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Work very hard (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Prof. Kotovsky -- June 22, 1971, Moscow:

Prabhupāda: Parābhavas tāvad abodha-jātaḥ. So actually it is happening so. The modern society, human society, there is advancement, economic advancement, so many things, advancement. Still, in the matter of keeping peace and tranquility there is fight, individually, socially, politically, nationally. So if we think very cool-headed, then in spite of so much improvement in so many branches of knowledge, we are keeping the same mentality of quarreling. That is also visible in lower animal society. So our conclusion, according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that this body, human body, it is not meant for working very hard for sense gratification. In the modern civilization the ultimate goal, aim, is sense gratification. That's all. Beyond that, they do not know anything more. They do not know what is next life. There is no department of knowledge or science, scientific department, to study what is there after life, after finishing this body. That is a great, I mean to say, department of knowledge.

Room Conversation -- July 18, 1971, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: So we are publishing all our books in a scholarly way so that professors, teachers, philosophers, they, they can read it. And it is very easily done. Word-to-word, Sanskrit word, English, and diacritic marks. So we are working very hard. So if it is introduced among the scholarly sections, professors, teachers, it will be very beneficial to the human society.

Mohsin Hassan: Do you do your printing in Japan and America?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. I am... Whenever I travel, I travel all over, around the world.

Mohsin Hassan: I want to ask... Just a few more minutes. You went to Russia. What's your impression?

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation Including Discussion on SB 4.13.48 to SB 4.14.11 -- January 18, 1972, Jaipur:

Prabhupāda: This is the problem of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that people are becoming more and more Godless. And one may think that unnecessarily we have taken this responsibility to make them God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious. There is no need to make this propaganda all over the world. But actually, the saintly persons have concern. Just like the other day I told you, Prahlāda Maharaja was concerned that these rascals for temporary so-called... (break) ...people are engaged unnecessarily to work very hard day and night, the capitalist, the worker. Big, big factory, iron factory, in so many factories, unnecessarily. So Prahlāda Maharaja was concerned. He was living, his father was a demon, in the demonic state. So this is natural. If one saintly person do not be disturbed by people's unhappiness, he is not saintly person. He is not saintly person. If he is simply satisfied that "I have got a temple, I am getting good income, let me eat and sleep."

Room Conversation -- April 1, 1972, Sydney:

Prabhupāda: So it can be adjusted with the meanings of chance and necessity. I want something; that is my necessity. And it will come by chance? Or I have to endeavor for it, and then I get it? Shall I depend on chance? I have a necessity for something. So should I wait for the chance?

Śyāmasundara: We've always been taught, "No. You must work very hard toward..."

Prabhupāda: So where is the waiting for chance? There is plan. If I have to work, to get the thing, then it is plan.

Pradyumna: If they follow their philosophy to the conclusion, they would have to be completely dependent, if they followed the philosophy to the conclusion.

Prabhupāda: If the chance comes as soon as the necessity is there, then we have to admit immediately God.

Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Jayatīrtha: They want to determine their own destiny. They think if they work very hard, they'll be able to build up their environment... (noise of plane taking off).

Prabhupāda: This is not explanation. Own master means master of the senses.

Jayatīrtha: That they don't know.

Prabhupāda: Actually, everyone is servant of the senses at the present moment. So one has to become the master of the senses. That is called svāmī. Svāmī means master. Gosvāmī means master of the senses, the same thing. So everyone is servant of the senses. Everyone is acting being dictated by the senses.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 28, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: Why?

Devotee (1): He says that if I do that I can't do my business and he has many reasons. For some ten days he chanted sixteen rounds and then he just stopped and now he doesn't chant at all. But he's very sincere. He works very hard.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct)

Devotee (1): I will tell him. I have told him many times. Actually it took a long time to get him to read your books, and then when he read, then we told him, "You must chant. You must hear. It takes time to (indistinct)."

Prabhupāda: (indistinct)

Devotee (1): The only problem is that in his community he's rejected.

Prabhupāda: Rejected?

Morning Walk -- April 28, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Kāma-karmabhiḥ. Avidyā-kāma-karmabhiḥ. They are creating a situation of suffering by unnecessary desire. That's all. So your scientific improvement means you are creating a situation of suffering. That's all. No improvement. You cannot. Kāma-karmabhiḥ, kāma-karmabhiḥ. They are working in such a way... Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura also says the same thing: anitya saṁsāre moha janamiyā jībake karaye gādhā. The so-called scientific improvement means he's already an ass, and he's becoming more, better ass. That's all. Nothing more. He's already an ass because he's part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and he has come to this material world to enjoy. That is ass mentality. There is no enjoyment. So he's already an ass. And this scientific improvement means he's becoming more attached to this material world to remain better ass. Avidyā... anitya saṁsāre, anitya. He cannot stay here. Suppose, working very hard like an ass, he gets a skyscraper building, throughout his whole life, laboring. But he cannot stay there.

Morning Walk -- April 28, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That's all. (pause) And in Bhāgavata, in one word, finishes all... Kliśyamānānām. You'll have to work hard, avidyā kāma-karmabhiḥ, by your creating so many desires. By this process, you'll have to simply work hard. That's all. Because it is ignorance. You do not know what is the goal of life. So kāma-karmabhiḥ. You desire something: "Now we shall do like this." That means you create another problem. And you have to work very hard. That's all.

Prabhupāda: What is the next line of that verse? Anyone remembers? No.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yesterday's?

Morning Walk -- April 28, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: How great asses they are.

Karandhara: Billions.

Prabhupāda: You, you work very hard. This rascal government takes taxes and spend unnecessarily. That's all. This is their intelligence. A set of asses. That's all. They have no sympathy "that this hard-earned money is coming from the public, and we are spending like anything." But nobody can check. This is going on. And they're giving another bluff. "Don't worry. I am going another planet."

Brahmānanda: Yeah, right. Another one.

Prabhupāda: Yes. "From there, I shall bring more dust."

Brahmānanda: Another future.

Morning Walk -- May 4, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That is also not guaranteed. Why I am taking so much trouble? They are so foolish persons. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, anitya saṁsāre moha janamiyā jīvake karaye gādhā. This so-called scientific education means people become more attracted with this temporary world and he works very hard, just like an ass. Ass, the example of ass is because the ass does not know what is his interest, but works very hard. Therefore ass example is given. Ass, he carries the washerman's cloth, tons, but not a single cloth belongs to him. He is naked. And still he is working. He does not know, "Why I am working for the washerman, carrying so much load?" That sense he hasn't got. He thinks that "Washerman gives me to eat some grasses." Although grasses are all over. That is ass. That is ass. So these scientific research workers, they are asses.

Room Conversation -- July 9, 1973, London:

Haṁsadūta: It's the same thing I learned in Germany. First I wanted to get my own press and I studied the situation very carefully and I saw it was ridiculous for us to do that, it's so much hard work. It's much easier to collect the money in the street by giving the magazine and then paying someone. They work very hard and do it. Everything is like that. They have so many people that can do everything. The one thing that people can't do is distribute Kṛṣṇa consciousness and for that Kṛṣṇa's giving so much money.

Prabhupāda: Yes, therefore tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. That verse. Only for this purpose one should endeavor.

Haṁsadūta: Yes. Kṛṣṇa (indistinct) paying for that.

Room Conversation With David Lawrence -- July 12, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes, go on.

David Lawrence: "2.) to give the teacher all the information," uh, where were we, "he or she may need to find out more than the booklet can include, for example, to satisfy the really interested inquirer, 3.) by a total sense experience, the cultural gap, which may unnecessarily alienate the students and therefore hamper a worthwhile consideration of the movement, 4.) by offering a wide variety of approaches, the student will not feel that he is simply studying another textbook, 5.) a booklet on Kṛṣṇa consciousness without the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra in a living form would be an absurdity, so the contents of the teacher's pack: A.) the forty-five r.p.m. record of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, B.) a glossy poster of Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa, C.) a map of the devotional centers of Kṛṣṇa, D.) a list of additional films, filmstrips and records likely to help the student, both from the center and from elsewhere, E.) sample literature from the organization, e.g. Back to Godhead, F.) a pack of Spiritual Sky incense, G.) a filmstrip,"—the enclosure of the filmstrip depends on the costing; R.E. departments are always very poor in this country—"H.) recipes and notes on the meaning of ārati, I.) several sheets of objections to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and the rebuttals of these objections, J.) suggestions for the teaching of the subject." Then I've gone on to say a little bit about the structure of the booklet. "Hopefully, the first section would establish the claims of the relevance of the spiritual life in 1973, and then the claims of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to be the true pathway to the eternal. This we would like to do by means of holding up a respected example of somebody who is already walking the path, e.g. an ideal way would be by the examination of the beliefs of George Harrison, and more especially of those expounded on living in the material world." Then go on to the history of the movement: "Lord Caitanya, Śrī Sarasvatī,..." apologies for the way I pronounce the names, "Śrī Prabhupāda's commission to the western world, the growth of ISKCON, the establishment of the London center," you know, to bring it locally, if you like, then on to "a typical devotee, his day..." This, I've said, will help to personalize the whole idea, you know. They can relate to the person concerned with this. Then "a section on the sacred scriptures of the Vedas, a background, and then quotations of frequently used texts. Then onto the beliefs of the devotees, based mainly upon the eight principles of ISKCON, and the Introduction of the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is." Our hopes are to, you know, work very hard from that section because it's, that introduction has got everything. I've been working on it a week, and I think, uh, I've gone back over...

Prabhupāda: The Bhagavad-gītā?

Room Conversation with Anna Conan Doyle, daughter-in-law of famous author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: And lots of land is lying in our Letchmore Heath. They won't work for producing food. That land is kept for keeping cows for killing them. And for their food, they are working underneath the ground, and whatever money they get, they import grains. Just see the māyā's influence, that: "We are working, getting money, and importing grains." Why not work and grow grains? Now he's thinking that: "I'll get more money underground, than by cultivating on the surface." This is māyā. He's working very hard. Still, he's thinking it is better happiness. "I haven't to work on the surface. I am working underground. Therefore I am happy." This is māyā. He'll prefer that kind of work. But he won't agree to grow food on the surface of the country.

Morning Walk -- December 31, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. God consciousness. Then everyone will be honest, and everything will be adjusted. Everyone can understand this is pure cheating. I give you a hundred dollars, a piece of paper. That's all. And you accept it. You want to be cheated. You thought, that "I have got now daily, hundred dollars. So let me work very hard." He does not consider that "I am not getting a hundred dollars. I am getting a piece of paper." So people have no brain to understand even. "This is not hundred dollars. Give me cash, hundred dollars." Then everything, solution will be... There will be no inflation. Because I know that paying you a piece of paper, I can cheat you, therefore I am printing notes, to cheat so many people. Therefore inflation. But when there will be no possibility to cheat you, then there will be no inflation. Here I have got the opportunity, because I know that pushing forward a piece of paper, I can cheat so many people.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: In the śāstras we see that Ṛṣabhadeva, the father of Mahārāja Bharata, under whose name this planet is called Bhārata-varṣa, He taught His one hundred sons, "My dear boys, this human form of life is not meant for working hard like cats and dogs for sense gratification." Ultimate end is sense gratification, satisfying the senses. This is the business of the cats and hogs, or dogs and hogs. The hog is whole day working to find out stool: "Where is stool? Where is stool?" And as soon as he gets some stool, little strength, immediately sex life, without any discrimination whether she is mother or sister or daughter. This kind of life is described in the śāstras as hog civilization. So at the present moment, without any reference to God consciousness, people are being taught to satisfy the senses, work very hard, and ruin the chance of human life.

Morning Walk at Villa Borghese -- May 25, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: That means their... That is their disease. The same thing, that "Why you are sitting here? Come with me, work." "What shall I do by working?" "You get money." "Then you'll enjoy." "And I am already enjoying." That the... This is called māyā. Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43). These rascals, simply for little temporary so-called benefit, they have created this working civilization, "Work very hard, very hard." That's all. Whole history... In this Rome city you can see. There are evidences. These buildings are constructed with hard labor. Now those rascals have gone, and they are maintaining, that "They worked so hard." Those who worked very hard they have gone away. Now nobody knows where they are and what they have become. But they are maintaining their bricks. That's all. Brick civilization. (break)

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Nitāi: (reading) "In the Gītā it is clearly mentioned that material energy works fully under the direction of the Supreme Lord. It has no independent authority. It works as the shadow moves in accordance with the movements of the object, but still, material energy is very powerful, and the atheist, due to his godless temperament, cannot know how it works, nor can he know the plan of the Supreme Lord. Under illusion and the modes of passion and ignorance, all his plans are baffled, as in the case of Hiraṇyakaśipu and Rāvaṇa, whose plans were smashed to dust although they were both materially learned as scientists, philosophers, administrators and educators. These duṣkṛtinas or miscreants are of four different patterns as outlined below. Number one. The mūḍhas: those who are grossly foolish like hard working beasts of burden. They want to enjoy the fruits of their labor by themselves and do not want to part with them for the Supreme. The typical example of the beast of burden is the ass. This humble beast is made to work very hard by his master. The ass does not really know for whom he works so hard day and night. He remains satisfied by filling his stomach with a bundle of grass, sleeping for a while under fear of being beaten by the master, and satisfying his sex appetite at the risk of being repeatedly kicked by the opposite party. The ass sings poetry and philosophy sometimes, but this braying only disturbs others. This is the position of the foolish fruitive worker who does not know for whom he should work. He does not know that karma, action, is meant for yajña, sacrifice. Most often, those who work very hard day and night to clear the burden of self-created duties say that they have no time to hear of the immortality of the living being. To such mūḍhas, material gains, which are destructible, are life's all in all, despite the fact that the mūḍhas enjoy only a very small fraction of the fruit of labor. Sometimes they spend sleepless days and nights for fruitive gain, and although they may have ulcers or indigestion, they are satisfied with practically no food. They are simply absorbed in working hard day and night for the benefit of illusory masters. Ignorant of their real master, the foolish workers waste their valuable time serving mammon. Unfortunately, they never surrender to the supreme master of all masters, not do they take time to hear of Him from the proper sources."

Prabhupāda: Generally, we see now, especially in the western countries, they are working so hard. The master is wine and woman. That's all. Is it not? They have made their master wine and women. In Paris we see everywhere. On the street they are drinking and talking. In Germany also, I have seen. You have been in Germany?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 4, 1975, Dallas:

Prabhupāda: That is condemned. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭan kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). This human life is not meant for working so hard for sense gratification which are done by the dogs and hogs. Human life is meant: tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed (SB 5.5.1). Human life is for tapasya. Why tapasya? Yena sattvaṁ śuddhyed: their existence will be purified. Then you will get unlimited pleasure. Yato brahma-saukhyam anantam. We are seeking after unlimited pleasure. So that is not possible in this material life. And we are thinking, "By working very hard, like hogs and dogs, we will get happiness." This is... The dogs and hogs, they work day and night for searching out where is stool, and as soon as he gets stool, he becomes very strong and stout. Then sex. Never mind, the mother, sister, daughter. This is hog life. Therefore this particular animal has been... Kaṣṭan kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1).

Room Conversation with Press Representative -- March 21, 1975, Calcutta:

Prabhupāda: Behind the movement, that... This is the idea, that you try to understand the Supreme Being behind all, everything. That is perfection.

idaṁ hi puṁsas tapasaḥ śrutasya vā
sviṣṭasya sūktasya ca buddhi-dattayoḥ
avicyuto 'rthaḥ kavibhir nirūpito
yad-uttamaśloka-guṇānuvarṇanam
(SB 1.5.22)

Idaṁ hi puṁsas tapasaḥ śrutasya vā. Everyone, big, big philosophers, scientists, they are engaged in tapasya and education, but they do not know what is the ultimate goal of this tapasya. The scientist is working very hard, and he has discovered a nuclear bomb to kill.

Guest: And what is the ultimate goal of tapasya?

Prabhupāda: Tapasya means that by his knowledge... Suppose you are scientist. You prove by scientific way that here is the supreme scientist who has given us all these laws.

Guest: Is it possible to see the Supreme?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: ...seeking the necessities of the body, but kāṣṭān, with great labor. This is civilization. Kāṣṭān karma. The ultimate end is sense gratification, which the dogs and hogs also enjoy without any hard labor, and they think that after working very, very hard, twenty-four hours, and driving the motorcars in three hundred miles speed, this is civilization. The end is the same—sex, that's all, which the cats and dogs enjoy in the street. And they have made this civilization, you see. Working very hard, and enjoy the sex. Is it not?

Satsvarūpa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: What else they are getting?

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Somebody, they act... Just like illicit sex. They did not know that it is sinful. Now they are understanding. There was no good leader. Even the priests. In the Bible it is said, "Thou shalt not kill." The priests never said, because they are meat-eaters. They themselves are meat-eaters. How they can say? "It is our tradition to eat meat." But how the common man will be educated? (break) You can give me the general prasāda today. I will taste. (test?) (break) When one becomes rich, he becomes lazy. What is called? "Leads to poverty"? Luxury. "Luxury leads to poverty." So at one time one become very rich by hard work, and next generation gets the money for nothing, he spends it on luxuries, and the third generation, poor. There are many families, in everywhere. In England, all these English men, in the beginning they worked very hard, expanding their empire and working. Then gradually, when they became Lord family, then luxury. Now they are poverty-stricken.

Morning Walk -- May 10, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: It means, this is government deceiving. The man is not there. And even if he is there, suppose the soldier after dying for his country has become a tree, is it a very good reward? (laughter) How foolishly they are thinking. We have to point out their foolishness. That is our business. They are working very hard, undoubtedly, but they are working foolishly. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). The result is simply they are becoming tired. That's all. Because they are not working intelligently, like monkey, he is busy all day. What is the value of your busy? You'll find the monkey is never sitting idle. He's always busy, "eḥ, eh, eh." (imitating monkey) So what is the result of that busyness? He's a monkey. And they claim to be coming from monkey, these rascals. So we can see that your monkey's quality is already there. (laughter) You have not improved more than monkey, because you are working uselessly.

Morning Walk -- May 15, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: He doesn't follow the four principles?

Devotee (1): Oh, yes. Yes. There's this one devotee in Sydney who works very hard for Kṛṣṇa, but...

Prabhupāda: But does not follow.

Devotee (1): He does not like āratis or things like that. He just likes to work hard all the time.

Śrutakīrti: He follows the principles, but he doesn't go to ārati, maybe he doesn't chant his rounds, but he's working...

Devotee (1): Real hard for Kṛṣṇa.

Morning Walk -- May 22, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.

Devotee 1: So those snakes are very important. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...plans. They had to work very hard to find out, "What is this? What is this?" So that is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Kliśyanti kevala-bodha-labdhaye. "Working hard simply to know." Kliśyanti. Kliśyanti means working very hard, labor. Kevala-bodha-labdhaye. Simply to understand. But they are not kliśyanti to understand God. Kliśyanti kevala-bodha-labdhaye. This kind of knowledge is compared with beating the bush. That's all. After taking away the paddy grains, only the skin remains. And if you again beat the skin to get grains, that is not possible.

Devotee 1: Beating the husk.

Garden Conversation with Dr. Gerson and devotees -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: ...psychology is philosophy, part of philosophy. So philosophers are better than these fools, karmīs. They are accepted as ass. Karmīs are accepted as the animal ass. Why? Because the ass works day and night without any personal profit. The ass, they work very hard. You have seen ass? And he is working? In India we see very usually. It is loaded with tons of things. He cannot move even. You see. And he agrees to work. And what is his benefit? He gets little grass. But the grass can be had without any working. But this rascal does not know. He agrees to work hard, day and night. So all these karmīs, I have seen in New York, they are working so hard and they are eating only a glass of tea and this dry loaf.

Garden Conversation with Dr. Gerson and devotees -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Working so hard day and night, and only sex, that's all. This is life's enjoyment? This is a hog's life. And what else they have got happiness? We challenge them, "Except this happiness of sex, what other happiness you have got?" There is no answer. So this is being done by the hogs. Whole day and night they are searching after, "Where is stool? Where is stool? Where is stool?" And as soon he gets the stool and they have sex, that's all. Is that civilization, hog's life? And what is civilization? That is tapo divyam: "Just undergo austerities for realizing God." That is civilization. Work very hard similarly, but for Kṛṣṇa and not for imitating the hogs. Now, why I should be interested in for God realization? Yes, you should be. You must be. Why? Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyed sattva: (SB 5.5.1) "By becoming Kṛṣṇa consciousness, your existentional constitution will be purified." What is that purification? Purīfication means because you are now impure, you are subjected to birth, death, old age, and disease.

Morning Walk -- June 29, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: See us. You rascal, see, open your eyes, see that we have no business. We have no food stocked; still, we are not worried. We do not know what we shall eat in the evening, but still, we are not worried. See factually. We are not worried, "Oh, what shall I eat?" I came here without any subsistence. That I mean I had to work very hard?

Kuruśreṣṭha: I think that if the karmīs tried to keep up with you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, they would probably wear out.

Prabhupāda: The karmīs, they work hard because they are asses. The ass example is given. Just like the picture you have seen, ass?

Brahmānanda: In the movie, yes.

Press Conference -- July 9, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: There is no birth, death, old age and disease. So the Vedic civilization trains all human being how to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is Vedic civilization. We cannot be happy in this temporary material life. We are working very hard, but if we work a little only, not very hard, there is no need of working very hard. We have created a civilization that we have to work very hard. The Vedic civilization does not recommend that for sense gratification, you shall simply work very hard, day and night. This is not very good life. You should know what is the value of life, what is the aim of life. God has provided everything for our living condition. We should be satisfied, whatever is alloted by God, and save time for being promoted to the spiritual world. That is the arrangement already there by nature.

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: ...like an ass, and we are getting, sitting, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and getting our food. So you are poverty-stricken or I am poverty-stricken?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: A poverty-stricken man has to work very hard.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa: But they will say, "Well..."

Prabhupāda: They will say... First of all you see. You try to understand that this rascal is working day and night twenty-four hours for getting his food, and we are simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and getting our food. So he is poverty-stricken or I am poverty-stricken?

Morning Walk -- July 17, 1975, San Francisco:

Bahulāśva: Better to just chant and dance.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bahulāśva: That is why they become mad because they become envious that we are chanting and dancing. They are working very hard.

Paramahaṁsa: They won't join.

Prabhupāda: Yes, they asked in Los Angeles that "How is that? You do not work and you are living so comfortably?" They are envious. And the greatest economist, Professor Marshall, he has said that if man gets money, automatically he will not work. That is the basic prin... Therefore they are creating daily new invention.

Brahmānanda: For more working.

Morning Walk -- August 6, 1975, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: In what subject he is scholar?

Ādi-keśava: Well, he's a businessman, but also he is a big philosopher. He thinks that by working very hard that God will give you the result-karma-mīmāṁsā philosophy.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Karma-mīmāṁsā.

Ādi-keśava: He thinks simply by doing your work in the world, then God will become satisfied, and you do not need to offer any sacrifice.

Prabhupāda: The ass is working also. So why God is not satisfied with him? He is working very hard. Why he is meant for carrying load for the washerman? Why do they think that we are not working? Eh?

Morning Walk -- September 13, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kaṣṭan kāmān. Unnecessarily creating problems. (break) ...one after another, one after another. Formerly paper was used only for Vedic knowledge. Now the paper used for so many useless newspaper, volumes and volumes and jasusi(?), unnecessarily creating agitation of the mind. And if you explain these things they will say, "This is all primitive ideas." Modern ideas means one must work very hard day and night to get a little piece of capati. Hm? What is the answer.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: If we don't work hard they say, "You are a burden on society.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Morning Walk -- September 13, 1975, Vrndavana:

Brahmānanda: They say you have to earn your relaxation.

Prabhupāda: But earn or not earn, I am enjoying relaxation.

Brahmānanda: You're not entitled unless you work very hard.

Prabhupāda: Oh. That is nonsense.

Upendra: In America they say you have to pay for freedom.

Prabhupāda: No, freedom, if I have got already, why shall I pay? I have already paid. Why you're inducing? I am already enjoying. Why you are inducing me to work hard? I have paid for it. By my karma in my previous life I have already paid for that; therefore I am enjoying.

Morning Walk -- October 2, 1975, Mauritius:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But then they will ask, "You will come and bring me food?"

Prabhupāda: Yes, I will give you food. Food is there. You are not creating food. It is... From the earth it is grown.

Brahmānanda: But we have to work very hard; otherwise we won't get money for buying food.

Prabhupāda: No. You work a very slight three months in a year and get all food. Food is there; milk is there; land is there. You have to work.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Is it possible to take the mass of crowlike people and give them the higher taste?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Morning Walk -- October 18, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: That's all. Formerly the Manchester people were exploiting Indians. Now the Ahmedabad people, they have learned how to exploit. That's all. And government is satisfied because they pay tax. "Never mind. The workers may suffer, go on suffering." This is going on. And they have lost their own culture, and they have been taught how to drink, how to eat meat. This is... (break) ...fact is that Indians cannot work so hard as the Western people can work. The climate does not allow. India's climate is good for peaceful living, less work, and brain engaged in spiritual advancement. That is India's gift. They are not meant for hard work. Hard work is not required for anyone. This is animal civilization, to work very hard. Then what is the difference between animal and man? A man has to work so hard like animal; then what is the difference? Here in the Western countries their climate is also suitable, and they are taught to work very hard like animals. And they do that. Therefore materially they become so-called prosperous for committing suicide. Is it not?

Morning Walk -- October 19, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: Well, you are the same Indian. Why you are not lazy here? It is the government's policy or government's management. You see? To become lazy is the recommendation of the śāstra. To become lazy... It is a bad word, "lazy," but actually life means not to work very hard. That is real life. And to work hard for eating, that is animal life, that is not human life. Human life should be very peaceful, without any hard work, and cultivating spiritual knowledge. That is human life, not that, to work hard like hogs and dogs throughout the whole day for find out some stool, where it is. That is not human life. So people are being educated to work very hard. That is not human life. Therefore those who have got money, they build nice bungalow in a secluded place to live peacefully, to become lazy. Is it not?

Indian man (1): Yes.

Morning Walk -- October 19, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: Perfection of life means ultimately you become lazy; you haven't got to work. That is perfection, they say. Otherwise why they get a cottage in a secluded place and live? All these Americans, they go weekend. They leave aside all working, they become tired, hard working, and they go. That is the intention, that you should live peaceful life, not working very hard. That is human life. Huh? Otherwise why they go outside the city at the weekend? Why do they go? Hm?

Indian man (1): They want rest, I suppose. They want rest.

Prabhupāda: So that means lazy.

Indian man (1): No.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Rest means lazy; you don't work.

Morning Walk -- October 20, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: Do you think everyone is making money?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So it's a big illusion? It's a big illusion?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everyone simply working hard like asses. That's all. This is their happiness. Just like the hog, he's working very hard to eat stool, and he is thinking happy. He is getting fatty. Do you think to work hard day and night and eat stool is happiness?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No.

Prabhupāda: But he is thinking; therefore he is getting fat. You generally find the pigs are fatty because they think, "Oh, I am very happy." Yes. One man gets fatty when he thinks that "I am very happy." You know that?

Morning Walk -- November 30, 1975, Delhi:

Harikeśa: In the communistic system everybody works very hard.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That's what they claim, but everything belongs to the state. Why should they work hard?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Ambarīṣa: They work very hard because they have a gun pointed at their head.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Now the Russians are gradually trying to change to the American system in the sense that if a worker produces more, he is given some bonus. They are trying to give incentives to the workers so that they are tempted to work hard.

Prabhupāda: But what they will do with the money?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Just buy a little more vodka.

Ambarīṣa: Go on vacation.

Morning Walk -- December 14, 1975, New Delhi:

Bhāgavata: (describing Māyāpur) All the devotees, some devotees, they live in the main building, and some devotees they work on the weaving, and some devotees work in agriculture, some devotees work in the gośālā. They make competition, that "Who will come to the maṅgala-ārati first, early." Now they are coming one hour before maṅgala-ārati. They're in a competition, and the ones who dance through the ārati, throught the entire ārati without stopping, the ones that come early, they get this stamp, Kṛṣṇa stamp. You get twenty stamps, you get one plate of mahā-prasādam. You get thirty stamps, forty stamps... You get one thousand stamps, you can go to Vṛndāvana for darśana. You get two thousand stamps you can go for opening ceremony in Bombay. Like this he is making program. Everyone is working very hard to come to the maṅgala-ārati first, to chant the..., and to dance. Everyone is working very hard. He has increased the enthusiasm.

Prabhupāda: These are all a school building? Hm? They're extended.

Tejas: Yes.

Devotee: It's a school.

Morning Walk -- December 16, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: "There is no need of God. You do your duty."

Dr. Patel: And God will do His duty.

Prabhupāda: "God is obliged to give you the award." That is their philosophy. We can practically see: suppose two men working very hard, are they getting the same result?

Dr. Patel: No, that is their karma bandhana...

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa! (greeting a few people) Jaya.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Bhavānanda: Jagaman is wonderful.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He works very hard. So I think we should try to get as many of these young boys as we can. We should use the facility of this prasādam distribution.

Prabhupāda: The thing is that whether we should... This pamphlet, I don't think it has got any value.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It has no value, Prabhupāda. What we should do is build this temple. If we just build this temple... This is my point. Let us build this temple immediately. Once this temple is built, everything is finished. All the glowworms are completely extinguished. There will be nothing left. They can do anything they want, and nothing will matter. If they have a 350-foot building with escalators, with huge compounds, then everything is ended.

Prabhupāda: So do like that, like America.

Morning Walk -- February 29, 1976, Mayapura:

Hari-śauri: Their idea is that the more the struggle goes on, the better, the more glorified, they are.

Prabhupāda: And therefore it is called "ass." (laughter) Ass works very hard, and he thinks, "I am glorified." Mūḍha. Therefore they are called mūḍha. Ugra-karma.

Kīrtirāja: I have seen driving from Germany that even sometimes they don't have an animal ass. They become the ass, and they are carrying the big load on their back, almost on four legs. It is so heavy. (end)

Morning Walk -- March 17, 1976, Mayapura:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Because that is śūdra philosophy, this chance philosophy.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everyone has to work very hard, pass examination, and then he becomes an educated man. Where is by chance one has become learned?

Pañca-draviḍa: What about two people born in the same circumstance? Each has equal education and equal background, but one becomes rich and one remains poor. That's chance.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the fate. Fate is the cause, destiny. Otherwise, so many people are working hard. Why not everyone is becoming rich by chance? Kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā. This is the instruction in the Bhāgavatam. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. There are two things—happiness and distress—and they are being controlled by the time. You have infected some disease. In time, it will come out, manifested, and the doctor say, "Oh, you infected this disease. Take this injection." The time factor. It.... You have to wait to see the result. It is not chance. As soon as you do something, immediately the reaction begins. But you do not see the result immediately, but wait and you'll find. Yes.

Morning Walk -- April 9, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: India has no, had no such ideas. They are borrowing ideas. India's idea is self-realization. Live very simple life—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. The brāhmaṇas, they are living simple life, becoming very learned scholar, pure character, advanced in spiritual life—one class, ideal. And kṣatriyas, they are supposed to be the king. They distribute the land on nominal taxation, and the vaiśyas utilize the land for cultivation and cow-keeping, and the śūdras, they are engaged as weaver, blacksmith, goldsmith, mean other necessities of life. In this way the whole society is simplified, and the central point is how to become advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by cooperation. This is India's civilization. There is no question of industry. Ugra-karma. It has been condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā as ugra-karma, laboring very hard for livelihood. This industry means engage the poor worker class to work very hard, and there is huge profit, and some directors of the capitalists, they take it.

Morning Walk -- April 16, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Not so in industry. People are idle. It is just like a man having one son, another man having six sons. If the man with six sons works very hard, he is more, I mean, rich than that fellow. But those six boys don't work? Then he goes to hell.

Prabhupāda: No, he works. He sees that "In the village I shall get one rupee per day, and if I go to the town I shall get twenty rupees."

Dr. Patel: Not that, sir, even that, there is no jobs.

Prabhupāda: But he thinks there is job. He leaves.

Dr. Patel: Yes, they come here in search of job.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They suffer. They live in the huts and very nasty place, still expecting.

Room Conversation -- April 20, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Minimum. Sometimes we go to fifty thousand dollars.

Carol Jarvis: A day?

Prabhupāda: Day. All over the world.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Devotees are working very hard to spread this consciousness, knowledge. (background talking)

Prabhupāda: Religious book, selling daily so much, huge amount, that is unique in the history.

Carol Jarvis: Are they sold mainly in the Western countries?

Prabhupāda: All over the world. Especially in Europe, America.

Morning Walk -- May 3, 1976, Fiji:

Prabhupāda: Everyone is working hard for material benefit. So why someone? Everyone. Who is not working for material necessities? Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca saman... If the cats, dogs, human being, everybody is working very hard.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Say, for example, one who is engaged simply in preaching.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: One who is engaged simply in preaching.

Prabhupāda: He's serving Kṛṣṇa. He's not material necessities.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So Kṛṣṇa is supplying all facility at least to maintain body and soul together.

Morning Walk -- May 3, 1976, Fiji:

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. I went to your country without any money. Now Kṛṣṇa has given. I went with forty rupees; now I have forty crores. Who has done this business? So if you serve Kṛṣṇa, so Kṛṣṇa will supply everything, whatever you need, require. He doesn't require to ask for it.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The question then is, is a devotee required to work very hard for material necessities?

Prabhupāda: Yes. He has to work sincerely to serve Kṛṣṇa. Then everything is there.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Even he doesn't consider material necessity?

Garden Conversation -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:

Nalinīkaṇṭha: "In the material world in any form of life there is some so-called happiness and so-called distress. No one invites distress in order to suffer, but still it comes. Similarly, even if we do not endeavor to obtain the advantages of material happiness, we shall obtain them automatically. This happiness and distress are obtainable in any form of life without endeavor. Thus there is no need to waste time and energy fighting against distress or working very hard for happiness. Our only business in the human form of life should be to revive our relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus become qualified to return home, back to Godhead. Material happiness and distress come as soon as we accept a material body, regardless of what form. We cannot avoid such happiness and distress under any circumstances. The best use of human form of life, therefore, lies in reviving our relationship with the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu."

Prabhupāda: So, is there any question about this statement?

Garden Conversation -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Now, if He is ordering to become His devotee, how can I try to become another God, competitor? This is the folly, and for this we are suffering. He asked him, "You become My devotee." And I want to become another God, competitor. And therefore we are suffering. We cannot become another God. That is not possible. But artificially you are trying. Therefore you are suffering. Anything you try artificially, you'll suffer. If you try for a thing artificially, then what is the result? Result will be suffering and disappointment. Therefore śāstra says, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayeteta kovidaḥ. Don't try for such things... You have tried all through in different forms of life. You have failed. So don't try for that. But try to become servant of God. Then your life will be successful. Because in the material world the endeavor is how to become God in different varieties: how to become president, how to become minister, how to become master, how to become very strong man, very wealthy man, very beautiful man, so on, so on, so on, up to—when everything fails—then how to become God. When everything fails, then, ultimately, "Now I shall become God." The same disease is there, how to become big, now the biggest. And that is the same disease in a different form. Therefore, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, it is said, kṛṣṇa-bhakta-niṣkāma, ataeva śānta, bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī-'aśānta' (CC Madhya 19.149). Bhukti means material enjoyment. Karmīs... Just like ordinary men, they are working so hard day and night. This airplane is running here and there, (loud airplane passing over) day and night, carrying karmīs. So this is bhukti. How to enjoy this material world fully, this is called bhukti. So because they are after bhukti, how there can be peace? He has to work very hard.

Garden Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Nalinīkaṇṭha: "The mammonist philosophy, 'Work very hard and enjoy sense gratification,' is condemned herein by the Lord. Therefore for those who want to enjoy this material world, the above-mentioned cycle of performing yajñas is absolutely necessary. One who does not follow such regulations is living a very risky life, being condemned more and more. By nature's law, this human form of life is specifically meant for self-realization, in either of the three ways-namely karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, or bhakti-yoga. There is no necessity of rigidly following the performances of the prescribed yajñas for the transcendentalists who are above vice and virtue; but those who are engaged in sense gratification require purification by the above-mentioned cycle of yajña performances. There are different kinds of activities. Those who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious are certainly engaged in sensory consciousness; therefore they need to execute pious work. The yajña system is planned in such a way that sensory conscious persons may satisfy their desires without becoming entangled in the reaction of sense-gratificatory work. The prosperity of the world depends not on our own efforts but on the background arrangement of the Supreme Lord, directly carried out by the demigods. Therefore, the yajñas are directly aimed at the particular demigod mentioned in the Vedas. Indirectly, it is the practice of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because when one masters the performance of yajñas, one is sure to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. But if by performing yajñas one does not become Kṛṣṇa conscious, such principles are counted as only moral codes. One should not, therefore, limit his progress only to the point of moral codes, but should transcend them, to attain Kṛṣṇa consciousness."

Prabhupāda: Next.

Nalinīkaṇṭha: Go on reading?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- June 24, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Kīrtanānanda: No one works harder than the farmer. The farmer has to work very hard.

Prabhupāda: No, our point is that if you think that electricity improvement is better than farming, we have no objection. But if you forget your real business, is that intelligent?

Kīrtanānanda: No, of course not.

Prabhupāda: That is our proposal. Our real business is how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. So simply for improving the condition of life, the necessities of life, if I forget my real business, is that intelligence? Therefore it is said duṣkṛtinaḥ. Kṛti means merit. But merit is being utilized for sinful activities. Take for example the meat-eaters. When man was... The uncivilized man is still there. In the uncivilized way they are living in the jungle. They require to eat something. So they stone over an animal going, and the animal dies, and then they eat. Now instead of killing the animal by stoning, if you have discovered scientific machine in the slaughterhouse to kill the animal, is that improvement? If you think this is advancement, "Now we have discovered very technical machine. Instead of stoning one animal killing, it takes so much time, hundreds and thousands of animals you can kill in one hour," do you think that is improvement?

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: There is the question. (devotees laugh) but their reality is dog's race, and our reality is to advance in self-realization, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is difference. Therefore karmīs have been described as mūḍha, asses. Asses. And asses, why the example is given to the asses? Because the ass works very hard. It loads on the back tons of cloth of the washerman, and the washerman in return gives him little morsel of grass, and he stands at the door of the washerman, eats the grass, again loading. But he has no sense that "If I go out of these clutches of washerman I can get grass anywhere. Why I am loading so much?" The karmīs are like that. They're busy in the office, very busy. If you want to see him, "I am very busy now." (laughter) So what is your result of busy? "Now, I take two pieces of toast and one cup of tea. That's all." (laughter) And for this purpose you are so busy? He does not know why he's busy.

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Distribute this prasādam. (break) Janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam (SB 1.2.7). Vairāgya and jñāna, both thing will develop, Vāsudeva. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Take prasādam. Give him twice, he has worked very hard. (laughter) Double, you should give double. So Kṛṣṇa will bless you. So push this scientific movement, go to every university, every college. How they are receiving now in the college circles?

Sadāpūta: We gave a lecture a couple of days ago in Gainesville, and it was interesting. We actually gave a couple of TV interviews.

Prabhupāda: How they received it?

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: I observed that these devotees at New York, they've practically given up sleeping this past week to prepare everything for your arrival.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) They are so kind to me.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, they worked very hard.

Rāmeśvara: It reminded me that time when the Press devotees stayed up all the time to get those Caitanya-caritāmṛta volumes. The same spirit. They just stopped eating and sleeping.

Prabhupāda: That is love. These things can be done only out of love.

Morning Walk -- July 10, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Pretty big carts. These carts have the same mechanism, they go up and down, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is John. He's always helping us with the building. He works very hard. Which cart will Śrīla Prabhupāda ride on? Jayānanda? Which cart will Prabhupāda ride on?

Ādi-keśava: We wanted to know which one. Which one would you like to ride on?

Hari-śauri: Balarāma's cart goes in front?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, Jagannātha's was going in front in San Francisco, then Subhadrā's.

Morning Walk -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, because they are Hare Kṛṣṇas. There's one man, he says, in Osaka that's a big demon, one policeman who simply makes his business to try and find out the devotees. So that one man arrested three of them in one day. Anyway he's just taking another thirty-five thousand out and he's immediately transferring today ten thousand to Gargamuni and he's arranging a bank account jointly with Rāmeśvara in Los Angeles for his other money. Rāmeśvara will put the money in fixed deposit and monthly transfer ten thousand dollars for construction. Gurukṛpā was happy to know that the money could be used for that. He says he's studying, chanting and working very hard.

Prabhupāda: They are trying to drive us away. How to counteract it?

Room Conversation -- July 27, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes?

Hari-śauri: ...was because they had no rain. All their crops failed.

Jayatīrtha: Not only that, people aren't inclined to work very hard. The farmers are not very enthusiastic to work very hard, because they work very hard, but they have to give all the fruit away. So because they are karmīs, they want the fruit. The state is taking the fruit; therefore they don't want to work.

Prabhupāda: Why they shall work?

Jayatīrtha: They have no incentive.

Prabhupāda: "I'll work and you'll enjoy." Why shall they work? That is natural tendency. This can be possible only for Kṛṣṇa. "I'll work; Kṛṣṇa will enjoy." That's all. That is only possible in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Bhagavān: His wife's the same too.

Harikeśa: Oh? (break)

Bhagavān: I wanted to get Kṛṣṇa book published while you are here. So I really pushed our printer to work very hard. I told him, "But the thing is, I have no money to pay you right now," because we had just printed Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He said, "You try to give me five percent down and I'll give you eight months' credit."

Prabhupāda: Ācchā. (laughs)

Bhagavān: So I didn't have the money because we were fixing up. So one girl joined, and she gave eight thousand dollars.

Prabhupāda: And what is the whole bill?

Room Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Dayānanda: Some intelligent. People are working very hard for money, and they're very materialistic.

Prabhupāda: That is everywhere in the eastern part of the world. They are after money.

Dayānanda: And the foreigners who come here also, they are materialistic also.

Prabhupāda: Everywhere materialistic. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Spiritualistic means siddhi, perfection. Who cares for perfection? Bring money and enjoy. That's all. Who cares for perfection? They do not know what is perfection. They think that you get money, you live comfortably as far as possible, and after death, everything's finished. Is it not? This is the philosophy. Who cares to know that there is life after death and better life, better planet, better world? This is not at all good, it is full of miseries. They are driving all day, car, but they do not think it is tiresome. They think it is pleasure. To have a car and drive whole day, they do not feel that is tiresome. They think "I have got a car, I'm driving, people are seeing. It is pleasure."

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: We have got three platforms, generally. Material platform divided into two-gross and subtle, and there is spiritual platform. The body is material platform, divided into two, gross and subtle. And then if you are fortunate enough to come to the spiritual platform, then your life is successful. So the karmīs generally... Just like we see in the city, they are all busy, working very hard. They are on the gross material platform. And then next class, just like scientist, poet, philosopher, they are in the subtle platform. And above them, there are persons who are simply interested in spiritual understanding. They are on the spiritual platform. So according to the platform, there are thoughts and activities also. Your question is what is about these so many things. So first of all you have to understand in which platform he is situated.

Room Conversation -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: Meditating.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Hari-śauri Prabhu works very hard, Śrīla Prabhupāda. He's a very first-class servant.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (japa)

Dayānanda: Prabhupāda, they say that the problem is that, the problem of the world is that humanity should be one, everyone should think of things as belonging to humanity and that religion and different governments have made humanity sectarian and divided up.

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Overeating means sick.

Hari-śauri: I used to eat a lot but I used to burn it all off.

Akṣayānanda: They don't know if you eat a lot and then work very hard, that's all right. But they eat a lot and then sleep a lot, as Mahārāja said. If they would simply work. Eat a lot, all right, but then work very hard. Then it's all digested.

Hari-śauri: They eat a lot at midday and then they're useless for the rest of the day. Sleep two or three hours in the afternoon and then stagger out for ārati.

Akṣayānanda: Now they eat in the morning.

Prabhupāda: So, how to manage this? It is very difficult.

Morning Walk -- December 27, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, bhakti means tapasya. Just like they are in the bhakti line. They are doing tapasya. They are rising early in the morning, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, observing maṅgala-ārati, no meat-eating, no illicit sex, no intoxication, so many things. It is tapasya. Whole thing is tapasya, tapaḥ, because by this tapasya the contamination of the soul will be cured. Then, if he understands Kṛṣṇa, then he is transferred to the spiritual world. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). He does not come again to accept the material body, and he permanently lives in the spiritual world. That is perfection. The modern civilization, they do not know all these things. They are misguiding that "You earn to your best extent. Work very hard like hogs." And there is advertisement "Work hard. The next (?)." They are pulling one trailer, rickshaw, still, their leaders are advising, "Work hard. Work still more hard."

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Discussion about Kumbhamela -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Because the prices was so down, you see, and fertilizer they are selling at a very high rate. Before it was available, a bag, for fifty rupees or fifty-one. Now it is more than eleven-ten. They don't want that a man in the city should be employed for less than five rupees a day. It's very expensive. And they don't work also. They used to work very hard in ancient times. Now they come at ten o'clock, go at five. Before they used to come early morning at six, seven o'clock and work up til five in the evening, and you used to feed them afternoon.

Gurudāsa: Use gobar instead of...

Dr. Patel: No, gobar is not that much available.

Gurudāsa: Gobar means cows. Get a cow.

Dr. Patel: We use gobar. All of us keep cows. But there is not sufficient for that.

Gurudāsa: You can eat six thousand rupees' worth of rice yourself?

Dr. Patel: No, you can't. You have in the market. No, I cannot eat even this much because I can't bring it here to Bombay. There is a barrier. You can't export from one place to another. This is the government. And our rice is just like the (indistinct) quality.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi)

Arrival of BBT Manager -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. We are getting advertise, publicity, paying nothing. This is our profit.

Rāmeśvara: We still have to work very hard to defeat them.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. That is necessary. You don't sleep. Never Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna that "I am your friend. I am God. You sleep here. (laughter) I'll do everything." No! "You must fight." That is wanted. Yuddhyasva mām anusmara: (BG 8.7) "You fight and remember Me. Then I'll do everything." This is an opportunity of remembering Kṛṣṇa always—"Kṛṣṇa, save us." (break) So what are these pictures? Against us?

Rāmeśvara: Yes. This shows that if they kidnap you and they convince you to give up your belief in God, you will be very happy. You will have nice girlfriend. You will be very happy.

Room Conversation on 1976 Book Scores -- January 16, 1977, Calcutta:

Rāmeśvara: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Thank you. Work very hard for Kṛṣṇa one life.

Rāmeśvara: You may like to see these, so I can leave them here?

Prabhupāda: I have heard it. Śruta. It is śuśruma.

Rāmeśvara: When these come out, I frame them on my wall.

Prabhupāda: Our method is iti śuśruma: "I have heard it." That's all. (end)

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: Even there is no creation, you have to suffer, because you are eternal. So some millions of years there is no creation and you'll have to lie down—no activity, just like sleeping. Suppose you are sleeping for one million year. Is that a very enjoyment, sleeping for many millions of years? Again you get the light. That is chance. Again you are created, either as Brahmā or any nonsense. But you see the light. Creation or no creation... "No creation" is still suffering. Creation is suffering, but "no creation" is still more suffering. Just like everyone is working very hard, but in Sweden there is no day. Somebody committing suicide. It is a great suffering. Otherwise how do they commit suicide. Is it not?

Evening Darsana -- February 15, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. This is the most successful farm at least in our society from the production point of view.

Prabhupāda: Yes. No, I saw personally. He is working very hard, and everyone is happy. You were there?

Hari-śauri: Yes.

Prabhupāda: It is very nice. I always remember. Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jaya Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Jaya. (end)

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: We want that they should have necessaries without any difficulty and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That they do not like. They want people to be industrialists, working very hard in the factory.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Hari-śauri: They're envious because they're struggling for their own existence, and they don't like to see us not struggle.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Envious. But if we develop this community project, farm, they cannot do anything.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, they appreciate this farm projects.

Room Conversations -- February 20, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: How I can... Main business is how to... Gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe. "Let them first of all, somehow or other, yena tena prakāreṇa. Then I shall impose rules and regulations and regulative..." He has... You have not seen from the very beginning. They have seen. I worked very hard. Two times lectures, cooking, and meeting and twenty-four-hours writing book, typing. Not a single moment, and still I am not wasting single moment.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. Always thinking of Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: I was giving two tapes daily.

Room Conversation with Ram Jethmalani (Parliament Member) -- April 16, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In what way does the spiritual master become...?

Prabhupāda: Well, this is then something.(?)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He has to work very hard on behalf of the disciple...

Prabhupāda: No. To accept his sinful reaction.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He does that?

Prabhupāda: It is not easy job to become a spiritual master. Yes. Then when it is overloaded, you'll suffer.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Kṛṣṇa transfers the sinful reaction unto the spiritual master from the disciple.

Evening Darsana -- May 14, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: You cannot count how many there are. Now these, some of the jīvas, not all of them... Majority of them, they live in the spiritual world, just like majority of the population of the state, they live outside the prison house. Prison house means some of the citizens who are criminals, they are put into the jail. Similarly, these living entities who are criminals, means who have rebelled against the order of God, they are sent here, in this material world. So they are suffering one term after another. Therefore here is the chance, ayaṁ dehaḥ nṛloke. In the form of human body you can get out of it. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma (BG 4.9). This is chance. And therefore Ṛṣabhadeva says, "My dear boys, you don't spoil your life." "I am working and enjoying. I am not spoiling." "No, this kind of working is done by the cats and hogs." Kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye: (SB 5.5.1) "For sense gratification the hogs and dogs, they also work very hard and then enjoy senses. So this body is not meant for that purpose." You are thinking that you are working so hard, karmī, and big, big skyscraper building and nice motorcar, nice roads.

Room Conversation-Recent Mail -- July 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: He was from very beginning. Brahmānanda. He has worked very hard from the beginning.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says "I may also come to cook and clean for you."

Prabhupāda: Yes, you are welcome.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "If you so desire. And carry you also."

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) No, you are doing more important business. Do that. But if you want to do, whatever you like, you can come. He is a good cook also.

Bhāgavatāśraya: Hm. Everyone compliments his cooking. Everyone.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "We have a great debt to repay you and we are perplexed how to repay. At least Your Divine Grace may stay as long as we try to repay till the debt we owe to you. I think if we work hard and preach and the world recognizes this movement, then you may want to stay here longer."

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: But those who are not physically active, they cannot eat.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. That's the difference between the Bengalis and the Punjabis. Punjabis work very hard.

Prabhupāda: No, they eat also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And they eat very nicely.

Prabhupāda: They are healthy men.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The Bengalis, they do a lot of clerical jobs, sitting in one place.

Prabhupāda: They get diabetes.

Room Conversation -- October 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Ātreya Ṛṣi: They like it very much. Nandarāṇī Prabhu and Dayānanda Prabhu are managing.

Prabhupāda: They are both intelligent.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes. They are working very hard.

Prabhupāda: And they are very sincere. What do you charge?

Parivrājakācārya: About sixteen rupees, fifteen tomands(?). It is very little price. It's very small.

Prabhupāda: For one plate?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: One plate. Very reasonable price. But many people give donations. And many of them take the books. We have your books. They take, and they read it, and they love it.

Room Conversation -- October 13, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So Dhṛṣṭadyumna is, I think, the elder. His brother is here.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: My brother is an architect, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and he's helping us to design the community plan for the small village and the temple. He's working very hard to help set up an ideal Vedic community.

Prabhupāda: Keep always engaged yourself in Kṛṣṇa activity. That is wanted. Jaya. (break) ...yad yad ācarati... (BG 3.21). You can give me two teaspoon glucose.

Brahmānanda: Two teaspoons?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Glucose.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) He has arranged alone.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Svarūpa Dāmodara? Yes. This is his single-handed attempt. Of course, the others have worked very hard also for writing the books and getting them printed. But this arrangement locally practically is his. He's worked very hard-Agra and Delhi.

Prabhupāda: (Bengali with Bhakti-caru)

Bhakti-caru: Fruit juice now.

Bhavānanda: All the scientists are taking prasādam now, Prabhupāda-kacuris and fruit, sabji, hot jalebis.

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Where he is making?

Bharadvāja: Well, they are having most of the part done outside by outside people, professionals, and Īśāna is assembling, and he's working very hard.

Prabhupāda: It is plastic?

Bharadvāja: Yes, Completely, everything. And it can be tuned also on the spot. There is a key, and with this key you can tune it up. The heads never break, but if they happen to break they can be immediately replaced within... They can get extra heads and it takes about two minutes to change, to put a new head on.

Prabhupāda: Hm!

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Hm!

Bharadvāja: So Īśāna has worked very hard to fulfill your order, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Now he's successful.

Bharadvāja: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Where is his wife?

Bharadvāja: She is in New York with the child. She is working with Yogeśvara there on children's books.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Room Conversation -- November 6, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Things are going on.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhagatji was working very hard, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Too hard. Sometimes he missed his meals in the last two days to do that. I never saw... Even a young man could not work so much as he worked in the last two days. Śrīla Prabhupāda? I think we can... If you allow, Bhavānanda Mahārāja and I can sit you up for a minute to drink a little barley milk? Then you can lay down and take good rest. Taking a little warm thing at night is helpful for sleeping. It's relaxing. We never were used to that, but since we met Your Divine Grace, we're always taking a little warm milk at night. So you'll allow us to give you a little? (pause)

Bhavānanda: Bhakti-caru Prabhu.

Page Title:Work very hard (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:19 of Mar, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=82, Let=0
No. of Quotes:82