Understood to be... (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"understand to be" |"understanding to be" |"understood to be"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 4.19 -- Bombay, April 8, 1974:

Pradyumna: (leads chanting) Translation: "One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker whose fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge."

Prabhupāda:

yasya sarve samārambhāḥ

kāma-saṅkalpa-varjitāḥ

jñānāgni-dagdha-karmāṇaṁ

tam āhuḥ paṇḍitaṁ budhāḥ

Paṇḍita, paṇḍita means one who knows. Generally, in India the learned brāhmaṇas are called "Panditji." Brāhmaṇa's honorable, I mean to say title is "Panditji". And vaiśya's honorable title: "Sethji." Panditji, Sethji. Even the śūdras, they are given some honor, "Choudhuri." This is Indian system. Everyone is given some honor. Especially in upper India, the brāhmaṇas, even at the present moment, they are addressed as Panditji. And the kṣatriyas, they are addressed as "Thakur Saheb".

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

Devotee: "Transcendental Knowledge." Text number nineteen. "One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker whose fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge."

Prabhupāda: "One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid of desire for sense gratification." The opposite is ignorance. Those who are in knowledge of sense gratification they are devoid of knowledge. Yes. "He is said by sages to be a worker whose fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge." "He is said by sages to be a worker whose fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge." This is very common thing. Everyone has to act but if he acts in full knowledge then that is perfection of activity.

Lecture on BG 13.20 -- Bombay, October 14, 1973:

Pradyumna: Translation: "Material nature and the living entities should be understood to be beginningless. Their transformations and the modes of matter are products of material nature."

Prabhupāda: So there were six questions by Arjuna: kṣetra, kṣetra-jña, jñānam, jñeyam, prakṛti, puruṣa. Six questions. So Kṛṣṇa has already replied what is kṣetra, kṣetra-jña, and what is the process of knowledge and what is the object of knowledge. Now He is beginning to explain what is this material nature and what is these living entities.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.5-6 -- London, August 23, 1971:

Pradyumna: "And all other prec... Vyāsadeva is the original spiritual preceptor for all men, and all other preceptors are considered to be his representatives. A representative is one who can exactly present the viewpoint of Śrī Vyāsadeva. Śrī Vyāsadeva impregnated the message of Bhāgavatam unto Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī heard it from him (Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī). All bona fide representatives of Śrī Vyāsadeva in the chain of disciplic succession are to be understood to be gosvāmīs. These gosvāmīs restrain all their senses, and they stick to the path made by the previous ācāryas."

Prabhupāda: Yes, gosvāmī or svāmī, the same meaning. One who has been able to control his senses... Generally, everyone is controlled by the senses. When one becomes controller of the senses, then he's gosvāmī. So generally, we give this designation to the sannyāsīs because sannyāsa means who has fully control of the senses. One should not accept sannyāsa whimsically. One must know about himself, how far he can control the senses. Therefore, generally, sannyāsa is not accepted until one is sixty years old. But in this age there is no guarantee whether we are going to live up to sixty years old age. So sometimes younger generation also offered sannyāsa.

Lecture on SB 3.25.27 -- Bombay, November 27, 1974:

They have got no intelligence, common intelligence. And they are trying to put all impediments: "Oh, they cannot construct this temple. They must be refused." All planning. It was raised in the Parliament that "What is these people, Hare Kṛṣṇa movement? Why... Wherefrom they are getting money and what... They are understood to be CIA. What government is going to take action against them?" So the reply was there by the home member that "We have no information that they are CIA people. Therefore there is no question of action." "And their money, they are selling literature, books. They're getting money and some public contribution for foreign exchange." So the reply was that still people will accuse us in this way. So why this is possible? Because there is no Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because they're servant of this māyā they're thinking like this.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 1, 1972:

Pradyumna: "Karma, or fruitive activities, are sometimes understood to be ritualistic activities. There are many persons who are very much attracted by the ritualistic activities described in the Vedas. But if one becomes attracted simply to ritualistic activities without understanding Kṛṣṇa, his activities are unfavorable to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Actually, Kṛṣṇa consciousness can be based simply on hearing, chanting, remembering, etc. Described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are nine different processes, besides which, everything done is unfavorable to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Thus one should always be guarding against falldowns."

Prabhupāda: So we should directly take to the nine different processes of devotional service, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). That we are stressing specifically every time, that hearing about Kṛṣṇa is very important. Śravaṇam. As it is described in the Bhāgavatam, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (SB 1.2.17).

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 7, 1972:

Prabhupāda: Go on.

Pradyumna: "How the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement can attract the attention of the whole world and how each and every man can feel pleasure in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is stated in the Padma Purāṇa as follows: 'A person who is engaged in devotional service in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness is to be understood to be doing the best service to the whole world and to be pleasing everyone in the world. In addition to human society, he is pleasing even the trees and animals because they also become attracted by such a movement.' A practical example of this was shown by Lord Caitanya when He was traveling through the forest of Jhārikhaṇḍa in central India for spreading His saṅkīrtana movement. The tigers, the elephants, the deer and all other wild animals joined Him and were participating in their own ways, by dancing and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa."

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

Acyutānanda: "How the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement can attract the attention of the whole world and how each and every man can feel the pleasure of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is stated in the Padma Purāṇa as follows: 'A person who is engaged in devotional service in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness is to be understood to be doing the best service to the whole world and to be pleasing everyone in the world.' "

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is statement in the Padma Purāṇa. And many other Purāṇas, Vedic literatures, the same thing is confirmed. But simply by taking shelter of Mukunda, one can be free from all types of obligation. Devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṟnām (SB 11.5.41). There are so many obligations. We have obligation to perform to satisfy the demigods; the great sages; general human society; pitṟnām, the pitṛs, forefathers. So many obligation. But one who takes shelter of Mukunda, he has no other, no more obligation.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Lokanatha dasa -- New Vrindaban, May 21, 1969:

In Padma-Purāṇa these are very nicely explained, how many species of life are there. They have given account: "So many species in water." Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi: "Nine hundred thousand species in water." Sthavarā lakṣa-viṁśati: "Trees and plants, there are two millions." Exact number. Now, if you are scientists, if you are botanist, if you are physiologist, you can try it and see. But these are already there. Mānuṣāḥ catur-lakṣāṇi: "The human species, there are also 400,000's." So out of this, the Aryan family, the civilized man, the Aryan families are understood to be the highest civilized... (end)

General Lectures

Lecture at Engagement -- Boston, May 8, 1968:

And so long we are unaware of the presence of the spirit soul in the body, so long we do not inquire what is the spirit soul, so long our all activities are simply wasting our time. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that parābhavas tāvad abhodha-jātaḥ. The foolish person or the foolish living entity... Anyone who has accepted this temporary body is understood to be foolish. So every one of us is born foolish because we identify with this temporary body as myself. Therefore we are foolish. Everyone knows that the body does not exist, and still, everyone identifies himself with this body. This is called ignorance, or illusion.

So the whole world, or the mostly people are hovering in ignorance, and he does not know that he is spirit soul, and he is transmigrating from one body to another. He does not want to die, but the death, cruel death, is enforced upon him. So these problems, they do not consider very seriously, and they are thinking very happy on the principles of animal life.