Transcendence (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"transcendence" |"transcendent"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.3 -- London, August 4, 1973:

God is good, He is all-good. We should accept it. Whatever He is doing, that is all-good. This is one side. And whatever I am doing without authority's order, this is all bad. He does not require any order from anyone else. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). He is the supreme controller. He does not require anyone's instruction. Whatever He does, it is perfect. This is Kṛṣṇa understanding. And not that I have to study Kṛṣṇa in my own way. Kṛṣṇa is not subjected to your examination or your test. He is above all. He is transcendent. Therefore those who have not the transcendental vision, they misunderstand Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 2.46-62 -- Los Angeles, December 16, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: 53. Oh, I'll finish this sentence. "Persons in Kṛṣṇa consciousness transcend the limit of śabda-brahma or the range of the Vedas and Upaniṣads." 53: "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 (BG 2.53)." 54: "Arjuna said, 'What are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does he speak and what is his language? How does he sit and how does he walk?' " (BG 2.54)

Prabhupāda: This is very important thing. The symptoms, the characteristics, of Kṛṣṇa conscious persons, they are described there, item by item.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "The Blessed Lord said, 'O Pārtha, when a man gives up...' "

Prabhupāda: This is the result of talks between Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna is putting in such a way, and Kṛṣṇa is answering. That means it is meant for all conditioned souls. Unless Arjuna would have asked all these questions, how we could have received such transcendental message? Therefore it was necessary that Arjuna would play the part of an ordinary conditioned soul. Actually he was not. He's simply playing the part in order to eschew transcendental message. Because Kṛṣṇa has spoken, everyone will take it as authorized. So Kṛṣṇa is now speaking.

Lecture on BG 2.51-55 -- New York, April 12, 1966:

That is our present position. Now, here just the opposite word is used that yayā ātmā suprasīdati. If you want to actually, if you want actually to make yourself jolly, full of happiness, then you should search out your occupation in such a way that it will lead you to the devotional service of the Supreme Lord. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ. Para means the highest, or the transcendent. We are engaged in some, in some sort of activities. Nobody is free from activities. Even a ant, an ant, it is also engaged in activity. And the elephant. Ant is the most, I mean to..., according to our vision, the ant is very small and the elephant is very big. But everyone, beginning from the ant up to the elephant, so far our experience is concerned... There are other big animals also. We have not seen. But we can see from the description of the scriptures that there are fishes in the ocean which is called timiṅgila. So timiṅgila... You, perhaps you know that fish which is called in Sanskrit timi matsya, or whale fish, very big, sometimes hundred feet long.

Lecture on BG 3.11-19 -- Los Angeles, December 27, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifteen: "Activity, karma, arises from the Vedas and the Vedas spring from the Supreme Godhead. Therefore the all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice (BG 3.15)."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Purport: "Yajñārtha-karma, or the necessity for work for the satisfaction..."

Prabhupāda: Yajñārtha-karma. Yajña means "sacrifice," artha, "for the purpose of," and karma, "fruitive activity." Everyone is engaged in some activity, but what shall be the purpose of such activity? Yajñārtha. Yajñārtha means simply to satisfy Lord Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa. That should be the purpose. Yajñārtha-karma, yes.

Lecture on BG 4.1-6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1969:

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated.

Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). This knowledge, this transcendental knowledge, was imparted formerly to the kings because the kings were very responsible for the welfare of the citizens. When the kings were not responsible, then gradually the government by the people was introduced. Otherwise, formerly, the kings were very responsible, especially for the advancement of transcendental knowledge of the citizens. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayaḥ. Rājarṣayaḥ means "the sages among the kings." Although they were in royal order, they were very saintly persons. There are many examples, just like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, Mahārāja Parīkṣit. They were emperor of the world, but still, so pious, so religious, and so advanced in transcendent knowledge that there is no comparison. So especially meant that this was taught to the kings, to the royal order who were very pious and advanced in spiritual knowledge.

Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Bombay, March 27, 1974:

So the discrepancy of religion means... This is also stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ. First class or superior dharma. Paraḥ means superior, transcendental. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). When we surrender to the Adhokṣaja... Adhokṣaja means the supreme transcendence, or Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's another name is Adhokṣaja. Ahaituky apratihatā. Ahaitukī means without any cause. Without any cause. Not that "Kṛṣṇa is such and such, therefore I surrender." No. Without any cause. Ahaituky apratihatā. And it cannot be checked. Nobody can check. If you want to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, there is no checking, there is no hindrance. You can do it in any position. You can do it. Ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati. Then you will, ātmā, your ātmā, your soul, your mind, your body, will be satisfied. This is the process.

Lecture on BG 4.19-25 -- Los Angeles, January 9, 1969:

Devotee: Purport: "A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not make much endeavor even to maintain his body. He is satisfied with gains which are obtained of their own accord. He neither begs nor borrows but he labors honestly as far as in his own power and is satisfied with whatever is obtained by his own honest labor. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is therefore independent in his livelihood. He does not allow anyone's service to hamper his own service to Kṛṣṇa. However for the service of the Lord He can participate in any kind of action without being disturbed by the duality of the material world. The duality of the material is felt in terms of heat and cold or misery and happiness. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is above this duality because he does not hesitate to act in any way for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. As he does not care for duality therefore he is steady both in success and in failure. These signs are visible when one is full in transcendental knowledge."

Twenty-three: "The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature and who is fully situated in transcendental knowledge merges entirely into transcendence."

Prabhupāda: Yes. "The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature." The modes of material nature are three: goodness, passion, and ignorance. Somebody is working in the material world in the quality of goodness. In Vedic culture these divisions are very distinct. Just like brāhmaṇas, sannyāsīs. They are supposed to be working in goodness because they are simply working for Kṛṣṇa consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, brāhmaṇas business.

Lecture on BG 4.23 -- Bombay, April 12, 1974:

Pradyumna: Translation: "The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature and who is fully situated in transcendental knowledge merges entirely into transcendence."

Prabhupāda:

gata-saṅgasya muktasya

jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ

yajñāyācarataḥ karma

samagraṁ pravilīyate

The difficulty in the conditioned state, that we are creating our next life by karma... We are.... just at the present moment we are acting according to our past karma, and again we are creating another karma so that we have to enjoy or suffer in the next life. The transmigration of the soul takes place according to karma. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). Sad-asat, good and inferior, janma. So one has to take his birth in a nice family or in nice nation, good education, good looking, nice opulence.... Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrīḥ (SB 1.8.26). Janma means to take birth in good family, good nation, and aiśvarya, opulence, very rich. Janmaiśvarya-śruta. Śruta means knowledge, education. And śrī, and beauty.

I repeatedly say to the American people that "You have got your this position, richest nation in the world, janma..." Practically in America there is no poor man.

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

Revatīnandana: "The humble sage sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater or outcaste (BG 5.18). Those whose minds are established in sameness and equanimity have already conquered the conditions of birth and death. They are flawless like Brahman and as such, are already situated in Brahman (BG 5.19). A person who neither rejoices upon receiving something pleasant nor laments upon obtaining something unpleasant, who is self-intelligent, unbewildered and who knows the science of God is to be understood as already situated in transcendence (BG 5.20). Purport."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Go on.

Revatīnandana: "Purport: The symptoms of the self-realized person are given herein. The first symptom is that he is not illusioned by the false identification of the body with his true self."

Prabhupāda: Yes. So achieving something pleasant... Generally we accept a thing pleasant when it satisfies our senses. We accept it as pleasant. But actually, satisfaction of my sense is not real pleasure because my senses are at the present moment diseased. Therefore as it is stated in the Nārada-pañcarātra, that tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). One has to purify the senses in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not to become void of the senses. The other philosophers, they say that "You don't desire." We say that we don't desire nonsense but we desire Kṛṣṇa. Desire is there, but as soon as desire is purified, then I shall desire Kṛṣṇa. When one is desiring only Kṛṣṇa, that is his healthy state.

Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:

"Oh, here is a nice gentleman, saintly person." And somebody I think, "Oh, here is a sinful man." According to my calculation, somebody my friend, somebody my enemy, somebody neutral, somebody, I mean to say, a saintly person, somebody my, a sinful person. Now, all these, when you are on the yoga-yukta, when you are in the platform of transcendence, then these distinctions, this friend, enemy, sādhu, saintly, and sinful, that will all be closed. No more. No more. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). Paṇḍitāḥ. When one becomes actually learned, he does not see any enemy or any friend because nobody is enemy, nobody is friend, nobody is my son, nobody is my mother, nobody is... We are all different living entities.

We are just playing on the platform under the dress of father, mother, wife children friend, enemy. Just like in a drama we set up some character to play, so... But out of the stage we are all friends. Nobody... In the stage I say, "Oh, you are enemy. I shall kill you." And so many things I do. But when out of the stage, we are all friends.

Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:

Devotee: "A person is said to be established in self-realization and is called a yogi or mystic, when he is fully satisfied by virtue of acquired knowledge and realization. Such a person is situated in transcendence and is self-controlled. He sees everything, whether it be pebbles, stones or gold, as the same (BG 6.8)."

Prabhupāda: Yes. When the mind is in equilibrium, then this position comes. Pebbles, stones or gold, the same value. Go on.

Devotee: Purport: "Book knowledge without realization of the Supreme Truth is useless. This is said as follows in the Padma Purāṇa..."

Prabhupāda: Yes, Padma Purāṇa. There are eighteen Purāṇas. There are, men are conducted in three qualities: modes of goodness, modes of passion and modes of ignorance. To reclaim all these conditioned souls in different varieties of life, there are presentation of the Purāṇas. The six Purāṇas are meant for the person who are in the modes of goodness. And six Purāṇas are meant for the persons who are in the modes of passion. And six Purāṇas who are in the modes of ignorance, those Purāṇas are meant for them. This Padma Purāṇa is meant for the persons who are in the modes of goodness. In Vedic rituals, you find so many differences of ritualistic performances. It is due to different kinds of men. Just like you have heard that Vedic literature, there is a ritualistic ceremony offering goat sacrifice in the presence of goddess Kālī.

Lecture on BG 6.16-24 -- Los Angeles, February 17, 1969:

Devotee: Verse number eighteen: "When the yogi, by practice of yoga, disciplines his mental activities and becomes situated in transcendence, devoid of all material desires, he is said to have attained yoga (BG 6.18)."

Prabhupāda: Yes. To keep the mind in equilibrium. That is yoga perfection. To keep the mind, that how you can do if you, in the material field you cannot keep your mind in equilibrium. That is not possible. Take for example this Bhagavad-gītā. If you read daily four times you'll not get tired. But take any other book, after reading one hour you'll get tired. This chanting, Hare Kṛṣṇa. You chant whole day and night, and dance, you'll never get tired. But take another name. Just after half an hour, finished. It is botheration. You see? Therefore to fix up the mind means to keep your mind in Kṛṣṇa, then finished, all yoga. You are perfect yogi. You haven't got to do anything. Simply fix up your mind. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha (SB 9.4.18)—if you talk, talk of Kṛṣṇa. If you eat, eat of Kṛṣṇa. If you think, think of Kṛṣṇa. If you work, work for Kṛṣṇa. So in this way, this yoga practice will be perfect.

Lecture on BG 6.16-24 -- Los Angeles, February 17, 1969:

Devotee: "...so the transcendentalist, whose mind is controlled, remains always steady in his meditation on the transcendent Self."

Prabhupāda: In this room, because there is no air waving, just see the flame is steady. Similarly, if the flame of your mind will remain as steady as this flame if you absorb the mind in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then as the flame is not agitating, your mind will not be agitated. And what is perfection of yoga?

Devotee: Verse 20 through 23: "The stage of perfection is called trance or samādhi, when one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga (Bg. 6.20-23)."

Prabhupāda: Samādhi means, samādhi means not to make void. That is impossible. Kleśo 'dhikaratas teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām. Some yogi says that you stop yourself, make yourself motionless. How it is possible to make me motionless? I am moving spirit. This is not possible. Motionless means when you are fixed up in Kṛṣṇa, there is no more material motion. That is motionless. This material propensities will not anymore disturb you. That is called motionless. But your motion for Kṛṣṇa activities will increase. The more you increase your motion or activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness you become automatically motionless in material activities. That is the process.

Lecture on BG 7.28-8.6 -- New York, October 23, 1966:

The activity should be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So jarā-maraṇa-mokṣāya mām āśritya yatanti ye. Yatanti means "one who endeavors in that way." Te brahma: "They are actually Brahman." Brahman means they are transcendental, in transcendental state. Te brahma tad viduḥ kṛtsnam: "Or they can understand what is the meaning of Brahman, or the transcendental, Transcendence." Te brahma tad viduḥ kṛtsnam adhyātmaṁ karma cākhilam: "They understand what is Brahman, and their work, their activities are also Brahman."

Now, there are two classes of transcendentalists. One class of transcendentalists, just like the impersonalists, they want to stop activities. They think like that, that when one becomes one with the Transcendence, then their activities stop. But actually, from the Bhagavad-gītā we find that te kṛtsnam adhyātmaṁ karma cākhilam. Their activities are not stopped, but the quality of the activity is changed. Brahman. The quality of activities becomes transcendental. Karma cākhilam.

Lecture on BG 7.28-8.6 -- New York, October 23, 1966:

Don't depend on that. They're all imperfect. Tarkaḥ apratiṣṭhaḥ. These are the directions of higher authorities.

So tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnāḥ. Śrutayaḥ means scriptures. If you take scriptures, different scriptures there are, and one scripture may differ from another scripture. So that is also very difficult, to find out the real truth, transcendence, from the scriptures. So tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnā nāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam. And so far philosophy is concerned, each and every philosopher is different from the other philosophers. One philosopher is putting some theory, another philosophy is putting another doctrine or theory. So we are puzzled, which of them has to be accepted. Śrutayo vibhinnā nāsāv ṛṣir ya... Because in the mundane philosophers, mundane scholars, they want to give his own interpretation of everything. That is their habit. They don't accept the interpretation of the higher authority. They want..., each and every one of them want to become the higher authorities.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:

And as soon as it's purified, you'll not like to engage your senses in any other activities. That is the taste of bhakti. Bhakti..., one has become bhakta, at the same time he is very much attracted this sense gratification, that is not bhakta. Bhakti means bhakti-pareśānubhavo: realization of the Transcendence. And what is the test? Viraktir anyatra syāt, vairāgya. Many places it is stated, vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ janayaty āśu vairāgyam (SB 1.2.7). Vairāgyam means no more taste for sense gratification. That is called vairāgyam. Vīra, vigatah rāga, no attachment. Our material attachment means material sense gratification. That is attachment. And bhakti means... Bhakti... Therefore another name of bhakti is vairāgya vidyā.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 7, 1971:

Pradyumna: Translation: "I offer my obeisances unto Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, who is the supreme all-pervading Personality of Godhead. I meditate upon Him, the transcendent reality, who is the primeval cause of all causes, from whom all manifested universes arise, in whom they dwell, and by whom they are destroyed. I meditate upon that eternally effulgent Lord who is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations and yet is beyond them. It is He only who first imparted Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmā, the first created being. Through Him this world, like a mirage, appears real even to great sages and demigods. Because of Him, the material universes, created by the three modes of nature, appear to be factual, although they are unreal. I meditate therefore upon Him, the Absolute Truth, who is eternally existent in His transcendental abode, and who is forever free of illusion." (SB 1.1.1)

Prabhupāda: Vyāsadeva is offering his obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Bhagavate, "unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is known as Vāsudeva." Vāsudeva means the son of Vasudeva. Even the leader of the impersonalists, namely Śaṅkarācārya, he has accepted that the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared as the son of Vasudeva and Devakī. People may not misunderstand. Just like we give identification by giving the name of father, mother, similarly, Kṛṣṇa's identification is that He is son of Vasudeva or son of Nanda Mahārāja, friend of Śrīdāmā, Sudāmā, lover of Rādhārāṇī. In so many ways He has got hundreds of thousands of names. So people who protest that God cannot have any name.

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

Or in the village, not in the village, in the forest. Therefore formerly all the sages and saintly persons they used to live in the forest. That is goodness. And if you live in the city that is association with passion. And in the city if you live in the brothel, the liquor shop, gambling, that is association with ignorance. Three kinds. But if you live in the temple, that is transcendence, that is Vaikuṇṭha. So in this way we have to detach ourselves from the association of the three guṇas. Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna, traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna. "My dear Arjuna, just become transcendental to the three guṇas." Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). Who can transcend these three guṇas, you have to go above goodness. Here in this material world goodness is supposed to be very nice quality, but here the goodness also, nice temporary. There is chance of being affected, infected with the other qualities, sattva-rajas-tamo guṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, August 27, 1971:

Pradyumna: Translation: "The supreme occupation, or dharma, for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted in order to completely satisfy the self."

Prabhupāda: So here the translation, dharma, I have purposefully given, "occupation." Actually dharma is generally translated by the English word "religion." But religion is misunderstood. It is taken as a faith. Faith I may believe, faith, or may not believe. But actually, dharma does not mean. Dharma means occupation, which you cannot change. Just like a carpenter. He earns his livelihood by his occupation as a carpenter. A lawyer, he lives by his occupation, profession as lawyer. So, so many things.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- New Vrindaban, September 5, 1972:

Pradyumna: Translation: "The supreme occupation or dharma for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted in order to completely satisfy the self."

Prabhupāda: So

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo

yato bhaktir adhokṣaje

ahaituky apratihatā

yayātmā suprasīdati

(SB 1.2.6)

Everyone is seeking satisfaction, atyantikṣu. Everyone is struggling for existence for the ultimate happiness. But in this material world, although they are thinking by possessing material wealth they will be satisfied, but that is not the fact. For example in your country, you have got sufficient material opulence than other countries but still there is no satisfaction. So in spite of all good arrangement for material enjoyment, enough food, enough..., nice apartment, motor cars, roads, and very good arrangement for freedom in sex, and good arrangement for defence also—everything is complete—but still, people are dissatisfied, confused, and younger generation, they are turning to hippies, protest, or dissatisfied because they are not happy. I have several times cited the example that in Los Angeles, when I was taking my morning walk in Beverly Hills, many hippies were coming out from a very respectable house. It appeared that his father, he was (indistinct), a very nice car also, but the dress was hippie. So there is a protest against the so-called material arrangement, they do not like.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, July 23, 1973:

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo

yato bhaktir adhokṣaje

ahaituky apratihatā

yayātmā suprasīdati

(SB 1.2.6)

Translation (not on tape) "The supreme occupation (dharma) for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self."

Prabhupāda: This is a speech of Sūta Gosvāmī in Naimiṣāraṇya. Formerly, great sages used to assemble in the forest of Naimiṣāraṇya. Those who are Indians, they will know Naimiṣāraṇya. There is a station, Nimsara, still. And it is near Lucknow. Still it is very nice place. So there was a great meeting of saintly persons. As nowadays ordinary persons meet together to find out the ways and means for people's prosperity, formerly the great saintly persons, sages, brāhmaṇas, they used to meet, and they used to give formula to the people, to the king, that "You follow this. You will be happy." This was the system, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. So the brāhmaṇas will give the direction, and the kṣatriya king would execute it. And the vaiśyas will produce foodgrains.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Rome, May 24, 1974:

Nitāi: (leads chanting, etc.)

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo

yato bhaktir adhokṣaje

ahaituky apratihatā

yayātmā suprasīdati

(SB 1.2.6)

Translation: "The supreme occupation, dharma, for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self."

Prabhupāda: So we are reading chapter the Second Chapter of the First Canto, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, "Divinity and Divine Service." So just now we have recited the sixth verse. We can begin from the first verse. The first verse is,

iti sampraśna-saṁhṛṣṭo

viprāṇāṁ raumaharṣaṇiḥ

pratipūjya vacas teṣāṁ

pravaktum upacakrame

There was a great meeting and..., meeting means... In those days, there was no political meeting. Political meeting was not necessary because there was no democracy. It was monarchy. The kings, they were so trained up that there was no necessity of democracy. Actually, the modern government, democracy... We are experiencing, especially the great democratic country, America. So the democracy, the president elected by popular vote, is now being condemned. So what is the value of this democracy? You elect somebody by your vote, again condemn. That means the electors, the voters, have also no experience, and neither the man who is voted, he is also very good man. Otherwise, why you should change your opinion once you have elected a person to act as your head executive? So the democracy has proved a farce.

Lecture on SB 1.2.24 -- Vrndavana, November 4, 1972:

They do not understand Kṛṣṇa in truth. Therefore they become sahajiyās. Therefore the system is given by Lokasya ajānataḥ vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām (SB 1.7.6). Anartha upaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje. Adhokṣaje, the transcendence, when one is engaged in His devotional service, the anarthas will be vanquished. Anartha upaśamam. But when we see that anarthas are not decreasing, they're increasing, that means they're not entering. Anartha upaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje. Anarthas, unwanted things, unwanted things, the so many things we have described. Sometimes we see that they cannot give up even smoking. That anartha is not being diminished. It is increasing. So where is the entrance? Phalena paricīyate. We have to understand by the result. If the result is not very satisfactory, then you must know that progress is not very nice.

Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972:

"Beyond our sense perception." They, generally they think that "How a person can create such huge cosmic manifestation?" That is their bewilderment. They cannot accommodate, accommodate in the teeny, poor brain that the original Absolute Truth is a person. That is their problem. So their idea is that by personal worship, one has to reach again to the impersonal transcendence. But we don't find from the śāstra like that. Now, the most authentic śāstra is Vedānta. Vedānta is accepted by all classes of men. Because without accepting Vedānta, nobody will be bona fide. Generally they think that the impersonalists are Vedantists. Generally they think, but that's a wrong conception. They... All the Vaiṣṇava—Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya—they are also Vedantists. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Vedantist. We are also Vedantist. It is not that Vedānta is the monopoly of the impersonalists. No.

Now, the Vedānta, in the beginning it is, the first sūtra is: athāto brahma jijñāsā. So to inquire about Brahman, the Absolute.

Lecture on SB 2.9.10 -- Tokyo, April 26, 1972:

Pradyumna: "Man may discover so many wonderful vehicles of journey, but even if he reaches the moon by his much advertised spacecraft, he cannot remain there. The sane man, therefore, without being puffed up as if he were the god of the universe, abides by the instructions of the Vedic literature, the easiest way to acquire knowledge in transcendence. So let us know through the authority of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam of the nature and the constitution of the transcendental world beyond the material sky. In that sky the material qualities..."

Prabhupāda: They are going to different planets... They cannot go. Suppose if they are going: so taking so much trouble, expending so much money, they are trying to study. But we study within this room, even up to Vaikuṇṭha planet. Huh? These rascals are taking so much trouble and still unsuccessful. And we are getting all clear idea. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). That is the perfection of Vedic literature. In remote jungle they are sitting. They are enjoying spiritual atmosphere and getting all information from the Vedic literature. How much, I mean to say, fortunate we are, those who have taken shelter of this Vedic literature. We get all information.

Lecture on SB 2.9.11 -- Tokyo, April 27, 1972:

Pradyumna: Purport: "The inhabitants in Vaikuṇṭhaloka are all personalities with spiritual bodily features not to be found in the material world. We can find the descriptions in the revealed scriptures like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Impersonal descriptions of transcendence in the scriptures indicate that the bodily features in Vaikuṇṭha are never to be seen in any part of the universe. As there are different bodily features in different places of a particular planet, or as there are different bodily features between bodies in different planets, similarly the bodily features of the inhabitants in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas are completely different from those in the material universe. For example, the four hands are distinct from two hands in this world."

Prabhupāda: So in other planets also there are different types of body. Some of the bodies are prominent in earth, earthly body. Just like we have got here earthly body. Similarly, fiery body, watery body, gaseous body, there are different types of body.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Bombay, December 25, 1976:

When you come to this platform of transcendence, brahma-bhūtaḥ... Because we are going on under the wrong impression that "I am this body." This is the most fallen condition of the present human society. They are taking this body... Of course, this bodily conception of life there was even five thousand years ago, when the Battle of Kurukṣetra took place. Arjuna was very much disturbed on the platform of this bodily conception of life, because he thought that he belonged to a particular family, and in that battle he was to fight with his family members. So he declined to fight. But Kṛṣṇa, to raise him from that platform, He chastised him, that aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase: "My dear Arjuna, you are lamenting for a subject matter and at the same time you are talking just like a very learned man."

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- London (Tittenhurst), September 13, 1969:

Devotee (3): Yes. But what I wanted within that... Did She have to become transcendence?

Prabhupāda: No. She is already transcendental.

Devotee (3): She's always transcendental.

Prabhupāda: She hasn't got to become. Become means... Nobody become. Become means... Just like to become healthy. To become healthy is a thing... Not that the man was not healthy. He has fallen diseased. You understand? When I say to become healthy, to become healthy does not mean that he was not healthy. He was healthy. Somehow or other, he is now diseased. So the "become" is applicable to the diseased or to the condition. Not to the original. So Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa or His expansions, They're original spirit. We are also original spirit. In contact with matter we are now diseased; therefore "to become" is applicable to the conditioned soul, not to the liberated. "

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

So this is going... Our whole Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that try to understand how the laws of God is working. That is religion. Don't remain fool rascal. There are three stages: the stage of ignorance, the stage of passion, the stage of goodness, and the stage of transcendence. There are different stages. So, after millions of births, nature gives us this human form of life when, if we try, we can understand in which stage I am standing. Yes. Either in ignorance or passion or goodness. And to understand this there are books. These books are there. So you have to study. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta says, anādi-bahir-mukha jīva kṛṣṇa bhuli gela ataeva kṛṣṇa veda-purāṇa korila. The Vedas, this knowledge, for whom? Is it for the cats and dogs? No. They cannot read. They cannot understand. It is meant for men, and especially civilized men. Not for the crude men in the jungle. Those who are civilized—for them. They are called civilized men, means another word is Āryan. For them it is.

Lecture on SB 6.1.42 -- Los Angeles, July 23, 1975:

"Become first-class topmost men. Don't remain..." Tamasi mā: "Don't remain in darkness." This is our only request. Otherwise... But why we are making this propaganda? Because Kṛṣṇa wants. We are all servant of Kṛṣṇa; therefore our only aim is to serve Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa wants that "Save these rascals from rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Bring them transcendent to sattva-guṇa, and they will be happy." This is Kṛṣṇa's desire. Nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna: "Arjuna, you become above the three guṇas." That is the Kṛṣṇa's desire. "Why you are bothering with these guṇas? 'This is my body. This is my family. This is this. This is this. This is this.' You are arguing so much." So therefore Kṛṣṇa said, nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna: "These are on the material platform. Come to the spiritual platform." Ultimately he said that "You are My very dear friend. Therefore I am disclosing to you the most confidential knowledge." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). This is the whole instruction.

Lecture on SB 6.2.24-25 -- Gorakhpur, February 13, 1971:

In Ajāmila. There was not pure saṅkīrtana. Just like we are advised when chanting the mantra, mahā-mantra, to avoid ten kinds of offenses. So Ajāmila had no such program. He never meant that he was chanting the holy name of Nārāyaṇa. This point is being stressed by Śrīdhāra Swami. He simply tried to call his son, whose name was Nārāyaṇa. That was not practically kīrtana, but this very vibration, transcendent vibration, has got so potency that without following the rules and regulations of chanting the holy name, he became immediately released from all sinful reaction. That point is stressed here. Abhavan aśucir api niyamāna asustha-cittaḥ (?). Not only he never meant for chanting the holy name, he was not only sinful, but he was practically in coma because he was dying. His all functions of the physical body was stopped, and he could not chant even properly. Still, he became released from all sinful reaction. At the time of death... Why death? Even in our sleeping condition we are out of our own control completely. So Ajāmila was diseased and was almost on the verge of death, and he was calling his son only. Practically he had no program, but still, he became released, and what to speak of persons who are regularly chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra under principles and without any offense? Avṛtti-śraddhādi-viṣayas tu pāpa-vāsanā-kṣayārtham harer guṇānuvādaḥ khalu sattva-bhāvanaḥ (?). So some way or other, if one is engaged in glorifying the activities...(Hindi) Harer guṇānuvādaṁ khalu sattva-bhāvanaḥ. So even with offense... Because in the beginning everyone chants with offenses... But harer guṇānuvāda, the glorification of the Lord is so powerful that simply by chanting constantly... Therefore we stress that so many rounds must be done. So many rounds must be done. That will protect him from contamination of this material world. Sattva-bhāvanaḥ. Sattva-bhāvanaḥ means his pure consciousness will gradually develop. Pure consciousness means Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

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

The more you hear Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, the more your heart becomes cleansed. These are the statements given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. There cannot be any defect. My statement may be defective, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu's statement cannot be defective, because He is in the transcendental platform. He is transcendence Himself. Kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne. Kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmine. He's Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He has appeared in the form of Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. Therefore, whatever He says, that is fact. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. The more we hear the vibration, the transcendental vibration, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, without any offense... Even with, mixed with offense... There are three stages of chanting this vibration: offensive chanting, and almost offenseless chanting, and offenseless chanting.

Festival Lectures

Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami's Appearance Day -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:

So Bhāgavata says: tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta (SB 11.3.21). You surrender to a guru. Why? Jijñāsu śreya uttamam. Unless you are inquisitive to learn about the Supreme, the transcendence, then you find out a suitable representative of Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and surrender. Tad vidhi praṇipātena. Praṇipāta. Prakṛṣṭa-rūpena nipāta. Pra means prakṛṣṭa-rūpena, and praṇipāta. Prakṛṣṭa-rūpena nipāta: fall down. Tad vidhi praṇipātena paripraśnena. First of all, praṇipāta. You cannot inquire challengingly to the guru. Just like Arjuna did it, praṇipāta. Śiṣyas te'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). So this praṇipāta required. And before praṇipāta, you must... Everyone has got his personal, puffed-up attitude: "Why shall I surrender?" That is the material disease. We do not wish to surrender. We think that "I am equal with Him. Why shall I surrender?" So, but our, this Vaiṣṇava philosophy, especially, begins with this praṇipāta.

General Lectures

Northeastern University Lecture -- Boston, April 30, 1969:

Therefore those who are practicing yoga, or trying to be on the transcendental platform, the restriction is that one must cease sex life, if you at all interested. But that is not possible. Therefore our, this method, we don't say "Stop sex life," but we say "Don't have illicit sex life." Illicit sex life, of course, even there is no question of transcendent life, that is a question of civilized life. Civilized life. In every civilized society—it may be Hindu society or Muslim society or Christian society—any civilized human society, there is the system of marriage. And beyond marriage, if there is sex life, that is called illicit sex life. That is never indulged in any society. So what to speak of transcendental life? Transcendental life must be purified from mental concoction or bodily concept of life. It is the transcendental platform. Tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ.

So these things are very restricted in order to reach that transcendental platform. But in this age, in this age of Kali, where everything is disturbed, always full of anxieties, and the life is very short.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Śyāmasundara: Well, his point is that these contradictions-saying that "There is a God," "There is no God"—these contradictions only arise because the reason attempts to apply its categories to the transcendent of the absolute, whereas these categories are only applicable to empirical experience. In other words, by reason alone I cannot...

Prabhupāda: This is by reason only. I see everything is growing; therefore the whole cosmic manifestation must have grown from a source. This is reason.

Śyāmasundara: This is transcendental reason.

Prabhupāda: No. Common reason. Every matter is growing from a certain source, so therefore this material world must have grown from a certain source.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That means with material senses you cannot go to the transcendental knowledge. Then how can he form ideas of transcendence?

Śyāmasundara: Well, in this particular attempt Kant is trying to form those ideas purely through the reason. Pure reason.

Prabhupāda: You say that material senses cannot reach transcendence. Then what is the meaning of reasoning? If your senses are imperfect, so if you put some reason by the senses, then that is also imperfect.

Śyāmasundara: He says that reason acts a priori, or separate from the senses, independent of the senses; that reason can understand that there is God, there is soul, etc., without use of the senses.

Prabhupāda: That is possible.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Śyāmasundara: But he is describing only one type of salvation, called aesthetic salvation, where one transcends the normal state of desire by seeing art or hearing music or poetry. Only this momentary transcendence.

Prabhupāda: So why momentary? It can continue perpetually.

Śyāmasundara: By seeing pictures and art...

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.

Philosophy Discussion on Edmund Husserl:

Śyāmasundara: He outlines three techniques for finding the essences of things. The first step is called the phenomenon of phenomenal logical reduction, which begins by excluding consideration of everything transcendent, including all theories or scientific knowledge—everything—only presenting to our immediate senses the objects to be considered, without any preconceived idea of what is that object. So he calls this the suspension of judgment. Suspend all judgment about an object—just look at it, and the object itself will be intuitively understood. This is his idea.

Prabhupāda: Yes. If you study the object scrutinizingly, then you will come to the conclusion, the source of that objective idea.

Śyāmasundara: He says that only this knowledge is absolutely certain.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is called brahma-jijñāsā. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is called brahma-jijñāsā, inquiring about brahma. That is the prerogative of human life. In the human life one can make inquiries what is the ultimate source, cause. And in animal life it is not sought. So if such inquisitive is not there, then it is animal. Just like at the present moment the newspaper is full of fighting news. But these things are animal news. Such kind of fighting was there also in the animal life—dogs and dogs fighting.

Philosophy Discussion on Aristotle:

Hayagrīva: ...quotations on Aristotle. Aristotle believes that God expresses Himself through matter, although he also believes that God is transcendent and separate from the universe.

Prabhupāda: He believes some way and other believes some way, so which is..., which one is correct?

Hayagrīva: He does not follow Plato's dualism of the "here" and the "there." Plato made a sharp distinction between the material universe and the spiritual universe, but Aristotle believes there is no sharp distinction because God expresses Himself in matter. Since matter is simply one of God's energies, the finite reflects the infinite.

Prabhupāda: So what is the other energy? Does he know?

Philosophy Discussion on Plotinus:

Hayagrīva: Plotinus saw the individual souls returning to God or the One through three stages. The first stage is that of asceticism, detaching oneself from the material world. The second stage, one detaches oneself from the process of reasoning itself. That would be mental speculation. And in the third stage the intellect transcends itself into the realm of the unknown, the realm of the One, and he speaks of this as an ecstasy, an involvement, or a transcendence of the ego. So these are the three stages of God realization that he sets down.

Prabhupāda: That means, what he called three stages, karmī, jñānī, yogi. That karmīs, they are trying to improve their condition by this material science and material advancement of education, and some of them are trying to go the heavenly planets by pious activities. These are karmīs. And higher than the karmīs are the jñānīs. They are speculating on the Absolute Truth by their education and coming to the conclusion that God is impersonal; when we merge into that impersonal feature, that is our liberation. And the yogis, they are trying to get some mystic power by practicing mystic yoga system—wonderful power, aṣṭa-siddhi, eight kinds of perfection: to become lighter than the lightest, to become smaller than the smallest, to become bigger than the biggest. Whatever they like, they can get.

Philosophy Discussion on St. Augustine:

Hayagrīva: This is the continuation of Augustine. Augustine writes, "God is not the soul of all things but the maker of all souls." So this doctrine seems to admit of the transcendence of God but not of the eminence of God, at least not as the Paramātmā accompanying the individual soul.

Prabhupāda: He does not accept Paramātmā?

Hayagrīva: It doesn't seem to be. It seems that...

Prabhupāda: Then how God is all-pervading? The Paramātmā conception is there in the Brahma-saṁhitā:

eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭiṁ

yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara...

(Bs. 5.35)

One part of His feature, eko 'py asau. Racayitum, creation, this creation is done by one plenary portion of His person, the puruṣa-avatāra, the Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, in expanding. So, and not only one universe but millions of universes, jagad-aṇḍa-koṭim.