata-dharma. The way... All his sayings, the New Testament and his Sermon on Mount, all is absolutely Bhāgavata. I have studied it very, in great detail and compared the two myself. So Christ was the greatest Hindu, to tell the truth. But as those people in the Middle East were heathens and absolutely junglis, they crucified him. Had he been here he would have been a big saint and avatāra.

Prabhupāda: Recent history is that he did not die. He came to Kashmir.

Dr. Patel: Came to Kashmir. There is a tomb in Kashmir. I read some literature about it. His resurrection... They say that they smuggled him out of that cave. It is possible. When he was on the cross, he...

Prabhupāda: No, even by yoga system...

Dr. Patel: He must have gone in a trance.

Prabhupāda: He lived by trance.

Dr. Patel: He was a great devotee. There is no doubt about it.

Prabhupāda: By trance.

Dr. Patel: When he... On the cross they say he uttered, "Father, don't forsake me." That is the time he went into trance most probably. Eh? He must have gone in trance when he uttered the last words, "Father, don't forsake me." And then when he was brought down in the lap of his mother and they took him in the cave, no? Under the guard of those Italian soldiers. Then there was a big hurricane or something like that and they all ran away. And after that he was smuggled away from that place. Christ has rebuilt his father's temple in true sense, the way he spread the Christianity. The churches have degenerated in his teaching, unfortunately. It is the church. That happens with every, in every, I mean, these things, teachings. Race, this race is very bold, indeed, that God choicest race, these Jews, somehow or other.

So by yoga practice he died.

Morning Walk -- November 30, 1975, Delhi:

Harikeśa: In the back of that Awake magazine there was one little article that said that this one teacher in one college was doing yoga. He locked himself up in his room and went into a yogic trance, and they finally broke into his room two days later and found him in the same position but dead. So then they say that because he was in yogic trance that his heart was going too slow to give sufficient blood to the body, so he died.

Prabhupāda: So by yoga practice he died.

Harikeśa: Yes, that's what they're saying.

Prabhupāda: The result is he's died.

Ambarīṣa: My father, he read that article, and that's what he says to me. He says, "You do yoga and you'll end up like this man."

Prabhupāda: These are government buildings. They are not properly maintained. The roads are not properly maintained. So New Delhi light is diminishing. And the shabby motor buses.

Sādhu, they take pleasure in real happiness. Satyanandi. Rāmante yoginam ante satyananda. They do not know what is satya, so how they will take pleasure?

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1975, Bombay:

Girirāja: A few days back in the newspapers there was..., smoking causes damage to the brain...

Dr. Patel: It causes damage everywhere, because it damages your blood vessel which carries the vital fluid to all the organs. The blood vessels are spoiled and narrowed down so not sufficient amount of blood will get to your brain, to your heart, to your lungs, your everything practically. Follow? This is not one of (indistinct). They smoke this ganja, sir, because artificially they go into a sort of a trance. That is what the psychedelic drugs.

Prabhupāda: That man also says like that.

Dr. Patel: Psychedelic drugs. I mean I read about these psychedelic drugs, and then, you see, this artificial trance, no doubt, that is much different from the samādhi that you get. But they, that is why they are tempted to do it. Same with the LSD. That means they find some sort of a pleasure in it. Sādhus get pleasure in samādhi, they get this artificial samādhi by drugs. Hm?

Prabhupāda: Sādhu, they take pleasure in real happiness. Satyanandi. Rāmante yoginam ante satyananda. They do not know what is satya, so how they will take pleasure?

Dr. Patel: They are ātmārāma.

Prabhupāda: Para satya dhīmahi. They do not know what is para satyam.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Everywhere there are some ritualistic ceremony. So when you go above this...

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Dayānanda:

śruti vipratipannā te

yadā sthāsyati niścalā

samādhāv acalā buddhis

tadā yogam avāpsyasi

"When your mind is no longer disturbed by the flowery language of the Vedas, and when it remains fixed in the trance of self-realization, then you will have attained the divine consciousness."

Prabhupāda: So ritualistic ceremonies, Vedic ritualistic ceremonies. Everywhere there are some ritualistic ceremony. So when you go above this... Just like Kṛṣṇa says in another place, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo. By performing the Vedic ritualistic ceremony, the ultimate goal is to understand Kṛṣṇa. So if you understand Kṛṣṇa, then you may not perform this ritualistic ceremony. Because you have come to the objective. Not before that. That is sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). Vedic ritualistic ceremony is that if you perform this yajña, then you go to the heavenly planet and there you'll get so long life, ten thousands of years, you get nice woman, and so on, so on. People are after that, karma-kāṇḍa. So this karma-kāṇḍa is required so long one is unaware of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When one understands this karma-kāṇḍa elevation is not the aim of our life, our real aim of life how to go back home, back to Godhead, then these things are not required. Just like we have no ritualistic ceremony, we have simply devotional service. We have no ritualistic ceremony. There are so many things ritualistic. And we are performing only this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, mahā-mantra. Therefore the smārta brāhmaṇas, they misunderstand. They do not admit that they have become elevated. The Jagannātha temple does not allow. But when one becomes a pure Vaiṣṇava, then tepus tapas te juhuvuḥ sasnur āryā (SB 3.33.7). He has performed all the ritualistic devotion. There are many statements in the śāstras, that when you come to the devotional platform, you haven't go to perform these ritualistic ceremonies. Because the end of ritualistic ceremony, you have come to the point. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Dharmaḥ projjhita kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). Kaitava means cheating. Cheating type of dharma is rejected here. This karma-kāṇḍa, by performing some ritualistic ceremony you may go to a heavenly planet, but what benefit you will have? That one has to understand. You can enjoy there materialistic, highest type of materialistic civilization means eating, sleeping, mating. These things you can get, but you have to come back again. Kṣine punye martya-lokaṁ viśanti (BG 9.21). So what benefit there is? No benefit. Just like in British period, some Englishman was made viceroy of India. Then after five years they sent to London, again with his bag, marketing in the street. This has been seen practically. Lord such-and-such, he's traveling in a third-class compartment with a bag for marketing. But so long he was viceroy, oh, so much honor, so much prestige. So where is that prestige now? These ritualistic ceremonies are like that. For more years you become viceroy, and then again fall down. That is your Nixon. What is the position of Nixon now? He is ordinary man. That's all.

1976 Correspondence

The books distribution in Los Angeles during the six day period is transcendental samadhi. They are working in trance, not on the material platform. No common man can work so hard, it is not possible.

Letter to Ramesvara -- Calcutta 12 January, 1976:

That so many people are purchasing our literature in Los Angeles indicated that it is being advertised: Oh, I have got a very nice book. Then their acquaintances want the book also. The books distribution in Los Angeles during the six day period is transcendental samadhi. They are working in trance, not on the material platform. No common man can work so hard, it is not possible. Working without sleep means no death. Sleeping is dead condition. "Jiv jago, jiva jago, gauracanda bole, kota nidra yao maya-pisacira kole." Your book distribution is really intoxication.