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What to speak of... (Lectures, Other)

Lectures

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 32 -- New York, July 26, 1971:

Even one moment of your life cannot be returned even you spend millions of dollars. One of our friends in India, he was at that time fifty-four years old, but he was dying. So he was requesting the doctor, "Doctor, kindly give some medicine so that I may live for another four years. I have got so many things to do." Just see, the crazy fellow. You see. This is called ignorance. He does not know that "What to call..., what to say of four years, the doctor cannot give me four minutes prolongation of life." When the life is ended, it is ended. Nobody can... Any medicine, any physical, physiological treatment will not help. That is not possible. You have got a duration of life, say, fifty years, sixty years, seventy years—a hundred years, utmost. You cannot increase it by paying money. What to speak of four years; you cannot increase four seconds. So just try to understand how much our life is valuable. A second of our life we cannot purchase by paying millions of dollars. And if that second is wasted without any utilization, then how much money we are losing. This is the calculation.

So our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is only to remind people that "Please do not waste your time, valuable time, life. Utilize it. This is the opportunity to make a solution of all the problems of life." There is means, there are ways, how to do it. That we are describing. Yesterday we discussed tapasā, by austerity; brahmacaryeṇa, by celibacy; śamena, by controlling the mind; damena, by controlling the senses; tyāgena, by giving in charity your money. That is called tyāga. Suppose you have got millions of dollars. Don't keep it. So long it is within your jurisdiction, spend it for Kṛṣṇa. Yes. That is the proper utilization. Because actually the money is not yours, because you cannot carry this money with your death.

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Lecture -- Los Angeles, November 9, 1968:

So this life is meant for brahma-jijñāsā, inquiring, "What is Brahman?" Instead of inquiring Brahman, they are trying to kill Brahman. "There is no soul. There is no Supersoul. It is nature automatically becoming this." These nonsense things are being pushed within the, this rubbish brain of the human society. They cannot explain. They cannot give right understanding. Still, they will say, "I am scientist. I am philosopher. I am this. I am that." But your business... What is your business? Now, direct people wrongly, to go to hell. So this is not life. Life is athāto brahma jijñāsā: "This human form of life is meant for inquiring Brahman." And if you engage yourself in this Brahman business, for Kṛṣṇa consciousness business, rest assured, Kṛṣṇa will take care of you. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham: (BG 10.10) "I take care personally for their necessities of life." Ordinarily, Kṛṣṇa, or God, is taking care of everyone even if he's not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and those who are coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, what to speak of them? Special care by Kṛṣṇa. Rest assured. Engage yourself rigidly to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Be happy. That is our program.

Festival Lectures

Nrsimha-caturdasi Lord Nrsimhadeva's Appearance Day -- Bombay, May 5, 1974:

It is called Nṛsiṁha-caturdaśī. So I am so pleased that within such a short time these boys have nicely learned how to play, and especially I have to thank Mr. Hiraṇyakaśipu. (applause) (laughs) Mr. Hiraṇyakaśipu has played his part very nicely.

So this is very instructive struggle between the atheist and the theist. This story of Prahlāda Mahārāja is eternally true. There is always a struggle between the atheist and the theist. If a person becomes God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious, so he will find many enemies. Because the world is full of demons. What to speak of the devotee of Kṛṣṇa, even Kṛṣṇa, when He personally came, He had to kill so many demons. There was His maternal uncle, His mother's brother, very keenly related. Still, he wanted to kill Kṛṣṇa. As soon as any son was born to Devakī, immediately he killed, because he did not know who will be Kṛṣṇa. The prediction was that the eighth child of his sister will kill Kaṁsa. So he began to kill all the children. At last, Kṛṣṇa came. But he could not kill Kṛṣṇa. He was killed by Kṛṣṇa.

So nobody can kill God. The demons, godless society, they simply want to kill God. But actually, God is never killed, but the demon is killed by God. That is the law of nature. This is the instruction from Prahlāda Mahārāja's life. We can understand that as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that "I am also death in the shape of taking away everything, whatever you possess." We are very much proud of possessing material things, material acquisition, but when Kṛṣṇa comes... Just like Mahārāja, Prahlāda Mahārāja saw Hiraṇyakaśipu. His father also saw Nṛsiṁha-deva. This Hiraṇyakaśipu was very clever as the materialists, scientists, are very clever. Cleverly they are inventing so many things. What is the idea? The idea is "We shall live forever and enjoy sense gratification more and more." This is called atheistic advancement of civilization. So Hiraṇyakaśipu was typical materialist.

Janmastami Lord Sri Krsna's Appearance Day -- Bhagavad-gita 7.5 Lecture -- Vrndavana, August 11, 1974:

Today is Kṛṣṇa's birthday. He descends to give us instruction. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). Kṛṣṇa advents Himself... Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). This is dharmasya glāniḥ. What is that? When we forget Kṛṣṇa and try to become the master of the world. This is dharmasya glāniḥ. When we want to become master of Kṛṣṇa, that is dharmasya glāniḥ. So Kṛṣṇa advents Himself. This is, today is the auspicious day of Kṛṣṇa's adventing to kill Kaṁsa and to release Vasudeva. This is Kṛṣṇa. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya... Paritrāṇāya sādhūnām. Vasudeva, His father, was arrested, put into the prison house. To release him from the prison house, and to kill the Kaṁsa, duṣkṛtina, rākṣasa... The rākṣasika philosophy is "How to kill Kṛṣṇa, how to become godless." Kaṁsa was planning to kill Kṛṣṇa. That is... Kaṁsa, or the demons, that is plan. But Kṛṣṇa comes to kill the demons and protect the devotees. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). But He is kind to both the demons and the devotees. By... Anyone who is killed by Kṛṣṇa, he also gets liberation. And what to speak of the devotee.

So on this advent day of Kṛṣṇa we shall seek protection at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Then we shall be able to cross over this illusory energy, ocean of illusory energy.

Sri Vyasa-puja -- New Vrindaban, September 2, 1972:

Where is your father gone? No. Then we can... After death we can understand that "My father or my son was not this body. He was something else." So this is called illusion.

So mistake, illusion, and cheating. Everyone wants to cheat others. This is the dealing. Suppose we are businessman, making some agreement. So I am trying to make the agreement in my favor; you are trying to make the agreement in your favor. I am thinking, "I have cheated this person. I am so clever." You see? So the cheating propensity is there, even we hide something. Even husband and wife, we cheat one another, what to speak of man... Even sometimes father and son, what to speak of other relation. So cheating propensity is... First that we commit mistake, we are illusioned, we cheat, and at the end, all our senses are imperfect. Just like we are very much proud of seeing. Everyone says, "Can you show me? I want to see." And what can you see? What is the power of seeing? At night, if there is no sunshine, you cannot see, so what is the use of your seeing? If there is wall, you cannot see what is beyond the wall. You are seeing every day the sun, but we are seeing just like a small disc. But actually it is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth. Similarly, we cannot see which is situated a very long distance. We cannot see even the eyelid which is actually with the eyes. But we cannot see it. In this way, if you study, every one of your senses you will find imperfect.

Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- London, August 29, 1971:

So this is called mukti, or liberation, from the misera... Ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛttiḥ. Duḥkha, duḥkha means distress. So everybody is trying to get out of distress. But he does not know what is the ultimate goal of getting out of distress. Na te viduḥ. They do not know. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). One can be out of distress when he approaches Viṣṇu. Tad viṣṇuṁ paramaṁ padaṁ sada paśyanti sūrayaḥ. Tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam. The Viṣṇu planet... Just like here in the material world they're trying to go to the moon planet, but these foolish people do not know what they'll gain even they go to the moon planet. It is one of the material planets. Kṛṣṇa has already said in the Bhagavad-gītā, abrahma-bhuvanāl lokān. What to speak of this moon planet—it is very near—even if you go to the topmost planet, which is known as Brahmaloka... That is in your front, you can see every day, every night, how many lokas and planets are there. But you cannot go there. You are simply trying to go to the nearest planet. That is also failure. So what is your scientific improvement? But there is possibility. Ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokān. You can go. The material scientists' calculation is that if one goes forward for forty thousands of years in the light speed, light-year speed, then one can approach the topmost planet of this material world. So at least in the modern scientific calculation, it is impossible. But one can go; there is process. That we have tried to explain in our small booklet Easy Journey to Other Planets. By yogic process one can go any planet he likes. That is the yogic perfection. When a yogi becomes perfect, he can go to any planet he likes, and the yoga practice goes on, unless the yogi thinks himself that he has made himself perfect to travel to any planet he likes. That is perfection of yoga practice.

Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- Bhagavad-gita 18.5 -- London, September 5, 1973:

Our Nārāyaṇa—that is real Nārāyaṇa, exalted—we cannot even compare with that supreme Nārāyaṇa with such demigods like Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, what to speak of these rascals. Yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ, samatvena vīkṣeta. Any person, rascal, if he thinks that Nārāyaṇa is equal to Lord Brahmā or Lord Śiva... There are Māyāvādīs. They say "Any demigod is as good as Viṣṇu. You can worship any demigod. It doesn't matter. You..." Because their ultimate understanding is that the Absolute Truth is impersonal, and you can imagine any form. It doesn't matter. You ultimately reach that impersonal, merge into the impersonal.

This is their philosophy. But that is not the fact. The ultimate issue of the Absolute Truth is Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). Absolute Truth is realized in three phases: first of all impersonal Brahman, then localized Paramātmā, and then the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). The Absolute Truth is described as Bhagavān, and there are many expansions of Bhagavān. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Ananta-rūpam. Kṛṣṇa has expansion, millions and trillions. Just like as Paramātmā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). Not only He resides in everyone's heart, but in every atom also. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (Bs. 5.35) **.

His Divine Grace Srila Sac-cid-ananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Appearance Day, Lecture -- London, September 3, 1971:

There is a history. Śivānanda Sena's dog, he was liberated by the grace of Lord Caitanya. So by the association of pure devotee... Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's, there is one song. He prays to the Lord that kīṭa-janma hou jatha tuyā dāsa. Kīṭa means insect. "My Lord, if I have to take my birth again..." Because a devotee does not pray to God for liberation. He simply prays that "Wherever I may take my birth, I may not forget You." That's all. That is devotee's prayer. A devotee does not say that "Elevate me to the heavenly planet or Vaikuṇṭha planet." No. "You can put me anywhere." Just like Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, kīṭa-janma hou: "My dear Lord, I have no objection if I have to take my birth next as an insect." What to speak of human being or other thing. "As an insect. But I must be in the house of a devotee." So that an insect, by eating the remnants of foodstuff left by the devotee, he'll be delivered. Kīṭa-janma hou jatha tuyā, bahir-mukha brahma-janma nāhi mora āśā: "I don't want my next birth as Lord Brahmā if I forget You. I don't want." That is wanted. A devotee prays to the Lord that he would be able to constantly remember the lotus feet of the Lord. Never mind whether as insect or as king or as dog, never mind. That is devotee's, pure devotee.

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

Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śrenīṁ sadā tucchavat. Tucchavat means very significant. They did not give any importance to the ministerial post. Here in the material world, if you get a nice government service, what to speak of to become minister, then we are very much proud. But the Gosvāmīs thought of their posts as very insignificant. Without thinking like that, how they can give it up? Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). You cannot by force become renounced order of life. When you see something better than your present engagement, then you can be renounced. After accepting renounced order of life, if I am still attached to these material things, then that is not advancement. So these Gosvāmīs, Sanātana Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī, they gave up their posts. Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śrenīṁ sadā tucchavat bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau kṛpayā kaupīna-kantāśritau. Kaupīna, the underwear, loincloth, and a torn quilt, and a kuraṅga, That was their possessions. And they used to live underneath one tree, and next day another tree. In this way, in this Vṛndāvana... First of all, Sanātana Gosvāmī came here after taking instruction from Lord Caitanya in Benares. And Madana Gopāla's temple you have seen, old. He was living there underneath a tree. There was no temple at that time. The temple was constructed later on. So this Sanātana Gosvāmī, just after giving up his ministerial post, with great difficulty, he came to Benares and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave him instruction for two months for guiding the Vaiṣṇava principles. So he's approaching his spiritual master with humble attitude. Therefore he's speaking like that. "I am born of lower family. My associations are all abominable, and I am fallen." Actually, he was minister. He was coming of a brāhmaṇa family. But these material qualifications are not sufficient to improve one's Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One must approach a bona fide spiritual master. That is being exhibited by Sanātana Gosvāmī. He's approaching the original spiritual master, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, with due humbleness. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta (SB 11.3.21). Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṇi śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). One must approach. Sanātana Gosvāmī's teaching us the Vaiṣṇava principle that one should approach a proper spiritual master.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Bombay, December 22, 1975:

And one who does not know this, what is the goal of life, what is God, what is my relationship with God, he is āsura.

So, Kṛṣṇa has described everything, in the Bhagavad-gītā, and today, this night, we are trying to explain the mission of Kṛṣṇa, because the same mission is being carried out by us beginning from Brahmā, and today is a special day, the disappearance day of my Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Goswami. So these ācāryas, they come and they go, that is not like ordinary birth and death. It is called prakaṭa, aprakaṭa, āvirbhāva, tirobhāva. So even ordinarily nobody takes birth and nobody dies, na jāyate na mrīyate vā kadācit, so what to speak of the ācāryas, or Bhagavān. Nobody, a living entity, a living being... God is the supreme living being, and we are subordinate living beings. Both of us, we are living beings, so what is the difference between the two kinds of living beings? The difference is that the one, God, or Kṛṣṇa, He maintains all the other living beings. And we are being maintained. This is the difference. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. The plural number living entities, we are plural number, in different species of life, but we are maintained by the Supreme Being.

So this is our relationship. If we understand this relationship, eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān, that is our real understanding. Just like in your office or in a factory, there is a proprietor, he is maintaining so many workers, so many clerks. And what is your duty? To serve him.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

So now, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa and Caitanya Mahāprabhu and in the presence of my Guru Mahārāja, you are so nice boys and girls. So in front of Caitanya Mahāprabhu you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and you are taking part in it very seriously. So my Guru Mahārāja will be very, very much pleased upon you and bless you with all benefits.

So he wanted this, and he is not... It is not that he is dead and gone. That is not spiritual understanding. Even ordinary living being, he does not die. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). And what to speak of such exalted, authorized personality like Bhaktisiddhānta. He is seeing. I never feel that I am alone. Of course, when I came to your country without any friend, without any means... Practically, just like a vagabond I came. But I had full faith that "My Guru Mahārāja is with me." I never lost this faith, and that is fact. There are two words, vāṇī and vapuḥ. Vānī means words, and vapuḥ means this physical body. So vāṇī is more important than the vapuḥ. Vapuḥ will be finished. This is material body. It will be finished. That is the nature. But if we keep to the vāṇī, to the words of spiritual master, then we remain very fixed up. It doesn't matter. Just like Bhagavad-gītā. It was spoken five thousand years ago. But if you keep to the words of Kṛṣṇa, then it is always fresh and guiding. Not that because Arjuna personally listened to Kṛṣṇa about the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, therefore he knew it. That is not the fact. If you accept Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then you should know that Kṛṣṇa is present before you in His words in the Bhagavad-gītā. This is called spiritual realization. It is not mundane historical incidences.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Lecture -- Melbourne, April 19, 1976:

Because Kṛṣṇa consciousness is meant for very first-class men, not for the loafer class. In the Bhagavad-gītā this is clearly said, imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Not for the loafer class. But a loafer class man can become rājarṣi by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the secret. As the rājarṣi becoming... By materialistic way of life, a rājarṣi becoming as a loafer class... Just like you see, so many kingdoms were there, Moghul Empire, British Empire, Roman Empire, and so many empires were there. Where are those empires? Finished all. That will finish. It will not stay. Now the so-called kings, the emperors, they are now practically beggars. So if we do not decorate Kṛṣṇa, if we decorate our personal body, then gradually it will be finished. You'll be forced to become naked, what to speak of decoration? This is the way of nature. But if you try to decorate Kṛṣṇa, then without decoration you'll be worshiped; you'll be beloved. And this is the secret, just opposite. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, yat karoṣi yaj juhoṣi yad aśnāsi (BG 9.27).

So try to understand. Of course, I have given a glimpse of idea in the Western countries of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Now you are able young boys, young girls. You are intelligent. You have got so many credits behind you for material civilization. Now you take it. Just convert it. Material civilization means to endeavor for one's personal benefit. Just the opposite. The same thing should be done, but for the benefit of Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa does not want any benefit from you. He is quite competent. He does not want. But if you do for Kṛṣṇa, then you are benefited. This is the secret. Kṛṣṇa says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati: (BG 9.26) "If you give Me little flower, little..." What Kṛṣṇa...? Kṛṣṇa is worshiped by... Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam (Bs. 5.29). What? What does He want from you? What He'll gain by your patraṁ puṣpam? But He wants from you something. That you have forgotten. This is rascaldom. We have forgotten to offer to Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means it is the beginning of offering everything to Kṛṣṇa. Then it is successful. Try to satisfy Kṛṣṇa.

Arrival Address -- New York, July 9, 1976:

There was a house, very small house, one part of this space-25 feet by one 100 feet. So they wanted $100,000. So I wrote one rich friend in India, industrialist—perhaps you know him, that Kanpurwalla, Singaniya. So he agreed to pay me, but the government did not allow. The Indian government did not allow to transfer money from India to here. Then I approached the, what is that? Salvation Army, the chief man. I offered him that "You are spending money in India. So I have got a friend, he'll pay you, you pay me here." So he asked me "What is the rate you want to pay me?" So I told him, "The present rate is five dollars..., five rupees, one dollar." So he remained silent. That means he wanted more. In this way I had no place. What to speak of temple, I had no residential place even. So in that condition I was thinking of returning back to India. So the shipping company I was, practically every week, I was going.

So it is a long history that I came here with determination to start a temple in New York first, but at that time, ten years before, in 1965, it was not possible. But by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, by the grace of my Guru Mahārāja, you have got this place. So I must thank you very much for organizing this temple. Actually, in this line of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, two things are very important. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said in His teaching to Rūpa Gosvāmī,

ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
(CC Madhya 19.151)

We are loitering throughout the whole universe. This is conditional stage of our materialistic life, and we are simply suffering. People are kept into ignorance without knowing the aim of life, how we are suffering in this materialistic way of life.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Jayapataka Dasa -- Montreal, July 24, 1968:

They can also be elevated to the highest platform of perfection by the process of initiation. And kiṁ punar brāhmaṇaḥ puṇyā bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā (BG 9.33). Even such persons can be elevated, and what to speak of the brāhmaṇas, bhaktas, devotees, and rājarṣaya, and great kṣatriyas. There is nothing to speak about them. Even these people can be elevated.

So this Bhāgavata-dharma is very nice, it is universal, it can be accepted by everyone. Unfortunately, so long there was no preaching of this Bhāgavata-dharma. Now, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, Lord Caitanya, the Bhāgavata-dharma is now being expanded in the Western countries. I am very glad that boys and girls from this part of the world, they are also embracing and they are nicely chanting and following the rules and regulations. So I think Kṛṣṇa will be very... So initiation means this is the beginning. Now you have to follow the rules and regulations. What are the rules and regulations? Only four principles. Don't have any illicit sex life. Don't have any food besides prasādam or foodstuff offered to Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa does not eat anything beyond the vegetarian group. Because in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). So you cannot offer Kṛṣṇa anything beyond this scope. So there is no question of nonvegetarian diet, including fish, eggs, even onions, and lentils, what is called? Lentils? That dahl, pulses? So you have got from your Godbrother, you will know. And you are eating here Kṛṣṇa prasādam. And no gambling and no intoxication, including smoking, tea taking, coffee taking. No gambling, no intoxication. These four principles. No illicit sex life, no nonvegetarian diet, no gambling, and no intoxication. These four principles have to be followed and in the beginning the offenses.

Initiation of Bali-mardana Dasa -- Montreal, July 29, 1968:

So this is not a new system that we are introducing or manufacturing by our concocted imagination, but it is authorized, coming down by disciplic succession from time immemorial. It may be that in this country it is being introduced for the last two or three years, but this system is the oldest system, oldest system, just like we are nityaḥ śāśvataḥ purāṇaḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the soul is eternal and Purāṇa. Purāṇa means the oldest. Purāṇa. And in the Brahma-saṁhitā it is also said, advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyam purāṇa-puruṣam (Bs. 5.33). So Kṛṣṇa is also the oldest. Either Kṛṣṇa or the living creatures, all of them are the oldest because they have no death, no birth. There is no history. Na jāyate na mriyate. Bhagavad-gītā says that the living entity, what to speak of God... They say, "God is dead." This is all nonsense. What to speak of God, even these living creatures, they are not dead. The death program is for this body, just like changing, changing the body, er, changing the dress. So if one changes one dress or apartment, that does not mean that he is dead. Similarly, if we change this body to another body... As we are changing our body constantly, every moment, similarly, if we change this body to another body, that does not mean death. So death is not accepted in the Vedic literature. So either God or the living creature, nobody dies. Every one is eternal, śāśvata purāṇa. Similarly, as we are the oldest and eternal; similarly this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is also the oldest and eternal. (break)

Initiation of Bali-mardana Dasa -- Montreal, July 29, 1968:

So Bali is... Bali-mardana does not mean that he was... Because he was punished by Kṛṣṇa, he is not ordinary person; he is authority. So even a person punished by Kṛṣṇa becomes authority. Kṛṣṇa is so nice. What to speak of a person who is directly loved by Kṛṣṇa, even one is punished by Kṛṣṇa, he becomes authority. So therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Bali-mardana. And Bali-mardana dāsa means Kṛṣṇa dāsa, one who is servant of Kṛṣṇa. Is that clear? Yes. (break) (japa) So that list you have not made, offenses, ten kinds of...?

Initiation Lecture -- London, August 22, 1971:

This is one of the gravest offense in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. You should always remember. By this initiation, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, your sinful activities will be counteracted, undoubtedly. But don't commit again. Then it will be the gravest offense. There are ten kinds of offenses. You should be careful. You have got those printed papers? Ten kinds of offenses? Yes, you take. This is a fact. Yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bahyābhyantaraḥ śuciḥ. As soon as you chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, you become relieved from all reaction of sinful activities.

Every one of us, anyone who has come to this material world, beginning from Lord Brahmā, what to speak of ourselves, down to the small ant, everyone is, to some extent we have committed sinful activities; therefore we are in this material world. This is a fact. Now, in this materialist world there are different stages, different species of life. That you know, that there are 8,400,000 species of life, and we are passing through all the species of life. And according to our sinful position we are placed in different kinds of places also in God's creation. There are different kinds of places also. So this is going on. We are traveling, wandering throughout the universe, through many species of life and in many planets. This is going on. So Caitanya-caritāmṛta says, ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). In this way, the living entities while wandering throughout the whole universe... Sometimes in nice place, nice life, nice society... There is no nice place, but we accept, "This is good, this is bad." That is our mental concoction. Actually, in the material world there is no happiness, there is no nice place, because wherever you go... As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, punar āvartino 'rjuna.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 2, 1968:

No. Yam evaiṣa vṛṇute. When He is pleased, then He reveals unto the devotee. Therefore our business should be, for God realization, to please Him. And that pleasing process is this devotional service. Let us engage in His service, and when He becomes pleased, "Yes. He's very sincerely..." Just like the gopīs. They were village girls, not even born of very high family. Cowherds, ordinary agriculturists, cowherds men. So their daughters. So how much education you can...? There was no education practically. In the village even men... In India still, they are ninety-percent illiterate. And what to speak of the girls, the men are not even literate. Because according to Vedic civilization it was not necessary that everyone should go to school. There was no necessity. Because things were being learned by śruti, by aural reception. Knowledge from the perfect man, one would hear, and he would become learned. There was no necessity of, I mean to say, learning ABCD. No. Even in Vedic age, everything was memorized. There was nothing in writing. People were so sharp in brain that once heard from the spiritual master, they will never forget. The brahmacārī system made their brain so powerful that whatever they will hear from the spiritual master, they will keep in the brain and never forget. They will repeat verbatim. Smṛti. It is called retaining power.

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Seattle, September 25, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Yes, there is. But you have to accept the standard platform by your advancement. Just like somebody accepts somebody as master, that is according to his own mentality. And somebody accepts somebody else as master, that is his mentality. But the highest, according to Vedic literature, Kṛṣṇa is the supreme master. Because all the ācāryas, all the spiritual masters of Vedic perfection, just like in the recent years Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, and Viṣṇu Svāmī, Lord Caitanya, all of them, they have accepted Kṛṣṇa as the supreme spiritual master. All of them. Even Śaṅkarācārya, he's impersonalist, still he has accepted Kṛṣṇa. Sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇa. He says that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa. That is mentioned in his commentary of Bhagavad-gītā. And what to speak of Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, they accept. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he says, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). If you want to become a spiritual master, then try to disseminate the teachings of Lord Kṛṣṇa. So that is our, so far we are concerned, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, our ideal spiritual master is Kṛṣṇa. Yes?

Upendra: Swamijī, someone approached me and we were discussing about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And I said to approach Kṛṣṇa one must be pure, but he said, "What is purity?" Could you explain that technically? What is purity?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Purity means standing on the spiritual platform. That is purity. In the material platform there is no purity. So according to Bhagavad-gītā, that standard of purity, that means standing on the spiritual platform, which is called brahma-bhūtaḥ. Brahma-bhūtaḥ.

Lecture to College Students -- Seattle, October 20, 1968, Introduction by Tamala Krsna:

The Sanskrit word mantra, man means mind, and tra means deliverance. Mantra means that which delivers you from the mental concoction or hovering on the mental plane. Every one of us is hovering on the mental plane. By mind we are creating so many things: "I shall be happy in this way. I shall be happy in this way. I shall be happy in that way." But mantra means when you are delivered from that concoction, speculative way of your mind, and you come to the transcendental platform. That is the effect of mantra. So this mantra, this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, is called the mahā-mantra. Mahā-mantra means the greatest of all mantras. And this is the only suitable mantra for this age. This age is called Kali-yuga. Kali-yuga means the age of disagreement. Nobody agrees. Even husband, wife does not agree, what to speak of others. The father, son does not agree. Nobody agrees with anyone. This is the age like that. So in this age of disagreement you cannot say that this type of religion is nice, that type of religion is nice. That is finished now. You have to take this mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. And you'll find it that very soon you are coming to the light.

So I do not wish to take much of your time, but simply I want to impress upon you that this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is so nice that if you give in an experimental way... You can see. You chant for at least one week and you see how much you have changed. So these boys, they are chanting in the street. We have got many branches in your country, one in London, one in Germany, and everyone is taking part. It is increasing. So we don't charge anything, neither you have got any loss. If there is any profit, you can try it, but there is no loss. That is guaranteed. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

Class in Los Angeles -- Los Angeles, November 15, 1968:

Kṛṣṇa's rasa-līlā should not be discussed in public meeting. It is most confidential. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu never discussed. He discussed Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, līlā with gopīs, with His confidential, very confidential circle. Or those who are... Lord Caitanya had many thousands of followers, and... He was not discussing even within these five persons, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi, Nityānanda, Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa, and Himself, these five persons. So when He was at Navadvīpa, He was not discussing even with them, what to speak of others. He set up this example so that in future people may be very cautious. Because unless one understands what is Kṛṣṇa, how he can understand Kṛṣṇa's pastime? So this discussion of rasa-līlā is the summit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is not ordinary thing. They're purely spiritual. There is nothing material. But because we are not completely free from material concept of life, we may think that Kṛṣṇa's līlā is something like this material. So that is offense. But that is the ultimate goal, to understand Kṛṣṇa's rasa-līlā. But you have to wait for relishing that Kṛṣṇa's rasa-līlā, to become more perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Anarthāpagamam. Anartha means when one is freed from all anarthas. But it is so nice, even those who are with anartha, misgivings, if they are devotee, if they have got full surrender unto Kṛṣṇa, so they also will derive benefit. Kṛṣṇa's rasa-līlā means that Kṛṣṇa was adopted or foster child. Is that foster child? Yes. So, of Nanda Mahārāja. His father exchanged. His father Vasudeva wanted to save Kṛṣṇa, and he brought from Mathurā to Vṛndāvana, Gokula. And Nanda Mahārāja had a daughter. So he placed Kṛṣṇa on the lap of Yaśodā and took away the daughter, and this daughter was given to Kaṁsa for killing. Just see, there is selfishness. He wanted to save his own son and wanted to kill Yaśodā's daughter. (chuckling) You see? So this is not selfishness; therefore we shall misunderstand. That daughter was not ordinary child, she was the material energy herself, Durgā. So when Kaṁsa took that child by the leg and wanted to, what is called?

Lecture Excerpt -- Los Angeles, February 12, 1969:

And viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate. Oh, people are harassed with so many problems. The politicians and the humanists, the socialists, the ambassadors, the presidents, they're all harassed with the problems. And a Kṛṣṇa conscious person has no problems. (laughter) Has no problems. Viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate. The whole universe becomes happy to them. And vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. What to speak of this man or that big man, that big man, a devotee doesn't care a fig even for the great demigods. Otherwise, they don't care for any big demigod. They simply care for Kṛṣṇa. So vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. Kīṭāyate means they consider just like ordinary worm. "What is this? He's also a living entity. That's all." Yat-kāruṇya-kaṭākṣa-vaibhavavatāṁ gauram eva stumaḥ. Oh, Lord Caitanya's mercy is so valuable, so great, that one can be posted in this position. (end)

Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969:

And we are very proud of advancement of knowledge. And there are innumerable universes. All taken together, that is called material world. Yasya prabhā prabhavato... (Bs. 5.40).

In the Brahma-saṁhitā we get this information: yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa. Jagad-aṇḍa means universes. Koṭi means innumerable, hundreds of thousands multiplied by another hundred, hundred, hundred. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that this universe is a grain of mustard seed in the bag of a mustard seeds. Just imagine. Can anyone count what is the number of mustards seeds in a bag, in a one-ton or two-ton bag? Innumerable. It is beyond our experience. But there are so many universes just like packed up in a bag. This is called material world. So what to speak of the spiritual world? The spiritual world is at least three times greater than this material world. That information we get from Bhagavad-gītā. Ekāṁśena sthito... Ekam means one part. Even you take... One part, maybe, one hundred. But even not going so far, one part means divide the whole thing into four parts. That will be one fourth. This material world is only one fourth of the whole creation, and the three-fourth part is spiritual world. In the spiritual world there is similarly innumerable planets, innumerable living entities. Just like, as I have already explained, that this material world is the just like prison house of the criminals. So our criminal department in the state, say, jail or prison house, that is not the countrywise, as big as the country. That is a fractional part only. Maybe a few hundred people or few thousand people living there, but the state is very big. Similarly, the Lord's state is so big, though the criminal living entities are living in a corner only. This material world is in a corner. So what information we can get about God? "God is great," we simply theoretically say, but we do not know how great it is, He is, and how His greatness is working. That we do not know. But Kṛṣṇa conscious persons, because they are getting knowledge from Kṛṣṇa directly, they have got all this knowledge. Therefore their knowledge is perfect.

Lecture -- Boston, April 25, 1969:

They like it. You see? So if you accept this austerity, that "We shall not eat meat, but we can have very nice foodstuff from grains, from fruits, from vegetables, milk, sugar, so many nice foodstuff," you will forget. Simply you have to learn. That is not very severe austerity. Simply our process is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, how from this present consciousness we want to change to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So these austerities are required: no illicit sex life, no meat-eating, no intoxication. No intoxication. Our boys and girls, they do not even smoke. They do not take tea, coffee, and what to speak of other intoxicants. They were intoxicated. Some of them were LSD, but they have given up to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And no gambling. These four principles you accept. It is not very difficult, not very severe. Simply you have to be willing, "Yes. Why? If I can live on such nice foodstuff, why shall I take to animal food, for which so many animals have to be killed, so many birds have to be killed?"

So Ṛṣabhadeva... It is not new introduction. Ṛṣabhadeva also instructed His boys, princes, that "My dear boys, if you simply indulge in sense gratification, then the result will be that you cannot get real, unlimited happiness." The whole program, austerity, He is advising to His sons, that "My dear boys, this beautiful body, this opportunity, you cannot misuse it simply for sense gratification." But tapa putrakā: "My dear boys, you please accept austerity." Now I have explained what is our austerity. It is very simple, four items of austerity, nothing more. We are not stopping your love or your sex life. No. Simply we are trying to regulate it. That's all. There is no question of stopping your eating or stopping your mating or stopping your sleeping or stopping your defending. Nothing. No stop. But don't increase the degree to the death point. Just like for to live, when we live, we must have some temperature. When there is no temperature, that means he is dead body. But that temperature should not be increased to the 107 degree. That should be controlled. You see.

Lecture Engagement and Prasada Distribution -- Boston, April 26, 1969:

"In all species of life, in all forms of life..." There are 8,400,000 forms of life. So Kṛṣṇa claims that "All form of life, not only human being—the beast, the birds, the aquatics, the, I mean to say, reptiles—everywhere, wherever there is life, therefore, their mother is this material nature, and I am the seed-giving father." So Kṛṣṇa claims everyone's father. So He is neither Indian nor Hindu. He is—we accept Him according to Bhagavad-gītā—He is God Himself. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). If we take authorities of Vedic literature, it is stated in all Vedic literature, in Ṛg Veda, in Atharva Veda, in Brahma-saṁhitā, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and what to speak of Bhagavad-gītā... Bhagavad-gītā is spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. He says, mattaḥ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7).

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo
mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
iti matvā bhajante māṁ
dhīra bhāva-samanvitāḥ
(BG 10.8)

So He claims that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He exhibited, He manifested Himself, as the supreme independent Personality of Godhead. If we read His activities from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then we can see.

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

That means hard knot. Instead of transcending from the concept of body life, it becomes still more hard knot. It is very difficult. 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... That is also explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: prāyeṇa kalau asmin yuge janāḥ. Life is very short, and they are not interested for any transcendental subject matter. They are interested only with the bodily concept of life. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). And always disturbed by so many anxieties. How he can ascend to the platform of transcendental realization? It is very difficult in this age. Therefore Arjuna, who was being taught by Kṛṣṇa that "You try this practice of transcendental life," but Arjuna said... Arjuna means he was taking this instruction five thousand years ago.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes. Our students are forbidden not to accept any kind of intoxication. They do not drink even tea or coffee, or they do not smoke, what to speak of other things. That is our first condition to become disciple: no illicit sex life, no intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling. These four things must be there. Otherwise we don't accept anyone as disciple.

Indian man: Because for an average American, a man in the street who doesn't know what Hinduism means, he thinks...

Prabhupāda: This is Hinduism.

Indian man: ...probably this is a meeting of hippies going on here.

Prabhupāda: Hippies who are coming in our touch, they are giving up all these things even. Because they are not guided—misguided—they are seeking after something better, but there is no leader. But this movement will give them relief, to everyone. We are... Anyone who comes to us for initiation, our first condition is that there should be no illicit sex life, no boyfriend-girlfriend. No. Just get yourself married. Although I am sannyāsī, I have no connection with this marriage, but I do it for the sake of my disciples, just to settle them nicely. So all the boys or girls, they are being married. In Boston, while I was coming, there was three couples married. So they are living peacefully. There is no intoxication. They do not smoke even, do not take even tea or coffee. And they are taking nice prasādam every day. They are happy, they are healthy, and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all.

Lecture -- London, September 26, 1969:

Still, the temperature is so high. You see. And it is the estimation that so many millions of miles, if we go nearer to the sun, immediately we shall be burned into ashes, the temperature is so high. Therefore it is said, aśeṣa-tejāḥ. Aśeṣa-tejāḥ. So in this way, if you simply study this sun... There are three phases: the sunlight, or sunshine; the sun globe; and then the living entities who are in the sun planet. There are living entities. Because it is impossible to go... You cannot go even near the sunlight, sunshi..., globe. You cannot go even to the moon planet.

So our material knowledge, material science, our material endeavor is very, very insignificant to understand the Absolute Truth. It is almost impossible. You cannot understand even a planet, and what to speak of the Supreme. Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). Those who are in knowledge of the Absolute Truth, they say that the Absolute Truth is realized in three phases. But they're nondual. How nondual? Just like even if you study the sunshine, it is not different from the sun, because the same quality is there. The temperature and the illumination, two main qualities, in the sunshine you'll find. And in the same way, if you study the sun globe, you'll find the same quality: light, illumination, and temperature. And if you go further, if you study the living entity, you'll find the same thing: temperature and light. But there is difference still, varieties. You cannot say... When the sunlight enters within your room through the window, you cannot say, "I have got the sun now. Sun is within my room." That is nonsense. No. Sun is far, far away, but his energy has entered your room. So much you can say, but if you think that because the sunlight is within the room... Sunlight within your room? Sunlight, if it comes a few millions miles nearer this planet, it will be finished. What about your room? The temperature is so high.

Lecture 'Nobody Wants to Die' -- Boston, May 7, 1968:

Neck. Yes, kantha. Then you can bring it between the brows, and when you are sufficiently practiced, you can transfer your soul from the top of your brain to any planet you like. That is the perfection of yoga. That is not possible nowadays. Nobody can practice. Real perfection of yoga is not possible in this age. That breathing exercise, the sitting posture, following the rules and regulations... Nobody's following the rules and regulation, what to speak of the sitting posture. That is a process, recommended process. That is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā also, and in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also. But that process is not possible at the present days. But if you want spiritual perfection at the present age, then this is the recommended process by Caitanya Mahāprabhu:

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma iva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
(CC Adi 17.21)

Anyathā means other process. Anyathā. Because we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, it does not mean that we are condemning other process. No. The other process is there in the scriptures and authoritative scriptures. But other process is not possible to be practiced in this age. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, kalau, "In this age," nāsty eva nāsty eva, "it is..., there is no possibility to practice other process." Nāsty eva nāsty eva, three times. Just like if I say three times, "It is not possible, not possible, not possible," that means to confirm it, three times. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva: "It is not possible, not possible, not possible." Gatir anyathā: "There is no other alternative." If you are at all seriously, I mean to say, interested for spiritual salvation, then this is the process. This is the process. Now, so far this process is concerned, we have got many students. Now you can talk with them and you can see practically how they have advanced by practicing this simple process. At least they are pure in their habit and they are confident about their progress. There are so many things.

Lecture to International Student Society -- Boston, December 28, 1969:

I, the spirit soul, that I am part and parcel of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). "All these living entities, they are My part and parcel." So if you try to wide your feelings of internationality, please try to understand Bhagavad-gītā. You'll be getting enlightenment, you'll understand what is international feeling. Sarva-yoniṣu. Sarva-yoniṣu means then you will feel international even for the cats and dogs and animals and reptiles. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam... These people are manufacturing communism, but in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Seventh Canto, we'll find a statement given by Nārada Muni that if in your house there is a snake even, you should give him something to eat. Just see how the feeling. Even there is a snake, what to speak of other animals.

So these feelings will be enlightened. We cannot be enlightened unless we come to the real point of God, or Kṛṣṇa. So we are preaching this Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness. It is not a new movement, because as I told you that this is based on the principles of Bhagavad-gītā, and Bhagavad-gītā is not new. At least from historical point of view, it is five thousand years old. And beyond history, pre—history, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Fourth Chapter, it is said, Kṛṣṇa said,

imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāhur
manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt
(BG 4.1)

That means "I first of all spoke to the sun-god." Now if you take that duration, it will be some millions of years before it was spoken. These things are stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. So apart from that statement, from historical point of view, since the days of Mahābhārata, yes, Battle of Kurukṣetra... Bhagavad-gītā was spoken in the Battle of Kurukṣetra. From historical point of view, it is five thousand years old.

Lecture at Krsna Niketan -- Gorakhpur, February 16, 1971:

In this connection, the comments of Śrīdhara Swami is very important. He is putting question, nānu sakṛd ucaritena nāmābhyasena kathāṁ sarva-pāpa-kṣayaṁ syāt, śraddhā-bhakty-avṛtyad eva adityader api vidhānāḥ. Śrīdhara Swami says that simply by chanting without any regulative principles, one becomes liberated. So how is that? So he replies himself also, "No, there are regulative principles." The idea is that chanting of the holy name is so powerful that it can immediately liberate the vibrator. But because he is prone to fall down again, therefore, what to speak of others who are following the regulative principles? This is the idea. It is not that... Just like the sahajiyās. They think that "If chanting is so powerful, I shall chant sometimes." But he does not know that after chanting, he is again falling down by willingly. This is willing, I mean to say, willful disobedience. Willful disobedience. Because I know that "I have chanted the holy name. Now my all sinful reaction of my life is now vanished. Then why shall I commit again sinful activities?" That is the natural conclusion. But if one concludes like this: "Now I have chanted, I have confessed my sinful activities in the church. Let me go now again, begin my sinful activities," such kind of willful negligence is very, very dangerous. Nāmnād balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. He's the greatest sinner, one who utilizes the holy name as a means of counteracting or neutralizing the sinful effects. They are very willful sinners. That should not be done. It is a fact that as soon as you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, your all sinful reaction of life is immediately neutralized or vanquished. But you should not do again. That is the idea.

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Bombay, March 17, 1971:

Even if you have desires, not that anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11), without any material desires. Generally we go to temple, to God, for some, for fulfilling some material desires. So, śāstra says even if you have got material desires, even if you are not śuddha bhakta... What to speak of śuddha bhakta, even if you are an enemy of Kṛṣṇa, somehow or other go to Kṛṣṇa. Go to the fire and you'll get warm. That is our propaganda. The Gosvāmīs recommend therefore, yena tena prakāreṇa manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet. Somehow or other you just try to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then everything will be successful. That is our propaganda. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, sādhu, śāstra, kṛpāya. A sādhu means devotee. That I was going to explain. A sādhu, there are different kinds of sādhus, but only the devotee, he is sādhu. It is explained by Kṛṣṇa himself, api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). He is sādhu. Even if you find some defects in him due to his former habits, but he is simply engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, unflinching devotion, he is sādhu. He is sādhu. In spite of some defects. We must admit, even in fire there are some defects. Fire is so pure that anything impure you put into the fire, it becomes pure. Perhaps you know in our Hindu system if a one utensil becomes impure some time, you put it in the fire and it becomes pure. Is it not? Is it not?

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 6, 1971:

That Kṛṣṇa, as Lord Caitanya, has said personally, āmāra ajñāya guru hañā tāra ei (CC Madhya 7.128). Our only business is to follow the superiors. Just like a faithful servant, if he simply follows the instruction of the master, then he is perfect. If he does not adulterate the instruction of the master, then he's perfect.

It is not that those who are preaching this Kṛṣṇa cult, they are all perfect. There may be many deficiencies. Any conditional soul has got four deficiencies naturally. He is to commit mistakes. However great man he may be, surely, because he is conditional soul, he'll commit mistake. You know. In our country Mahatma Gandhi, he was a great man undoubtedly, but he also committed mistake, so what to speak of us? A conditioned soul must commit mistake. And he must be illusioned. To accept something as something else, that is called illusion. Just like illusion, best example of illusion, is given that māyā-marīcika, to accept water in the desert. An animal sees that there is water in the desert, and being thirsty, he goes after the water, but the water also makes progress, and he also makes progress. In this way he dies. That is called illusion. Actually, there is no water, but he is fleeing after water. So for conditioned soul these are the defects. He is to commit mistake, he is illusioned, and he has got a cheating propensity also. Everyone is thinking in transaction that "I have cheated that man very nicely. In business transaction I have gained; he has lost." And of all the deficiencies, most important deficiency is that our senses are imperfect. We say, "I want to see God," but we forget that our eyes are so imperfect that I cannot see in the nearest eyelid. As soon as I close my eyes, I do not see the eyelid. This is the power of my seeing. Therefore we should not be so much proud of our seeing power that we'll say that "I want to see God. Can you show me God?" This is not possible.

Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 12, 1971:

And in young age, they do not mind. They do not have any false prestige, that "I am coming from such-and-such respectable family, my father is so rich." Even Lord Kṛṣṇa, He accepted this brahmacārī āśrama. When Sudāmā Vipra met Him when He was king in Dvārakā, so friendly talks, Kṛṣṇa reminded Sudāmā Vipra, "My dear Sudāmā, do you remember that one day we went to the forest to collect fuels, and there was heavy rain and we could not come out. And then we stayed the overnight on the top of the tree. Then next day Guru Mahārāja came and he took our..., rescued us. Do you remember that?" Sudāmā Vipra said, "Yes, I remember." So even Lord Kṛṣṇa, what to speak of others. This was the system, to teach from the very beginning of life this Bhāgavatam.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja's recommendation is very genuine. That is the Vedic system. But he was unfortunately born in an asura family. His father was a great asura. Asura means godless. He had also undergone severe austerity to achieve the power. He was defeated by the demigods. So he left his home and underwent severe austerities so that the whole universe became trembled and Brahmājī came to appease him, "What do you want?" He said, "I want to become immortal." So Brahmājī said, "How can I give you the benediction of immortality, because myself I am not immortal?" Everyone has to die in this material world, either one may be Brahmā or a small ant. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). "So this is not possible. I cannot make you immortal."

Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 12, 1971:

"Our duty is, so long the next death does not appear, we should develop our dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness." We should not wait. Just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja. Parīkṣit Mahārāja was given time, seven days. He was cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy that "Mahārāja, you shall die within seven days, bitten by a snake." So immediately, because he was emperor, so he understood that "I shall have to die." So he prepared himself. For seven days he tried to understand what is his relationship with Kṛṣṇa, or God. That is imitated at Bhāgavata-saptāha. But actually, Bhāgavata is not to be studied imitating Parīkṣit Mahārāja for seven days. No. In seven days we cannot understand even one verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, what to speak of the eighteen thousand verses. That is not possible. But it has become a fashion. Bhāgavata says, nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18). It is not for seven days; it is for all the life. Parīkṣit Mahārāja had no time more than seven days. Therefore he finished the whole Bhāgavata hearing in seven days. The another instruction is that Parīkṣit Mahārāja had notice for seven days' duration of life, but we do not know whether seven days or seven minutes. It may be I am speaking now, immediately I can stop, because I am completely under the control of the material nature. You know perhaps that one big officer of Indian government, I think he was the Commander in Chief or something like that, he was eating in the feast in Japan, and on the table he died while eating. There was some trouble in the throat by eating fish, and some trouble was there, and he suffocated, died immediately.

Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 20, 1971:

As friend, He is sitting in the heart of all living entities. He is sitting in your heart, He is sitting in my heart, He is sitting in the ant's heart. The ant has also heart and the elephant has got also heart. Sometimes we find an insect exactly like a full stop. You have got experience. Sometimes when you open your book you find. They are called bookworm, they're very small, but it is moving. And because it is moving, from biological study we must conclude that it has got a heart. Even we do not know about biology, but Kṛṣṇa said that īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). So, therefore, there must be some heart. We cannot perceive. We cannot see even the whole figure of that insect, and what to speak of study what kind of heart it has got. But we understand Bhagavad-gītā..., from Bhagavad-gītā that there is heart even in the smallest insect, in the microscopic germ, there is heart. So He is sitting in everyone's heart and He is supplying the necessities of that smaller creature or the biggest creature. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29).

Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:

Simply he must be honest not to alter the text of the letter according to the peon's whims. That much we are doing. Therefore I am representative. Try to under... And anyone can do this. In the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: (BG 7.7) "My dear Arjuna, I am the Supreme. There is no better, no more anyone superior than Me." That's all right. We accept that. Now, you can say "How we accept?" I accept because it is Vedic injunction. That is the process of Vedic injunction: you have to accept without argument. Just like for practical life I will say some examples, that cow dung. In India cow dung is accepted as very pure. So in one place of the Vedic injunction you will find that "Any stool of animal is impure." That's a fact. Everyone knows. Even your own stool, what to speak of other animals'—impure. But in another place says, "Exception is given to the cow's stool, cow dung. That is pure." It is so pure that if you apply on some impure place, it becomes pure. That's a fact. In India still, especially in villages, they mop the floor with cow dung, and it is so nice and so fresh. You can try. Here also there are cows. You take cow dung and you can see how it is antiseptic. We are actually doing in America in our New Vrindaban. We are maintaining cows there, protecting cows, because cow protection is one of the items for Kṛṣṇa consciousness people.

Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:

Because, after all, it is useless. It is useful so long the spirit soul is there. Therefore the spirit soul is important, not this body. So actual knowledge means to understand what is the spirit soul, what is its nature, what is its necessity, how it is living, what is the ultimate goal. So many things are there. But unfortunately, there is no educational institution. We are trying with little effort to give this education to the people. It is essential because Kṛṣṇa says, gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca. So far material part of our existence is concerned, there are so many institutions or so many government. They are taking... Just like take, for example, hospital. There are hundreds and thousands of hospital, but where is the hospital for treating the spirit soul? They have no knowledge. They have no knowledge even, what to speak of hospital. This is the hospital. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness temple is the hospital for the diseased spirit soul. And everyone is diseased. Come to this hospital. We shall take care of you and cure your material disease.

Lecture at Art Gallery -- Auckland, April 16, 1972:

Now, we are trying to understand the planetary system by our scientific method, but we could not finish even studying one nearest planet, the moon planet, and what to speak of other millions and millions of planets? You see? But we get this knowledge directly from Brahma-saṁhitā. What is that? Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. By the effulgence, glaring effulgence of the rays of the body of Kṛṣṇa, yasya prabhā prabhavato, there are innumerable universes. We cannot study even one universal position, but we get information from this Brahma-saṁhitā that there are innumerable universes. And in each and every universes there are innumerable planets. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa means universe, and koṭi means hundreds and thousands. One hundred times of one hundred thousand. That means innumerable. There are innumerable universes—innumerable suns, innumerable moons, innumerable planets. So this is being possible in the effulgence, brahma-jyotir, of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's bodily effulgence is called brahma-jyotir. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, brāhmaṇaḥ ahaṁ pratiṣṭhā. The brahma-jyotir... Those who are jñānīs, those who are trying to approach the Absolute Truth by mental speculation, by dint of our teeny knowledge, they can, utmost, approach to this brahma-jyotir. But that brahma-jyotir is only emanation of the bodily effulgence of Kṛṣṇa. Yasya prabhā prabhavato (Bs. 5.40). Just like the light and the illumination is coming from the light, from that localized bulb, similarly, the brahma-jyotir is coming out. Just like the sunshine, the best example, the sunshine, illumination of the sunlight, sunshine, is coming from the sun planet.

Lecture Excerpt -- Tokyo, April 28, 1972:

It is not that somebody wishes to do something, to discover—it immediately comes out. No. He finds it difficult; therefore he makes researches how to do it. So when he is very keen and persistent, then from within, the Paramātmā, when He sees that "This man wants to do it," so He gives him direction, "Yes, you do like that." He is not actually inventor or discoverer. He is not. He tried. "Man proposes; God disposes." Here is the Brahmā's problem is also. If Brahmā is self-sufficient to create, why he is in perplexity? He is in perplexity. Lord Brahmā, the first spiritual master, supreme being, supreme—he is supreme—could not trace out the source of his lotus... He could not trace out wherefrom he is born, and what to speak of other things. This is our intelligence. We do not know wherefrom we have come and where we have to go and why we are suffering. And we are proclaiming ourself M.A., Ph.D., D.A.C. and so on. But we do not know wherefrom we have come. Anyone, a scientist, any scientist, big scientist, M.A., Ph.D., D.A.C., ask him that "Wherefrom you have come and where you will go?" He cannot answer. He will think that "I have come from the womb of my mother. That's all." "Wherefrom you came to the womb of your mother?" "The father injected." "Where your father got you?" These answers he will give.

Lecture -- Tokyo, May 1, 1972:

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very important movement—important in this sense, that we are educating people without any discrimination about Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa. And actually, as we understand from the Bhagavad-gītā, if we simply can understand what is Kṛṣṇa, as Kṛṣṇa says, that manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye, yatatām api siddhānām... (BG 7.3). It is very difficult to understand Kṛṣṇa. But still, Kṛṣṇa is understandable if we simply follow the instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any malinterpretation. Actually there are so many editions of Bhagavad-gītā all over the world, about six hundred, seven hundred in America, in Japan, in England. I have seen so many editions, English editions, what to speak of other language editions. So anyway, the malinterpretation is going on. We have, therefore, published Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, without any malinterpretation. Our business is to present Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). We say that, that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. What Kṛṣṇa says Himself, we simply carry the message. That's all. Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: (BG 18.65) "Just always think of Me," man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ, "just become My devotee," and man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī, "just worship Me and offer your respectful obeisances unto Me. In this way you shall come back to Me." So we are teaching that, that... We are teaching our students that "Always think of Kṛṣṇa." Smārtavyaṁ satato viṣṇuḥ. Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa, the same category.

Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 18, 1972:

Because it is as good as the doll on the window of tailor shop. So real factor is the spirit soul, and because here everything is made of dead matter, therefore it is simply imitation, reflection. The real thing is in the spiritual world.

There is a spiritual world. Those who have read Bhagavad-gītā, they can understand. The spiritual world is described there, paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). Bhāvaḥ means nature. There is another nature beyond this nature. We can see this nature up to the limit of the sky. The scientists, they're trying to go to the highest planet, but they are calculating it will take forty thousands of years. So who is going to live for forty thousands of years, go and come back? But there is planet. So we cannot calculate even the length and breadth of this material world, what to speak of the spiritual world. Therefore we have to know from authoritative sources. That authoritative source is Kṛṣṇa. Because we have already described, nobody is wiser or in knowledge than Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa gives this knowledge, that paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo (BG 8.20). "Beyond this material world there is another spiritual sky." There are also innumerable planets. And that sky is far, far greater than this sky. It is one-fourth only. And the spiritual sky is three-fourths. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). This is only one-fourth, this material world. The other spiritual world is three-fourths. Suppose God's creation is one hundred. It is only twenty-five percent; seventy-five percent is there. Similarly, the living entities also, a very small fragmental portion of the living entities are here. And there, in the spiritual world, the major portion are there.

Lecture -- Jakarta, February 27, 1973:

That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty-ananya manaso (BG 9.13). He's mahātmā, who is unflinchingly, without any deviation, engaged in the service of the Lord. He's called mahātmā. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtiṁ āśritāḥ. They are not under the influence of this material qualities, daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ. They're under the influence of the spiritual energy. Therefore they're called daivīm. So what is the symptom that one is under the spiritual energy? Bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, always engaged in the service of the Lord. That is the symptom. Therefore anything about Kṛṣṇa, that is sādhu. One who is questioning, he's also sādhu. One who is answering, he's also sādhu. And what to speak of one who is always engaged in the service of the Lord. He must be a sādhu. Sadhava sarva-bhūtānām. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām..., sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ (SB 3.25.21). Sādhu means he's tolerant. He's tolerant, titikṣavaḥ. At the same time, kāruṇikāḥ, very merciful. Now these persons, because they are sādhus, they are so much tolerant. Anyone who's preaching about God, they're sādhu, because they have to meet so many dangerous people. Just like Lord Jesus Christ. He was killed, but he faced... Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he was so much (indistinct), he was a Muhammadan, and he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. The Muhammadan magistrate called him, "Why you are chanting this Hindu Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra?" Haridāsa Ṭhākura replied, "Sir, what is the wrong there? Just (indistinct) Hindus they have also become Muhammadans, so suppose I have become a Hindu. So what is the wrong there?" "Oh, you are talking before me? (indistinct) ...kill." He was ordered to be killed in twenty-two bazaars, because he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Similarly Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was a devotee, and his father chastised him so many ways. So as soon as we become a sādhu, there is some danger to be captured by the asādhu. Just like in our, this movement, there are so many (indistinct). Somebody is preaching that this movement is the hippie movement. The hippie movement is discussed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā. Just see the foolish propaganda.

Lecture -- Jakarta, February 27, 1973:

He's first-class yogi. He's always seeing Kṛṣṇa within the heart. And he can see, premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). Prema, if you develop love for Kṛṣṇa, then you'll see Kṛṣṇa within your heart, always, twenty-four hours. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena, when your eyes are smeared with the ointment of love of God. You realize (indistinct), see God. You see God. This morning I have (indistinct), you see God. It is not very, I mean to say, impossible. It is possible by everyone, even by child, what to speak of grown-up. Simply you have to follow the instructions. Just like Kṛṣṇa says how to see Him, how to practice to see Him:

raso 'ham apsu kaunteya
prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu
śabdaḥ ke pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu
(BG 7.8)

Kṛṣṇa says that "If you find difficulty to see Me, then try to see me in the water, or any liquid thing." That's all. In every liquid, the water is there, (indistinct) liquid, there is some water. Now you taste. That is (indistinct). Even the drunkard, they have developed a kind of rasa, a kind of taste in the wine. So Kṛṣṇa says, "All right, when you taste wine, (indistinct) taste Kṛṣṇa, I am (indistinct)." So who cannot see Kṛṣṇa? Everyone can see. Even greatest drunkard can see Kṛṣṇa, what to speak of a devotee. Kṛṣṇa says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya.

Arrival -- Dallas, May 19, 1973:

Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta... Although He can expand Himself in many millions of forms, but His original form is Kṛṣṇa.

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is directly connecting people with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and especially these children are required to learn this Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the very beginning of their life. Because this human form of life is the only chance to understand God. You cannot understand God in any other form, in the form of a dog, in the form of a cat, or even the form of a demigod. Demigods, they are very rich, opulent, so sometimes they forget. Out of very much being affluent, people forget Kṛṣṇa. Therefore the demigods also sometimes forget. And what to speak of the animals. So this human form of life is the only chance to understand God. Therefore if children are not given lesson about God... There is no guarantee that we will live one hundred years. There is no guarantee. Anyone, at any moment, can pass away. Therefore, before the next death comes, one must be fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is the highest achievement of life.

Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:

You cannot challenge. You approach such person whose instruction you shall receive. You can inquire submissively, but you cannot challenge. That is not allowed in Vedic system. Samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). Therefore before selecting a teacher, you must decide whether you can submit there. If you cannot submit there, don't approach, don't waste time. So that is the process. And Arjuna submitted to Arjuna, uh, Kṛṣṇa.

So there are many questions. Here is another question: "Kṛṣṇa, I want to know this material nature and the living entities who are trying to enjoy the resources of this material nature." This whole world, every living entity, even birds and beasts, they are also trying to lord it over the material nature, what to speak of human being. They are trying to overcome the stringent laws of material nature by so many scientific improvements, but still, they are under material nature. That is the conclusion of Bhagavad-gītā. Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). This material nature is called māyā, energy. Actually, it is the energy, energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. From Vedic literature, we get information: God has got many potencies or energies.

Lecture on Gurvastakam at Upsala University -- Stockholm, September 9, 1973:

To deliver us, you have come. We offer our respectful obeisances." This is the meaning of this verse. Vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam. That means the first qualification of the spiritual master, or guru, is to deliver you some message by which immediately your blazing fire in the heart will be stopped. This is the test.

Everyone has blazing fire within the heart. That is the proof of material existence. Nobody is without anxieties. That blazing fire means anxieties, always. Everyone has got anxieties. Even the small bird, he has got anxiety. You give the small bird some grains to eat, he'll eat it. But he's not very peacefully eating. He'll see this way, that way, "If somebody's coming to kill me?" Yes. This is material existence. Everyone... Even President Nixon, he's also full of anxieties, what to speak of others. Even Gandhi, in our country, he was full of anxieties. All politicians, they're full of anxiety; although they hold very exalted post, still the material disease, anxiety, is there. So if you want to be anxiety-less, without any anxiety, then you must take shelter of the guru, or the spiritual master, and the test is that by the instruction of guru, by following the instruction of guru, you will be anxiety-less. This is the test.

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975:

His business is killing. But the same man, when he comes home, if he kills one person, then he is hanged. Why? He could say that "My business is killing. I am soldier. I have killed this man." "No. This is for your account. On the battlefield you killed for the state's account; therefore you were eulogized. You were given reward." Similarly, we can kill only on the order of the Supreme. Otherwise we cannot kill even a plant. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. Yajña means for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, whatever you do, you are not implicated with sinful activities. And bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt (BG 3.13). And a person who is doing on his own capacity, he is simply acquiring sinful resultant action. So the conclusion is: even a plant you cannot kill, what to speak of bigger animals. If one thinks that "I am killing only plants; therefore I am very pious, vegetarian," no. There is no question of vegetarian, nonvegetarian. They are equally sinful. Only those who are taking prasādam, they are free from sinful activities. Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. All right, thank you... Again? More questions? (laughter) All right, one more question.

Speech -- Vrndavana, April 20, 1975:

So we cannot understand even Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa. Actually, there are so many malinterpretation about Kṛṣṇa. I do not wish to discuss because they have been made mistaken by big, big leaders. So people cannot understand even Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa, and what to speak of loving Kṛṣṇa. That is very difficult job. But Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He distributed this love of Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Lord Nityānanda is standing before you, and He delivered many, many sinful persons to the transcendental position of love of Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, vrajendra-nandana yei, śacī-suta hoilo sei, balarāma hoilo nitāi. This Balarāma, He became Nitai, and Kṛṣṇa, He became Caitanya Mahāprabhu. These two brothers, the same two brothers, Rāma-Laksman, Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, again as Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu. So what was Their business? The pāpī-tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo. This is Their business. All the pāpīs and all the persons suffering from material anxieties, They delivered, "Yes." How? Tāra sākṣī jagāi mādhāi. There were two brothers, Jagāi and Mādhāi. They are very debauchees. That debauchees means what was their fault? The fault was that they took their birth in brāhmaṇa family, but they became woman-hunter and drunkards and cheaters, like that. So Nityānanda Prabhu delivered them to become first-class Vaiṣṇava. Pāpī-tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo, tāra sākṣī jagāi and mādhāi. So five hundred years ago, to become a drunkard was most abominable, especially in the higher section of the Hindu society. But now it has become a fashion. So if you want to develop the position of the society, position of the country, which is now full with pāpī-tāpī, you have to accept the process of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and that is practically being manifested. These European, American boys, they are also the same type, Jagāi and Mādhāi. That is a fact. They were at least. Now they are not. So how they have become delivered? The same process. Pāpī-tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo.

City Hall Lecture -- Durban, October 7, 1975:

If you have read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you can see that Kṛṣṇa was not born. Kṛṣṇa appeared before Devakī and Vasudeva as four-handed Nārāyaṇa. Then the father, mother requested Nārāyaṇa that "You have appeared as Nārāyaṇa. Immediately Kaṁsa will kill You. Please, You become like human child." So He again immediately became a human child. So the conception of birth from the womb of the mother was not actually the fact about Kṛṣṇa. You read Bhāgavatam. You will find this description. So even though if He comes as a child, still He is unborn because Kṛṣṇa, or God, is in everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). So from the heart, if He comes before you, so is it very difficult task for Him? It is not at all difficult. (break) What to speak of Kṛṣṇa, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa; we do not take birth. You will find in the Bhagavad-gītā, na jāyate na mriyate vā. When the description of soul is given there, it is said that the soul is never born. If the soul is never born, how the Supersoul is born? That you have to understand. Even the soul... We are ordinary soul. We are not..., also not born. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit: "At any time." Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So we have to study this. We have to learn this. Superficially understanding will not help us. You have to become a serious student. That is wanted. And so far Kṛṣṇa is speaking, He is speaking for all living entities. It is not that He is speaking for India or for the Hindus or for this planet or that planet. He is speaking for everyone. Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ (BG 14.4). Kṛṣṇa says, "In all forms of life, all the living entities, I am..." Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā: "I am the supreme father." So Kṛṣṇa does not speak for any particular section or any particular country or any particular religion. It is for everyone. And so far we are concerned, that is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā:

Tenth Anniversary Address -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:

They are very unfortunate also, and manda-bhāgyā, and although unfortunate, they are disturbed by so many external factors. So it is very difficult to execute yoga system or yajña system, sacrifice. It is very costly affair. Or even arcana, temple worship, it is also very difficult, because people are not very much interested even, worshiping the Deity in the temple. In India there are thousands and thousands of temples, temple or mosque or church, at the same time, for offering prayers, obeisances to the Lord. People are losing interest in that arcana-mārga. There are many temples I have seen, there is no caretaker. People are losing interest. Many temples. They are open; a dog is living within the temple and passing stool. I have seen it.

So people are gradually losing interest in temple worship even, what to speak of yoga or offering sacrifices. Everything is now finished. Therefore kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt. This is prescribed in the śāstra. That system was introduced by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Because other system will not be successful in this age. May be successful in one or two cases, but not for the general mass of people. Therefore śāstra recommends... There are different incarnation of God, but one incarnation is there, it is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other places also, in Upaniṣad and Mahābhārata. These are approved Vedic scriptures. So the Vedic knowledge is summarized in the Vedānta system, Brahma-sūtra, everything done by Vyāsadeva. And in order to protect the sanctity of Vedānta... Because there are so many foolish persons, they are distorting the purpose of Vedānta-sūtra; therefore Vyāsadeva, under the instruction of his spiritual master Nārada, he personally wrote a commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. This is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu introduced these two things—saṅkīrtana and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam means the expansion of Bhagavad-gītā. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, at the last stage, Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also begins from that point. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives introduction, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). All cheating type of religious system kicked out, projjhita. Projjhita means just like you sweep over the floor, and all the dust, you throw it away. That is called projjhita. Prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa ujjhita.

Address to Rotary Club -- Chandigarh, October 17, 1976:

Pradyumna: Yan māṁ vadasi keśava.

Prabhupāda: Then?

Pradyumna: Na hi te bhagavan vyaktiṁ vidur devā na dānavāḥ.

Prabhupāda: "Because Your personality cannot be understood even by the demigods, what to speak of ordinary human being." And Kṛṣṇa has said that avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto (BG 9.11). The mūḍha, those who deride at Kṛṣṇa, that "He's an ordinary human being," such person is condemned herewith as mūḍha. Mūḍha means ass. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ (BG 9.11). Because he does not know paraṁ bhāvam, what is the background of Kṛṣṇa. So similarly, there are many passages. Anyone who does not understand Kṛṣṇa and at the same time he declares himself as the student of Bhagavad-gītā, as a scholar of Bhagavad-gītā, he is misleading himself and misleading his followers. That is the verdict of Bhagavad-gītā and everyone. Bhagavad-gītā has to be understood. In the Fourth Chapter you find out that,

imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāhur
manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt
(BG 4.1)
evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
(BG 4.2)

This is paramparā. The truth of Bhagavad-gītā was first spoken to the sun-god, and he spoke to his son, to Manu, Vaivasvata Manu. And Vaivasvata Manu spoke to his son, Ikṣvāku. And Kṛṣṇa said, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Rājarṣaya. This philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā, it is meant for the rājarṣi, not for the loafer class. Rājarṣi: king, at the same time, saintly person. Imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ.

Morning Lecture -- Allahabad, January 15, 1977:

They are called vimukta-māninaḥ. Actually that is not the fact. So we shall be very careful to avoid this kind of mahātmās who are thinking themselves as Nārāyaṇa, equal to Nārāyaṇa, or sometimes they claim greater than Nārāyaṇa. So we shall be very careful. This Melā, there are so many so-called mahātmās. But the symptom of mahātmā is described in the Bhagavad-gītā: bhajanty ananya-manaso. That is the qualification. And to become devotee of Kṛṣṇa, it is not at all difficulty. There is no difficulty. Anyone can become. Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32). Even lowborn, they can also take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, and what to speak of... Kiṁ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā (BG 9.33). If actually qualified brāhmaṇas, they take shelter, what to speak of... Their progress is very quick. Punyā. Without puṇyā background, sukṛti, nobody can take birth in the family or society of brāhmaṇas.

So brāhmaṇa... First of all, we have to become pure brāhmaṇa.

Morning Lecture -- Allahabad, January 15, 1977:

These are the brahminical qualification. Unfortunately, nobody is interested to become a brāhmaṇa, and what to speak of becoming a Vaiṣṇava. Vaiṣṇava is above the brāhmaṇas. Ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ. Brāhmaṇa's business is sat-karma: paṭhan pāṭhan yajan yājan dāna pratigraha. So even a brāhmaṇa is very expert in this brāhmaṇa's business, paṭhan pāṭhan... He has studied Vedas very thoroughly, and he has many students whom he has taught the Vedic knowledge. This is paṭhan pāṭhan. Yajan yājan: he is expert in worshiping the Deity, and he teaches other disciples also. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgara-tan-mandira-mārj anādau **. So there are brāhmaṇas who are not Vaiṣṇava, worshiper of demigods other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such brāhmaṇa is not required. Such brāhmaṇas are condemned. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajante anya-devatāḥ (BG 7.20). Anya-devatāḥ. The Viṣṇu is the original devatā, and then next devatā, Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, and then others. So they are all anya-devatāḥ. Oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam. So one has to worship Viṣṇu. That is Vaiṣṇava. Viṣṇur asya devatā iti vaiṣṇavaḥ. Vaiṣṇava means that he's not worshiper of any other demigods. There is no question of disrespect for any other demigods. But śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyam. But to take shelter of and to worship is recommended to the Supreme Lord-mām ekam—not everyone. We can show our respectful obeisances even to the ant, but worshipable Deity, or God, is Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu-tattva.

Evening Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 19, 1977:

Anyone, what to speak of with ordinary person, even personalities, big, big personalities like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, if one equalize Nārāyaṇa, then he is called a pāṣaṇḍī. At the present moment a poor man has been equalized with Nārāyaṇa as daridra-nārāyaṇa. So why one should say daridra-nārāyaṇa? What is the reason? Nārāyaṇa is Lakṣmī-pati, the husband of the goddess of fortune. How He can become daridra-nārāyaṇa? And where is this word in the śāstra, "daridra-nārāyaṇa"? So in this way people are being misled.

So we have to save ourself from this misconception of life. Then we can make progress in the matter of understanding what is God. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any deviation, and people are appreciating. Our, this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is is being accepted by big, big scholars and professors. We have got innumerable certificates or their opinion, and it is being well received. And from monetary point of view also, you'll be surprised that we are selling millions of copies of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. So we have come to your city to say something about Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. If respectable persons of this city will come and attend this meeting, I shall try to explain more and more so long I am present here. Now, if you have got any question on the subject matter I have spoken, you can make. I shall try to answer. (pause) So there is no question, I think. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Now a kīrtana.

Evening Lecture -- Bhuvanesvara, January 23, 1977:

He is Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa Himself. As Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya said that,

vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga-
śikṣārtham ekaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya śarīra dhārī...
(CC Madhya 6.254)

He's the puruṣa Purāṇa, Kṛṣṇa, but now He has appeared as Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. So he also accepted guru, what to speak of our... Kṛṣṇa also accepted guru. So how you will get the ultimate goal of life without accepting guru? Why do you manufacture this idea? There is no need of manufacturing this. You have to follow. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). If you manufacture, then you'll be cheated. Don't do this. That has become a fashion, that you manufacture your own way of service. That is not possible. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī stresses, ādau-gurvāśrayam: "The first business is that you must find out a bona fide guru." Then other things.

Departure Talks

Conversation -- Hawaii, June 20, 1975:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Perfect master. Even without becoming master He is providing everything. Even though those who do not accept Him, He is also giving them. So what to speak of those who have accepted Him? This is very simple philosophy. It is His position to accept service. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). It is good for the person who surrenders. Kṛṣṇa doesn't require your service. When He says, "You surrender to Me," it does not mean that Kṛṣṇa is suffering for your service. Kṛṣṇa is self-sufficient. He can create millions of servants like you. So He doesn't require your service. But if you serve, then it is your benefit. You become saved: "Now I am under the protection of a very able..." (break) ...and every respect, opulence of master. You are serving cats and dogs. Why not serve the most supreme, able and opulent master? This is going on. You have to serve. You cannot say, "No, no. I will not serve. I am independent." That is not possible. You have to serve. You have to serve, and you will be exploited, by the imperfect masters. So why not serve the perfect master so that you will not be exploited again? It is simple.

Siddha-svarūpa: (break) ...being servants, but we're...

Prabhupāda: You have to serve. If you do not serve, the strong will force you to serve.

Siddha-svarūpa: And it's the most horrible service, too.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: By hypnotism, yes. I think I have discussed in The Nectar of Devotion. So this is possible even by ordinary yogis, and what to speak of Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Yogeśvara. He is the master of all mystic power. So one who does not know these things, they say, "Oh, these are all stories." It is not story. It is no miracle. They are all possible. So there is no such thing as miracle. It is a process of doing. One must know how to do it. There is no miracle. We don't say anything miracle. But for appreciating, you can say it is. You see Kṛṣṇa is said as Yogeśvara, master of all mystic yoga processes: yatra yogeśvara hari. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said. So our yogic power is, our yoga process is to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. He'll act, and you'll get the credits. (laughter) Just like our movement: Kṛṣṇa is doing and I am getting the credit. (laughter) Yes. Why should we bother about acquiring all this mystic power? Just depend on Kṛṣṇa. He is Yogeśvara. He'll do everything, and you'll get the credit. And Kṛṣṇa wants that. Just like his advice to Arjuna, "This is already planned. You don't think that if you do not fight they'll go back. That is not possible. But you simply take the credit, that's all."

Śyāmasundara: His fourth antimony relates to the modality of the world, whether or not the world requires an absolute being. First of all, that is the thesis: "There exists an absolutely necessary being, which belongs to the world either as a part or as a cause of it," and the antithesis is, "There nowhere exists an absolutely necessary being, either in the world or outside of the world, as its cause." So by reason alone one can either say that there is a God or that there is not a God.

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Hayagrīva: He believed that there is no intrinsic value in the belief of the immortality of the soul, because he said, "What..."

Prabhupāda: That is foolishness. That is not philosophical neither rational. If he cannot understand immortality of the soul, then he keeps himself in the animal kingdom. He is not even human being, what to speak of his education and philosophy.

Hayagrīva: He concludes this because he says, "Those who believe in the immortality of the soul generally quit life with fully as much, if not more reluctance, as those who have no such expectation." But we have examples, so many classic examples of Socrates quitting, meeting his death courageously, and how could this be possible if he didn't believe in the immortality of the soul or the...

Prabhupāda: That I have already said, "Immortality of soul is the fact." If one does not understand this fact then he is animal. He is not in the humans category, he is animal category. He is experiencing daily how the soul is continuing even the body is being changed. In his family, he is seeing that the body of a child is changed into the body of a boy, but the father, mother know that the soul is the same. So where is the difficulty to understand the immortality of the soul? So that means it is less intelligence. Therefore, according to Vedic description, one who does not understand immortality of the soul he remains in the category of animals, sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13).

Hayagrīva: Well he seemed to think that belief in the immortality of the soul, belief or knowledge or whatever...

Prabhupāda: It is not belief. It is not the question of belief. It is the question of fact. Just like a man if he says, "I don't believe that I shall become old," then that is his ignorance or foolishness. He must become old man, or the body must become old. So if a man thinks that, when I shall become old, that is immortality of soul, that when I shall become old means when my body will become old. He will continue. It is common sense affair. It is a fact. Where is the question of belief or not belief?

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Prabhupāda: So without God, how it can be religion? Religion means, I have already explained, the order of God.

Hayagrīva: Finally on immortality and miracles, he says that there is no evidence for the immortality of the soul and none against it, but...

Prabhupāda: How he can be convinced? There are so many evidences. That is the misfortune of the human society. A learned person like Mill, he cannot understand, what to speak of the others. This is simple truth. Any child can understand but due to misfortune they cannot understand.

Hayagrīva: And finally he says, "The whole domain of the supernatural, the whole domain of the supernatural, of religion is removed from the region of belief into that of simple hope."

Prabhupāda: No. It is neither hope nor belief. It is fact. To us at least, Kṛṣṇa conscious people, it is fact because Kṛṣṇa is coming and giving instruction to Arjuna, and that is recorded, and we are reading that. So where is it is belief or fiction or something? It is fact.

Hayagrīva: He believed that if man could not, by the exercise of his own energies, improve both himself and his outward circumstances, that is if man could not improve the world to do more good for his, to do good for himself and other creatures, vastly more than God had in the first instance done, the being who called him into existence would deserve something very different from thanks at his hands. In other words that if man couldn't improve the world, then...

Prabhupāda: How it can be improved? One man may be good, religious, abiding by the orders of God, and 99.9 percent, they are Godless. So how it can be improved? This material world, as it is, it can be improved only by the increase of percentage of God conscious men, otherwise there is no possibility of improvement. Every man is differently conscious. So you cannot bring them together. For example, just these modern civilized nations, they are struggling in the United Nation Organization, but they could not do for the last thirty, forty years. That is not possible. That is futile attempt. Unless people become God conscious, there is no improvement of the world.

Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:

Prabhupāda: Before the child.

Śyāmasundara: Before the child.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee: To each other.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is not that "It is a small child. They will not understand." But they can understand. So what to speak of having sex intercourse before the child? They will learn it. I've seen it. They do not know what is sex intercourse, but they have learned it from their rascal father and mother.

Śyāmasundara: So Freud, actually his psychology depended upon a rather pessimistic view of human nature—that we are all beset with these uncontrollable impulses...

Prabhupāda: This in not only pessimism, but due to poor fund of knowledge. He has no perfect knowledge, neither is he trained up by any perfect man. So he is talking all nonsense.

Śyāmasundara: His conclusion was that it was impossible to be happy in this material world, but we can alleviate some of the conflicts through this psychoanalysis. You can try and make the path as smooth as possible, but it is always...

Prabhupāda: That is one (indistinct) that you cannot be happy in this material world, but if you are spiritually elevated, spiritually trained up, then you will be happy. The same example. Just like iron is not fire, but you put it in the fire, it will act like fire. Similarly, although there is no possibility of happiness in this material world, if you are spiritually trained up, if your consciousness is changed into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you will be happy. (end)

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Prabhupāda: Torch. Yes. Torchlight. The torchlight. Guru gives the torchlight, jñānāñjana śalākayā. What is that torchlight? By awakening his dormant knowledge. That is torch. Then he can see what is world.

Śyāmasundara: So the proof that one accepts for something which is beyond our sense is not necessarily scientific?

Prabhupāda: Not at all. What to speak of scientific, it is completely ignorant. There is no question of science. It is simply darkness.

Śyāmasundara: No. I mean the proof..., if one accepts the proof of the guru's authority...

Prabhupāda: That is the proof. He gives there. Guru—the next line says who is guru: śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭam. He has heard the truth from the paramparā system, and the result of his hearing-he's firmly convinced and fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So when one can finally see that one is fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and he answers all questions on the authority of śāstra, he's guru. This is the proof of it(?). Just like we, whenever we say something, we immediately support it by quoting from Bhagavad-gītā, Bhāgavata, Vedas. This is called knowledge. And the result of knowledge-fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, firm. Nobody can deviate. That is guru. Two sides: one side is that he knows everything from authoritative source. And he, as the result, is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. These two things are the symptoms of guru.

Śyāmasundara: This Bertrand Russell says that the world consists of a number of simple facts, each independent of all the others yet related externally to each other.

Prabhupāda: What are those facts?

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Prabhupāda: But not in that way, by force. That is not possible. You cannot change the mind even of a child by force, and what to speak of elderly man, educated man. Is it not so? Mind can be changed by our process: ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Otherwise it is not. These things will be made (indistinct) complete, even in the ordinary position. Their utopia—it is not possible.

Śyāmasundara: He also wants to abolish all inheritance rights, all rights of inheritance.

Prabhupāda: That is another nonsense proposal, because everyone's tendency is to give money to his children. That is the law everywhere. I have got some affection for my children. I want to give something to my children. So how you can stop this (indistinct). They are proposing all impractical.

Śyāmasundara: They are practicing this in Russia. There is no inheritance. There is no...

Prabhupāda: (indistinct), we have seen Russia is not happy. Russia is not happy and they are simply waiting for another opportunity, another revolution. (indistinct) this boy (indistinct), he is not happy. Similarly we can study. Just like when there is rice boiling you take one grain of rice and press it in your finger. If it is soft, then you can understand the whole rice is boiled. So we can understand the position of Russia from the sample, that boy. We haven't got to study more. And we could get some idea by talking with that professor that, how much foolish he is. He says that after death everything is finished. And he is passing on as a big professor, Indian department, Indology or something. So, if his knowledge is like that, if the sample of the citizen is like that boy, then what is their position? They may theorize so many things. So far as we are concerned, foreigners, we could not get even food to our satisfaction. There is no (indistinct) vegetables, no fruits, milk was (indistinct), no rice. That Madrasi gentleman, if he would not have contributed some dahl and rice and the..., then practically we would have starved.

Philosophy Discussion on Mao Tse Tung:

Prabhupāda: Because he is rude. He cannot have that there may be, amongst the sober gentlemen, the gun is reasoning. And for the crude rascals argumentum vaculam. Of course, the gun reason is sometimes needed when the other party is completely animal. But if both of them are animals, then what further decision can come? You see? Therefore our conclusion is taken from śāstra. The gun is used also in terms of śāstra. Just like Kṛṣṇa first of all wanted to settle up the fight, the opposing elements, the Kurus and Pāṇḍavas. He personally became a messenger and personally requested Duryodhana that "All right. Settle up things. They are kṣatriyas. They cannot take up the business of a brāhmaṇa or a vaiśya. Give them five villages, let them rule, and they will be satisfied." But he said, "Oh, what to speak of five villages, I cannot spare the, that small portion of land which can hold the tip of a needle." Then Kṛṣṇa said, "Yes. Then you do not come to reason? Then let us turn to weapon." So this śāstra and śastra. When śāstra fails, then according to śāstra, there is śastra. Śastra means weapon. Both of them come from the śas-dhātu. Śas-dhātu, from śas-dhātu we take śāstra, śastra, śāsana, śiṣya, like that. It is coming from the same root.

Śyāmasundara: What is that root?

Prabhupāda: Śas. Śas means control. From śas-dhātu... Śiṣya means who voluntarily accepts the spiritual master's ruling. That is called śiṣya, disciple. From the same śas-dhātu. The spiritual master rules over him according to śāstra, and he accepts voluntarily. So conflict there is, but the mediator is śas.

Śyāmasundara: Controller.

Prabhupāda: Controller. Otherwise, there is no end of struggle if you don't accept an authorized mediator.

Śyāmasundara: This Mao Tse Tung...

Philosophy Discussion on Plato:

Prabhupāda: No, this is the process of knowing God. They are partially helpful to know God as He is, but when he actually comes to know God, he sees that "He is the great and I am the small." So the business of the small is to serve the great. That is nature's way. We practically see in our daily life, because you are small you are going to serve a big factory. Otherwise you have no other way. So everyone is serving, but when he realizes that "I am serving. I am not the master," that is the position actually. Ask anybody in this world whether he is master or serving, the conclusion will be that he is serving. His natural position is to serve. So if one hasn't got a family to serve, he keeps a dozen of dog to serve. That is going on, and especially in the Western countries we see that at the old age, when he has no children, so he keeps a dog or two or three pets to serve. So the serving position is already there, and when the servant wants to become master, that is māyā. Because this word māyā means actually he is serving and he is thinking that he is master. That is māyā. Māyā means what is not fact. So by meditation, when he actually becomes a realized soul, he will understand that "Oh, I am servant. So why I am serving māyā? Let me serve Kṛṣṇa." That is perfection. So if his guide, spiritual master, engages him from the very beginning to serve God, then he becomes quickly perfect, because he is servant and he has to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is his perfection. He is falsely thinking that he is master. That is māyā. Here also they are simply serving. Just like President Nixon. He thought himself, "I am the master of America." But actually he is not. The master is the public. As soon as the public wanted "You come down immediately," he had to do that. So if the president of big state, he is under the false impression that although he is serving he is thinking master, then what to speak of others? Everyone is serving, but he is thinking master. So perfect knowledge is there that when he comes to the platform that "God is the supreme master, He is great, and we are servant." That is perfection of life.

Purports to Songs

Purport to Parama Koruna -- Los Angeles, January 4, 1969:

Dekho dekho bhāi, tri-bhuvane nāi. He says, "My dear brothers, you just try and examine that within these three worlds there is nobody like Lord Caitanya or Nityānanda Prabhu." Because, paśu pākhī jhure, pāṣāṇa vidare: "Their mercy and qualities are so great that even birds and beasts, they are crying, what to speak of human being?" Actually, when Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu passed through the forest of Jhārigrāma, the tigers, the elephants, the snake, the deer, all joined Him in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is so nice. Anyone can join. Animals can join, what to speak of human being? Of course, it is not possible for ordinary man to enthuse animals to chant, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu did it actually. So even if we cannot enthuse animals, we can enthuse at least human being to this path of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra chanting. Paśu pākhī jhure, pāṣāṇa vidare. And it is so nice that even the most stonehearted men will be melted. Pāṣāṇa vidare. Pāṣāṇa means stone, and vidare. Pāṣāṇa, even stone, will melt. It is so nice. But he regrets that, viṣaya majiyā: "Being entrapped by sense gratification..." Viṣaya majiyā, rohili bhuliyā. He's addressing himself, "My dear mind, you are entrapped in the sense gratification process and you have no attraction for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa."

Viṣaya bhuliyā, rohili majiyā, se pade nahilo āśa: "You have no attraction for the lotus feet of Caitanya-Nityānanda. So what can I say? It is only..." Āpana karama, bhuñjāya śamana: "I can simply think of my misfortune only that Yamaraja, the superintendent of death, he is punishing me in this way, that he is not allowing me to be attracted to this movement." This is the statement of Kahoye locana-dāsa: "This is the statement of Locana dāsa Ṭhākura." (end)

Purport to Bhajahu Re Mana -- Los Angeles, January 7, 1969:

He says, addressing his own mind Because mind is the center of all elevation. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that if you have your mind controlled, then your mind is the best friend. But if your mind is uncontrolled, then he is your greatest enemy. So we are seeking after friend or enemy. So both of them are sitting with me. If we can utilize the friendship of the mind, then we are elevated to the highest perfectional stage. But if we create mind as my enemy, then my path to hell is clear. Therefore Govinda dāsa Ṭhākura, he is addressing his mind. The yogis try to control the mind by different gymnastic process. That is also approved. But it takes a long time, and sometimes there are failures. In most cases they are failures. Even a big yogi like Viśvāmitra, he also failed, what to speak of these teeny and nonsensical yogis.

So Govinda dāsa advises that "You just engage your mind in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then mind becomes automatically controlled." If the mind has no chance of being engaged in any other business except Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he cannot become my enemy. It is automatically my friend. That is the instruction in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18). Lord, King Ambarīṣa, he first of all engaged his mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. So similarly, here also, Govinda dāsa Ṭhākura, he is asking his mind: "My dear mind, you just engage yourself to the lotus feet of abhaya-caraṇāravinda." Abhaya-caraṇāravinda. That is the name of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Abhaya means fearless. If you take shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa then you immediately become fearless. So he advises "My dear mind, you just engage yourself on the service of the lotus feet of Govinda." Bhajahū re mana śrī-nanda-nandana. He does not say "Govinda." He addresses Kṛṣṇa as "the son of Nanda Mahārāja." "Because that lotus feet is fearless, you will have no more any fear from the attack of māyā."

Page Title:What to speak of... (Lectures, Other)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:22 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=67, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:67