Prabhupāda: Durvāsā Muni was brāhmaṇa and a great yogi. So he could not tolerate that a householder king... King is supposed to be dealing in politics, economics. Therefore, according to social position, he is lesser than the brāhmaṇa because they are simply engaged in the matter of transcendental advancement of life. But a devotee is above the brāhmaṇas. That is the position of devotee. Here, the highest qualitative position is to be situated in the modes of goodness or to acquire the qualities of brāhmaṇa, in this material world. Truthfulness, controlling the senses, controlling the mind, simplicity and knowledge, faith in God, there are so many qualifications which makes a person as recognized brāhmaṇa. But a devotee, never mind whether he's brāhmaṇa or a caṇḍāla, he automatically develop all these qualities. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā (SB 5.18.12). Anyone who has unflinching devotional faith in God, he has all the good qualities.
Acquire (Conversations)
Expressions researched:
"acquirable"
|"acquire"
|"acquired"
|"acquires"
|"acquiring"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: What is the disease? Disease means there is limitation of eating, limitation of sleeping. Everything is limited. Limitation of mating. A diseased man cannot have sex life unlimitedly or whatever. There is restriction. A tuberculosis person is completely restricted, "You cannot have sex life." That restriction is for curing him. And the cure means he enjoys—whatever he thinks enjoyment, that is unlimited. Yasmād brahma-saukhyam anantam (SB 5.5.1). Brahma-saukhyam, eternal happiness, unending happiness. So for acquiring unending, eternal happiness, if you have to accept some voluntary suffering in this life, everyone should do that. So if you ask... You can ask some questions. Adau gurvāśrayam sad-dharma-pṛcchāt. If you go to a person, superior, or spiritual master, then you should ask. You should be inquisitive for better understanding. Sad-dharma-pṛcchāt. Jijñāsu. Jijñāsu means inquisitive, jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam, inquisitive for higher, happy life. Inquisitiveness. So what is your inquisitiveness?
Prabhupāda: After many thousands of men, one may be interested how to liberate himself. And out of many such liberated persons, one may understand what is Kṛṣṇa. So understanding of Kṛṣṇa is not very easy thing. But Lord Caitanya is so munificent that He has given us a, I mean to say, easy process. (indistinct) Otherwise Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not easy. Because Kṛṣṇa is the last word of Absolute Truth. Generally, people are just like animals. Out of many such persons, one becomes interested in the scriptures. And out of many such persons, if they're attracted to the scriptures, they're attracted to the ritualistic ceremony for improving their economic condition. You see? Just like Christians, they go to... Not Christian, everyone. They take up religion with a motive that they may improve their economic position. Dharma, artha. Artha means money. And then why artha? Why you want money? Now, to satisfy senses. Kāma. Dharma, artha, kāma. And when one becomes frustrated in sense gratification, then liberation, to merge. These four things are going on. Dharma, artha, kāma. The Bhāgavata says that dharma is not meant for acquiring money. Money is not meant for satisfying senses. Sense gratification should be accepted simply to maintain this body. That's all. The real business is tattva-jijñāsā, to understand. The human life is meant for understanding the Absolute Truth. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā naś ceha yat karmabhiḥ. Kāmasya nendriya-pritir labho jīveta yāvatā (SB 1.2.10). Kāmasya, sense gratification, does not mean you have to increase the volume of sense gratification. No. Jīveta yāvatā, you have to accept sense gratification so far as you can live very nicely. The real business is jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. Every human being should be inquisitive to know the Absolute Truth. That is the real business of human life. So to come to that business, you won't find mass of people. It is not possible. You don't expect.
1970 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: For young man, the more he sleeps, he is dead. He's a dead body. A child, if he overeats, if he overeats, then it is not bad for him. So anyone overeats, it is bad, specially for old man. And if child gets diarrhea, it is good for him. When a old man gets diarrhea, it is death for him. Child gets diarrhea means whatever poisons he has acquired he gets out. His health becomes renovated. And old man, if he gets diarrhea, he loses his vitality. Chele hange bastre guru hage mostre.(?) These are the para... What is called? Common sayings? Parables? Oh, it is the time. They are not yet ready?
Prabhupāda: We don't find any such thing. Professor Sanyal was not very much advanced. He committed so many blunders.
Himāvatī: You heard about that article?
Prabhupāda: No.
Himāvatī: That was the (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: Well, if that sort of remark is given it is not against the śāstra, but it was not necessarily previously. His direct association... Caitanya Mahāprabhu says,
- sādhu saṅga sādhu saṅga sarva śāstra kaya
- lava mātra sādhu saṅge sarva siddhi haya
- (CC Madhya 22.54)
"Even a moment's association with a pure devotee—all success." Not necessarily that one has to acquire it previous, no. Generally it is so, but sādhu sanga has got its effect. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, lavamatra sādhu sanga sarva siddhi haya. You have not read in the Sanātana-śikṣā in the Teachings of Lord Caitanya?
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Guest (1): Now, we want... Because this want is there... Want is made by own nature and there is no way throughout our... Now when we earning means there's so much contami..., mean, sea of...
Prabhupāda: That is not happiness.
Guest (1): I am just coming to that. I was...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Now, one point is that earning or begging-beg, borrow or steal—that is not happiness. Because to acquire a standard of happiness you have to beg, you have to earn, or you have to steal, so that is not happiness.
Guest (1): No. What I am saying is that as long as a man lives...
Prabhupāda: But we are not talking of "as long as man lives." He lives eternally.
Mohsin Hassan: How about the meaning of the chanting. You are insist on chanting.
Prabhupāda: Chanting is to make the process very easy. Because in this age people are unfortunate, short living, and they are attracted in false things, they are very slow, they do not take it very seriously. Therefore chanting is a common platform. Anyone can chant. Anyone, even the child can chant, the old man can chant, the fool can chant, the intelligent can chant, the rich can chant, the poor can chant. So the chanting is a common; therefore it is becoming successful. And chanting means, Kṛṣṇa being absolute, Kṛṣṇa's name and Kṛṣṇa there is no difference. Absolute means there is no duality. As in this dual world there is difference between the name and the substance, in the absolute world there is no difference between the name and the substance. Both of them are the same. So therefore chanting of Kṛṣṇa's name means associating with Kṛṣṇa directly. And because they are associating with Kṛṣṇa directly, they're quickly becoming purified. Just like if you touch a metal rod to the fire, it becomes warm and then it acquires the quality of the fire. The metal rod, you can touch anywhere, it will burn, although it is metal rod. But because it acquired the quality of the fire, it can burn, it can act as fire. Similarly, if we constantly associate with Kṛṣṇa, then we acquire the spiritual quality. Then we can act as spiritual very quick. This is the point.
Dhanañjaya: So they have, they have already installed a Deity. They have a Deity of Vasudeva in the Hindu Center, but He's not dressed. He's standing with cakra, but He's not, He's not clothed very nicely, and the room is not decorated very nicely at all. He's just standing there. And they asked for a pūjārī to come and look after. But they..., you see what they're thinking, they're thinking, "Oh, we're pious. We're pious for acquiring Deity." You see? "Deity is only for the lower class people, so they can see, or they will be reminded that God is here. But we already know that God is here." So they turn and sit with their back to the Deity and they talk like this, and the Deity is here.
Prabhupāda: No. They, as Dhanañjaya said, that are not willing to cooperate with us.
Śyāmasundara: Well, I'm not so sure. They used to be when I was here, and I think if you have a Bhāgavata-saptāha, if the weather stays, and the weather's any good... I don't know.
Prabhupāda: But the Bhāgavata-saptāha, if they are willing to cooperate with our Bhāgavata-saptāha.
Śyāmasundara: Yeah, that's what I mean.
Prabhupāda: Some, some priest come from India, and they cooperate with me. But if they have a feeling of noncooperation with us, then what is the use of paṇḍitas and Bhāgavata-saptāha?
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Vṛndāvana University, Vaiṣṇava (indistinct). It was acquired by the government.
Dr. Kapoor: Acquired by the government. That's how he got it cheap. And then he had to go into litigation.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Much litigation, and he was in danger.
Dr. Kapoor: He was in danger.
Śyāmasundara: Still it's not finished.
Prabhupāda: Not yet finished.
Dr. Kapoor: Not yet finished? That litigation is still going on?
Śyāmasundara: No, I mean the building.
Dr. Kapoor: Building huh. The construction is going on?
Prabhupāda: Now he is getting money.
Devotee (1): We may develop at least maybe half of your energy to continuously preach someday?
Prabhupāda: Continuously?
Śyāmasundara: He says that someday he hopes that the devotees, your disciples, may acquire half of the energy that you have for preaching.
Prabhupāda: Why not full or double? You may have doubled.
Devotee (1): It's inconceivable.
Prabhupāda: Just like my Guru Mahārāja did not travel all over the world, so I have got double energy than him. So you must triple energy, four times energy than me. Then actually disciple. My Godbrothers are envious because they could not do. They could not do even half of Guru Mahārāja's work, and I am doing ten times. So therefore they are envious. So if an ordinary man like me can do ten times, you are Americans-twenty times, then you are successful.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes, that (indistinct) means, that means this knowledge should be received from the authority.
Guest (2): Yes.
Prabhupāda: Just like...
Guest (2): So actually they have acquired it from one source.
Prabhupāda: Yes. One link. So that is being deviated. What Kṛṣṇa said to Vivasvān, to the sun-god now everyone is speaking in his own way, not in that way.
Guest (2): That's right.
Prabhupāda: Therefore it is deviated. The Bhagavad-gītā, the Chapter, Fourth Chapter explains that you cannot understand Bhagavad-gītā by your own interpretation. You must follow the instruction of the original speaker of Bhagavad-gītā. The original speaker is Kṛṣṇa. So what Kṛṣṇa says, they have to follow it. Then it is Bhagavad-gītā. Otherwise if you interpret it in a different way then it is not Bhagavad-gītā. Now, what Kṛṣṇa says we have to understand it philosophically, ethically, scientifically, any way, any angle of vision. That is, that you can do. But you cannot change the version of Bhagavad-gītā. You cannot change. Just like Dr. Rādhākrishnan, in the Ninth Chapter when Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65).
Pañcadraviḍa: Well we, many of us have tried to correct ourself, and as a result we have been accused of being separatist, simply because we don't want to go along with the nonsense that everybody else is doing, but we want to maintain some standard for ourself, of reading and chanting. Because we don't want to sit down and talk nonsense or do nonsense, and if you try to stop them they will not stop. So why we should fall down to that level? So we behave as separatist. We go into our room and we'll read, or we'll go into our room and chant, or we'll try and keep ourself clean, or try and do these things, and that is separatism because it's not falling into the level of māyā that's going on everywhere else in the temple, engaging in party politics and all these other things. That is, that is what I feel about it. Most of the devotees, they seem out of place.
Prabhupāda: Whatever is done is done. Now, you try to correct others by behaving yourself. Otherwise, there is no need of keeping so many men. We have attempted in Vṛndāvana. A few men may remain here. That's all. Otherwise, it will be not very nice to attract when people are attracted by seeing your behavior. They are seeing that, "Oh, Europeans and Americans, they have got such nice Vaiṣṇavas." They are attracted on that point. But if we are not to the standard point, they will immediately accuse, "Oh, they are..." So that should be corrected. The same principle, āpani ācari prabhu jīvere, we should behave ourselves nicely, then teach others. Then it will be (indistinct). Another, this is general principle, now we have discussed, now we try to follow. Another thing that Keśi-ghāṭa affair. Shall we make further progress? I acquired that property (indistinct). What is your opinion? From the circumstances as that is now, because any temple, it must be nicely, very nicely managed, otherwise you cannot attract. Our Los Angeles temple we want to attract people. So it is so nicely managed, very nicely managed. You have seen. So unless, that means there must be sufficient bank balance. Such a big temple.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So the evolution of life... Those who are coming to the lowest living entity, the organisms, smaller units, so once they come to that stage, then they have to pass through the stages stepwise.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Just the same example: As you get more money, you can acquire better apartment. The apartment is already there. Not that a apart..., this lower class apartment has become high class apartment. This is their nonsense. The Darwin nonsense theory is like that: "The apartment has become lower class to higher class." That is his theory.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, he is saying that evolving from the smaller units. So they are claiming that there was no human beings at the beginning, so the smaller living entities...
Prabhupāda: But they are claiming that there is no life. That is their defect. Therefore they cannot think how there can be human being. But if you begin from life, supreme life, Viṣṇu, from another life, Brahmā came, then there is no problem. Everything is all right. Because they think that life comes from matter, so millions and millions of years ago there was simply matter. Life was not visible. That is their theory. We don't say that. We say both are the energies, God's energies, life and matter. The life is superior energy; the matter is inferior energy. That is the difference. Both of them are existing. Same thing, example: This nail and this part existing always. This is superior part, this is inferior.
Buddhist Monk (1): But many people are acting more on emotions and feelings than on their mind. (Sanskrit or Pali:) Mano manas mano is disappearing with many people except to make some money.
Prabhupāda: Every... Everything has two sides, black side and bright side. We are interested with the bright side. Black side we can point out, but anyone who is sincere, he'll take the bright side. Sajjano guṇam icchanti doṣam icchanti pāmaraḥ. There are guṇa and doṣa, fault and good qualities. So those who are sajjana, they take the good qualities, give up the bad qualities. Then there, gradually things will come out. But if we accept God, "God is all-good," then all good qualities automatically manifest. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12). All good qualities manifest. If you remain with the fire, you become warm. The quality is acquired. If you remain in the sunshine, you become warm. Because sun is warm. So you acquire the quality. So if we remain always with Kṛṣṇa, then we acquire the qualities of Kṛṣṇa. So God is all-good. Therefore I become good, by association with God. It is very simple reasoning. Yes. God is all-good. So if you remain always with God, then you become good. The same example: if you remain with fire, you become warm, the quality of the fire. If you remain in sunshine, you become warm. And the more you remain, the more you become warmer, warmer. Then become hot. Yes. Just like you put one rod, iron rod in the fire. It becomes warm, warmer, warmer. Then it will be red-hot. When it is red-hot, it is no longer iron rod. It is fire. Touch anywhere, it will burn. (pause) So from Nairobi they import ghee here, I think.
Bhagavān: We are beginning one branch in Italy.
Cardinal Danielou: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Bhagavān: Your brother, he has acquired a little philosophy from India.
Cardinal Danielou: Yes, yes, very acquainted with Indian philosophy and religion. He read very well Sanskrit and...
Prabhupāda: Oh, he knows Sanskrit?
Cardinal Danielou: Oh, yes, oh yes. He knows very, very well, oh, very well. He speaks Indian modern language, Hindi, Bengali, and Tamil.
Prabhupāda: Bengali?
Cardinal Danielou: Tamil.
Prabhupāda: I am Bengali.
Cardinal Danielou: It is...
Prabhupāda: He's a linguist scholar.
Cardinal Danielou: Yes, very scholar. It is first time you visit France?
Professor: Yes, about sixty altogether. A little more than sixty.
Prabhupāda: So how many, all...? Sixty.
Professor: Sixty, sixty-five...
Prabhupāda: So, at least, fifty volumes like this.
Professor: Hmm.
Prabhupāda: So why don't you introduce in your university?
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: You see.
Professor: Yes, yes. I like myself also to acquire this one.
Prabhupāda: Yes. You see how we have translated. I have given transliteration and word to word meaning. You are scholar, you can understand. So we want to introduce this literature in the Universities.
Professor: Hm, Hm, yes...
Prabhupāda: Everything, you can see.
Professor: Have you translated also the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu?
Prabhupāda: Oh yes.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Dr. Patel: It was by action.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Guṇa, guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. Not by birth. Guṇa-karma. Just like you are kṣatriya, but because you have acquired the qualification of medical man and you are working as a medical man, therefore you are medical man. Nobody asked you, "You are a kṣatriya or a brāhmaṇa." You are a medical man.
Dr. Patel: All aṣṭa-siddhis, they have got.
Prabhupāda: Yes. They are called siddha, Siddha-loka. Just like here if anyone wants to walk over the water, he requires to acquire so much mystic power. You see? Some of the yogis. But you will find one bird, skylark, one swan, he is very easily doing.
O'Grady: The best truth, and I think it's truth for most of us who take ourselves seriously...
Prabhupāda: Just like in our society, we have got Americans, we have got Africans, Canadians, Indians, Christians, Jews, Mohammedans. But they are no longer Mohammedan, American, Christian or African. They are all servants of Kṛṣṇa. And that is Brahmān realization.
O'Grady: But that's giving it a name also.
Prabhupāda: Yes, name, must be there. But name... Just like you are feeling as Irishman, but your name may be different from another Irishman. How do you feel that "We are all Irishmen"? The name may be different. That doesn't matter. But the quality can be one. That is required. So when acquires that quality, Kṛṣṇaite quality, that in spite of different names... That is called so 'ham. One feels... The same example: In a nation, in a group, the names may be different, but because they feel nationally or religiously one, so that is one. Varieties. Varieties may be different, but the object being one, that is oneness. What is that, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā?
Prabhupāda: From the morning, as soon as they rise, "Give me a cup of tea, immediately I have to go to there and there and there." What you will do then? "Yes, I will die. I will die in a motor accident. They are waiting for me." All right, go. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). All kinds of forbidden works they are doing. What? What is the purpose? Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaye. Purpose is only sense gratification. The rascal does not know that "I am doing all these sinful activities for sense gratification, and I will have to accept a very low-grade body." That he does not know. He has already got one low-grade body. He is suffering only. And he will still get another low-grade body, more suffering. That he does not know. But still, he will do everything for sense gratification. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti na sādhu manye: (SB 5.5.4) "Oh, it is not good." Na sādhu manye yata ātmano' yam: "This kind of activities will cover your soul by body." "Well, this body is temporary. Don't bother." Then another body, rascal. This body is temporary, but you get another body, most abominable. Why you are doing like this? Asann api. Although this body is temporary, but why don't you understand that it is kleśada: It is always subjected to miserable condition of material life. Kleśada. This is kleśada, another body you get, kleśada. Any body you get, kleśada. Why do you get this? Stop these activities. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That they do not know. Da means "that gives." Any type of material body you accept will be kleśada. They have constructed this building. If for few hours there is severe cold, so many people will die, even in this comfortable building. Is it not? So kleśada is there; either you remain in this way or that way, the sufferings will be there. And to take this comfort of this high building, how much kleśada, how much miserable condition, one has to pass. "Sir, I am not doing; the workers are doing." But you have to collect the money to pay them. How much miserable it is to acquire this money to pay another kleśada, laborer. So simply they are captivated by money. Otherwise it is kleśada. Sometimes they fall down and die while constructing. Is it not? Now, I have heard that in New York there are many buildings and there is no tenant. Kleśada. The proprietor of the house, he is also suffering. "I have spent so much money. No tenant." In London I have seen there is, for the last six or seven years, very big building. It is vacant.
Nitāi: "The general mass of people, unless they are trained systematically for a higher standard of life in spiritual values, are no better than animals, and in this verse they have been particularly put on the level of dogs, hogs, camels and asses. Modern university education practically prepares one to acquire a doggish mentality to accept the service of a greater master. Like the dogs, after finishing so-called education, the so-called educated persons move from door to door with applications for some service,..."
Prabhupāda: At least, we have got this experience in India. There are so many unemployed, educated. Because they have been educated as dog, they must find out a master. Otherwise, they have no independent power to work. Dog, unless he finds out a very nice master, it is street dog, loitering in the street.
Paramahaṁsa: That vice, or sinful activity is not something one is born with, that he acquires those qualities. But many people believe today that they are born, you know...
Prabhupāda: But we are giving you the process of cleansing. Why you are persisting to remain unclean? We are giving you the medicine. We are all unclean. Now we are attempting and we are becoming clean. Why don't you come and be cleansed? (break) ...Navadvīpa. From the day you arrive there, you'll be cleansed. I have got such a nice place. Come there, and stay, according to our rules and regulations. He'll be cleansed. One may be diseased but there are so many clinics, so many physicians, cleaning. Why should you insist to remain unclean? (break) That is accepted. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ (?). By birth, everyone is a śūdra. Śūdra means unclean. Saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. But he takes to the reformatory methods, he becomes cleansed, dvija, twice-born, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya.
Satsvarūpa: Chapter Two, verse 10. But the verse is not here. It is in the first volume.
Devotee: Some is bringing.
Prabhupāda: So he has gone?
Devotee: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is explained, that how this human form of life should be utilized, these necessities of life, not for to complete the necessities. Necessities of life, they are already supplied by God. Just like the birds and beasts, they are getting their necessities of life. They have no organization or no business, no factory, but they are getting their necessities of life. So Bhāgavata says, "This is not the problem, to acquire only the necessities of life. The only business is to inquire about the Absolute Truth. That is human life."
Professor Durckheim: But one question, you see. These virtues have been always asked for by Christian churches also, exactly the same. But then today we realize that the virtues are on one level with the vices. But there's something different. If you pass through the (indistinct) step you get somewhere, you see where we can understand, for instance, if Christ says "Let the dead bury their dead." A phrase like this appeals to a different level. So I think as long as you...
Prabhupāda: No. It is not different level. The advice is given according to the time, person. So if people follow Lord Christ and, I mean to say, instruction that is also perfect. But they do not follow.
Professor Durckheim: They do not...
Prabhupāda: They do not follow.
Professor Durckheim: Sure...
Prabhupāda: That's it. Otherwise either you follow Bhagavad-gītā or Bible as they are, then you become gradually perfect. The difficulty is they do not follow. And still they're claiming "I am Christian." "I am Hindu." "I am this." "I am that." Rubber stamp. No qualification but rubber stamp. This is the defect. (German) (break)
Vedavyāsa: ...qualifications on the material platform.
Prabhupāda: First of all acquire this material qualification. Then talk of spiritual. (German) Just like I think in the university if one wants to learn about law he must be graduate first of all.
Guest (3): ...it's like the human finite form merging with the infinite, and then it acquires the powers of infinite...
Prabhupāda: Mixes means... Just like, the example is given: just like a green bird enters into a tree which is also green. So if... To my eyes it appears that the bird is mixed up, but actually that is not fact. Suppose an aeroplane, you see aeroplane is going on. Then, after some time you see there is no aeroplane. It is the same sky. It has mixed up. It has not mixed up. Your eyes are defective. It appears like mixed up. But it cannot mix up. The airplane is keeping its identity. The bird is keeping its identity.
Satsvarūpa: "This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost."
Prabhupāda: That's it. As soon as the discipline broken, then everything is lost. Now you can dance like a dog. That will not affect. Nobody can do that unless there is spiritual strength. Now, last night Madhudviṣa Mahārāja was singing, and so many men became enthused to dance. So unless there is spiritual strength, it cannot be done. Others cannot ask and dance. No, that is not possible. That is not possible. Unless there is spiritual strength, you cannot enthuse others. So we should have to acquire spiritual strength by following the regulative principle. Sanātana Gosvāmī has therefore forbidden. Avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇam pūta-hari-kathāmṛtam śravanām kartavyam: "Those who are not following Vaiṣṇava principles, one should not hear from him." Why? It is Kṛṣṇa-kathā, Kṛṣṇa's. Now sarpocchiṣṭa-payo yathā: "Milk is very good, but as soon as it is touched by a serpent, it is no more good. It is harmful." So one must be Vaiṣṇava. Unless one is Vaiṣṇava, there is injunction, "Don't hear from him. It will be poisonous."
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Viśākhā: We plan to make a motion picture of the Bhagavad-gītā dance that they do. My husband and I...
Prabhupāda: Do it. Apply your American brain how to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is success.
- idaṁ hi puṁsas tapasaḥ śrutasya vā
- sviṣṭasya sūktasya ca buddhi-dattayoḥ
- avicyuto 'rthaḥ kavibhir nirūpito
- yad-uttamaśloka-guṇānuvarṇanam
- (SB 1.5.22)
Whatever talent one has got... These talents are also acquired after austerity. It is not ordinary thing. So everything should be employed to describe Uttamaśloka, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is Uttamaśloka. So we have got so many Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's pastime. We can overflood. Just like you can overflood with this literature, we can overflood... This is art. Art, music, everything we can utilize. In any way one is addicted—let him eat only, let him sing only, let him paint only, let him dance only—we have got everything. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Let him do business also. Yes. Engineering-construct temple. It is so all-perfect movement, Kṛṣṇa... That is Kṛṣṇa, all-attractive. Everyone can be attracted and give up everything. He will be attracted by Kṛṣṇa in such a way that he'll give up all nonsense. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. No more other enga... Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). All other attraction finished. Simply Kṛṣṇa. What are these?
Śrutakīrti: We were driving in a car in Hawaii. You mentioned that.
Prabhupāda: And that's a fact. There is no happiness. We are declaring, "That's all right, but if there is little happiness, that is in America." So you are favored by Kṛṣṇa. Utilize this favor of Kṛṣṇa in glorifying Kṛṣṇa. Then it is success. Avicyuto arthaḥ kavibhir nirūpito yad uttama-śloka, to become extraordinary in any branch of facilities, that requires austerities. So when one has acquired that, he should engage it for glorifying the Supreme. Yad-uttama-śloka-guṇānuvarṇanam (SB 1.5.22). (break) ...with the bag. (break) ...within the box.
Guest (1): The question is, well, Vedic idea that knowledge, human knowledge, is imperfect, does that not then go along... Of course, we are limited by, all time by biological limitation and so on. But this statement, that there is perfect knowledge, that it can be acquired, and that there are some people who did acquire it, that's very strong statement indeed, and my question is of the practical nature. How one can know that given source of supposed spiritual truth is an actual truth? Is there any technique how one can get to it?
Prabhupāda: That I have already said, that you take the vibration from the Vedic knowledge and you experiment it. Observation and experiment, that is scientific. So first of all observation and then experiment. And when you are satisfied by experiment, then it is perfect knowledge.
Prabhupāda: Realize the Supreme, that is the first and foremost aim, but at the same time, to keep the whole human society in perfect happiness, according to the direction of God. Just like I told you that Kṛṣṇa says, annād bhavanti bhūtāni. If you want to keep the living entities, both men and animal, you must arrange for their nice fooding. Who can deny this philosophy? But they are saying that poverty should be removed, and we must acquire food for the suffering and starving. But what they are doing? They are manufacturing motor tire, the rascals.
So that we have to tolerate. Therefore it is called titikṣā. Śamaḥ damaḥ titikṣā ārjavam. Ārjavam means simple life, simplicity, that "If I can live in this way, why shall I acquire so many things for artificial life?" That is called ārjavam. Śamaḥ damaḥ titikṣā ārjavam, then jñānam. Jñānam means knowledge that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul. My..." Actually that is the fact. This body is not important. The living force within the body is important. As soon as the living force goes out of the body, what is this value? You may be a great geographer or scientist or Professor Einstein or whatever. As soon as the living force is gone, you are useless, this body is useless. You have to throw it. That is jñānam, that "I am taking so much care of this material body, which will not exist, which I shall, become... 'Dust thou art; dust thou beist.' Again it will mix up with these dirty things. I am taking so much care of this body. What about that living force, which is important?"
Nobody is taking care. Therefore they are not in jñānam, knowledge. They are in ignorance just like cats and dogs. This is called jñānam. And the vijñānam. Vijñānam means practical application of the knowledge. That is called vijñānam, science. Scientific knowledge there is. Jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyam. Āstikyam means to believe in the authority. That is called āstikyam. Just like we are speaking about this Bhagavad-gītā because it is spoken by the most supreme authority, Kṛṣṇa. To believe in the authority. You also believe in authority. But ultimately, in this way, if we acquire this qualification, then we become first-class man. So anyone can be trained up. Just like these boys. They were fourth class, fifth class. And now they are trained up to become first-class men. Just like anyone can become geographer, anyone can become engineer by proper training.
Justin Murphy: Do you think you'll make it?
Guest 1: And they had a lot of difficulty. This is one of the things that I imagine, you know, the story that the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church owned this property. And it was almost by devious means that it was acquired.
Prabhupāda: They did not want to give us?
Guest 1: He didn't want to sell direct, like that. Because that beautiful building across there, I think you saw photos...
Amogha: The convent. Śrīla Prabhupāda went through the convent.
Prabhupāda: Oh yes.
Guest 1: They, we found out or the suggestion was... Because there were little power groups in that church that possibly the senior people don't know about, but they objected for some reason, which is very hard to understand.
Prabhupāda: In London we wanted to purchase one church that was not working. In London. But when we approached that priest, the in-charge, not directly to me but one of my disciples, he informed him that "I shall better set fire in this church. Still, I shall not give to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
Guest 1: That's one reason that the main religion has possibly become bad in the eyes of non-religious people when they hear something like that. Because you could assume that whatever religion, if a person was religious...
Prabhupāda: Religion means God. God is one.
Prabhupāda: This is classification of the human being. This is not caste system. Just like we are making this American boy a brāhmaṇa. So this is a brāhmaṇa caste?
Yogi Bhajan: No, but that is only...
Prabhupāda: We have been training them to, how to acquire the brāhmaṇa qualification. It doesn't matter whether he is coming from Christian family or Mohammedan family, this... No. Just like if you train one how to become engineer, it doesn't matter from which family he comes. It doesn't matter. Any family, he can come. He can be trained how to speak truthfulness. Satyam. What is that? So...
Devotee: The verse is...
Prabhupāda: Satya śama damaḥ titikṣa. You don't find?
Brahmānanda: ...they would help us acquire land for a Gurukula. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...sent Praṇava, how is that there is no news about the land? (end)
Ambarīṣa: Sometimes when people are put into a dangerous situation, they acquire extraordinary strength, just like that, that they never had before. So it's like they...
Prabhupāda: No, no. You must expect according to your quality. Just like if Kṛṣṇa wants, He can make something else. But you are not independent. You are dependent on nature, and your position is very insignificant. But Kṛṣṇa can, as soon as He wishes—immediately done. Parasya śaktir vividhaiva. Just like in Bible it is said, "God said, 'Let there be creation.' There was creation immediately." But you cannot do that. But if you... Whatever you are desiring, nature is supplying you. Kṛṣṇa is also being supplied by nature, that is spiritual nature. And you are also being supplied by the material nature. So both nature is working. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāra... (BG 3.27). Each stage is a different form. That is going on.
Lt. Mozee: Sir, do you think that the wealth of the United States and some certain other countries would be a block to spiritual faith? In Christianity there is a parable that "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to come before the throne of God." Would wealth in itself be a block toward spiritual awareness?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Too much wealthy condition is a block. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayāpahṛta-cetasām. If one is very materially opulent, he forgets God. Therefore, to be too much materially rich is a disqualification for understanding God. Although there is no more impediment, that "Only the poor man will understand God and rich man will not understand," it is not that. But generally, if one is extraordinarily rich or his one aim is only to acquire money, it is difficult for him to understand God. Bhogaiśvarya... Find out this verse,
- bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ
- tayāpahṛta-cetasām
- vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ
- samādhau na vidhīyate
- (BG 2.44)
Another place, I think in the Bible, "God is available for the humble and meek"? What is that? Is there such statement? So the rich person is neither humble nor meek. He is always proud and puffed up unnecessarily. So it is very difficult for...
Prabhupāda: Spiritual paths are divided into four. Not spiritual. Real spiritual, mixed spiritual. Just like this, "God, give us our daily bread." It is mixed spiritual. One has approached God, God is spiritual, but one is asking for material profit. So this is mixture, matter and spirit. So there are four classes generally known as karmī, fruitive actors, they work for getting some material profit. They are called karmī. Just like all men, you will see, they are working so hard day and night, driving their cars, (makes noise of cars) this way and that way. The purpose is how to get some money. This is called karmī. And then jñānī. Jñānī means he knows that "I am working so hard. Why? The birds, beasts, the elephants, big, big..., eight million different types of..., they are not. They have no business. They have no profession. How they are eating? So why unnecessarily I work so much? Let me know what is the problem of life." So they understand the problem of life is birth, death, old age and disease. And they want to solve it, how to become immortal. So they have conclusion that "If I merge into God's existence, then I become immortal or immune from birth, death, old age and disease." This is called jñānī. And some of them are yogis. They try to acquire some spiritual power to make a show how he can play wonder. A yogi can become very small. If you put him in a room, he will come out. You lock it. He will come out. If there is little space, he will come out. That is called anima. He can fly in the sky, float in the sky. That is called laghima. In this way, if somebody can show this magic, then immediately he is accepted as very wonderful man. So yogis, they... The modern yogis, they simply show some gymnastic, but they have no power. So I am not speaking of these third-class yogis. Real yogi means he has got some power. That is material power. So yogis also want this power. And jñānīs also want salvation from the unnecessary working like ass, the karmī. And karmīs want material profit. So they want, everyone. But the bhaktas, devotees, they don't want anything. They want to serve God out of love. Just like a mother loves her child. There is no question of profit. Out of affection, she loves. So when you come to that stage, to love God, that is perfection. So these different processes, karmī, jñānī, yogi and bhakta, out of these four processes, if you want to know God, then you have to accept this bhakti. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). "Simply through the process of bhakti, one can understand Me, God." He never says by other processes, no. Only through bhakti. So if you are interested to know God and love Him, then you have to accept this devotional process. No other process will help you.
Prabhupāda: Where there is Kṛṣṇa and His devotee, all opulences, all power, all strength, everything is there. Yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo yatra dhanur-dharaḥ pārthaḥ. Wherever there is Arjuna... Just like Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa were on the chariot. Whole battlefield became victorious on behalf of Arjuna. That is wanted. A devotee must be there, and Kṛṣṇa must be there. Then all opulences will come. That is the secret. Why a devotee shall go to the forest for meditating or acquiring some mystic powers? He doesn't require anything. If he keeps Kṛṣṇa always with him, then everything will... Yes. Is there any purport?
Prabhupāda: He'll get food. Food they can grow very easily, but they... Anartha. This is called anartha. Anartha means unnecessarily. Ādau śraddh tata sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriy tato 'nartha-nivṛtti syāt. So anartha-nivṛtti civilization, not anartha increasing. Civilization means anartha-nivṛtti syāt because we are complicated by the anarthas, unwanted things. (break) ...this way there is bulls, horses for transport. But what is the use of these big, big motorbuses and acquire petrol, machine, factory, so many things? But nature's way there is already means of transport. The horses are there. The bulls are there. But they will eat them, and they will create these motor big, big buses and then petrol, then fight. (baby birds making sounds.)
Guest (2) (Indian man): Now the program in the village, Swamijī, how to...
Prabhupāda: Village... Just like you acquire some land. That you will get. It is not very... Is it difficult?
Guest (2): No, sir.
Prabhupāda: Just we are doing so many places. So you produce your own food grains, not for making money but just for feeding yourself and the animals, cows. Keep cows, as many cows as possible, and produce, till the ground, field, and make water supply arrangement. If the investment is required, we shall do that. You have no worry about investment. We shall bring money from anywhere. But the work must be done very nicely. There must be good arrangement for water supply and for plowing and keeping the cows in order. Then you get sufficient milk, sufficient food grains and produce your own cloth. The girls and ladies, they can spine (spin) thread, and from the thread you make cloth, handlooms. So your first necessities of life, eating, and make little cottage, sleeping... And if you want sex, get yourself married, live peacefully. And when you are there you can defend yourself. So the first necessity is how to eat and how to cover. That you have to provide. That is not difficult. You can do it. And then you become peaceful, no anxiety for your maintenance. And then cultivate this spiritual knowledge the same way. Have a temple there. Have... Go on chanting, offering prasādam. You have got your food grains. Don't be dependent on anyone else. Become self-independent. And don't be after money. Simply produce your bare necessities of life. Keep yourself fit, strong. And chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, read book. Then you'll grow strong. Is there any difficulty?
Devotee (3): And steady intelligence, that is acquired by hearing? We can keep our intelligence steady by hearing?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee (3): But as soon as we stop hearing then the intelligence...
Prabhupāda: Mind is disturbed.
Devotee (3): Then the mind will take over.
Prabhupāda: Yes. If the mind is not controlled by intelligence, then it will disturb. Then the senses will be disturbed, agitated. Then you are bound up by karma. Unrestricted sense gratification means karma-bandhana, bound up by the laws of karma. And bound up by the laws of karma means repetition of birth and death in different species. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantor dehopapatti (SB 3.31.1). Different bodies means resultant action of karma. So if you want to save yourself from this resultant action of karma, then the first thing is to control the mind. That is yoga system, to control the mind. But one who has got intelligence, he takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and the mind is automatically controlled. Yogīnām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatāntarātmanā (BG 6.47).
Bhāgavata: Kṣetram ity abhidhīyate; that this body is known as the field. Etad yo vetti ta prāhu kṣetrajña iti tad-vidaḥ; that this body is known as the field and one who knows this field, he is the knower of the field, he is the knower of the body.
Prabhupāda: Hm. So how to explain, everyone is acting. How he is acting, on the field, that is stated next verse. Field of activities. In English it is called field of activity. That field of activity is this body. According to the body one begins his... Just like one born in the dog's body so the dog care... They, from the very beginning they are searching after a master. You have seen the small?
Hari-śauri: Pup.
Prabhupāda: Yes. They follow, some gentleman. And because at that time it is good living, somebody takes charge, "Alright let me take this pup." And the children also like, so he gets some shelter. So similarly, according to different body the activities begins. Therefore body is the field of activities. A snake, because he has got the field of activity of a snake's body, from the very beginning he is very, very envious. The same, trying to bite others. In this way our activities begin according to the body. And this change of bodies take place in the lower animal life automatically, by nature's law. Prakṛte kriyamānāni guṇai karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ. But when comes to the form of a human being, on account of developed consciousness, he has got responsibility. He has to make his choice. He is suffering in this material world changing different types of bodies, one after another, and the propensity to lord it over the material world is going on. Now he has to change the consciousness, whether he wants to continue this propensity for lording over the material world, or he wants to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. This choice has to be made by the human being. If he makes his choice after getting good education from the right source, that "I am going on in the wrong way, by the desire to lord it over the material nature but I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa therefore I must surrender now. Bahūnā janmanām ante jñānavān mām... This is wisdom. And if we do not get this wisdom, simply like animals we continue to lord it over the material nature, by acquiring money. Dharma, artha, kama. Then we are spoiling our life. Separate times we become religious for being promoted to higher standard of life, economic development, big, big scheme, plans, how to make gorgeous city, buildings, roads, cars, slaughter house, scientific, how to cut throat very scientifically. These plans are going on. Some of them are trying to be religious to go to the heaven because he has heard, and that's a fact also, that heavenly planets the standard of living is more opulent, hundreds and thousands times, the sex enjoyment, is hundred and thousand times better.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Haṁsadūta: If the government sanctions for acquiring this land, then we won't have any trouble in Hyderabad getting that land either.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Haṁsadūta: Have to give it.
Madhudviṣa: So even if I want to perform some ajnata-sukrti, it is only by Kṛṣṇa's mercy that I will do it.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is stated by Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
- ei rūpe brahmāṇḍe bhramite kono bhāgyavān jīva
- guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti latā bīja
- (CC Madhya 19.151)
As soon as he gives to a saintly person, bhakta, he immediately acquires some asset of future development. Immediately.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He has the same name. It's just "Junior" at the end, so they know him.
Prabhupāda: No, intelligence also. Father's intelligence he must inherit. There is an Indian proverb, bāpakā beṭā sepāikā ghoḍā, kucha nehi to thoḍā thoḍā (indistinct), mean "The father's son and the soldier's horse, they acquire the quality, if not all, some, must." If one is good soldier, his horse is also trained up. There is a history in India. The horse has played heroic. The Queen of Jhansi's horse and this, our, what is called, Shivaji's horse, they have played unique part in the history. Sepāikā ghoḍā. It is animal, but because it is the horse of a famous hero, it has played. Similarly, the son of father must be as good as father. If not, to some extent. Yes. So you are the.... Your father is the leader of so many big, big businessmen. You also become leader.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Any more news on the attempt of the government to take it back?
Prabhupāda: The government, I know it will be unable to take. They can not acquire temple, there is no such law. And even they acquire we shall say, alright take it. (indistinct) ...and the Hindus will... (indistinct) ...neglect, all right we will do it.
Devotee (1): Well they're..., usually they'll say we're.... If we are supposed to be spiritualists, then why do we have so many cars, why do we have so many watches, why do we have so many different things that they can see are there within the temple?
Prabhupāda: Yes. We acquire them without any effort. We are not after these things. But Kṛṣṇa sends, we take—so many cars, so many watches, so many houses for propaganding Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Why shall I be greedy?
Prabhupāda: Because the time was taken, extension. Then, in 1967, in July, I thought, "Now the health is broken." I was very sick after heartstroke. So I thought "Now I shall not exist. So let me go to Vṛndāvana and die there." So I came back in July 1967. So this Brahmānanda and others, they were crying when I got on the boat. Hm? The heart was so weak...
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: You went back to India by boat?
Prabhupāda: No, by plane. I think...
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: From San Francisco.
Prabhupāda: Hm. At that time, I got some money. Five thousand was given by Jayānanda. He gave me five thousand, and Brahmānanda also gave me. So I spent some money for acquiring some... I had about six thousand. So then I purchased ticket coming back with Kīrtanānanda. In this way, came back to India.
Hṛdayānanda:
- ko nv artha-tṛṣṇāṁ visṛjet
- prāṇebhyo 'pi ya īpsitaḥ
- yaṁ krīṇāty asubhiḥ preṣṭhais
- taskaraḥ sevako vaṇik
"Money is so dear that one conceives of money as being sweeter than honey. Therefore, who can give up the desire to accumulate money, especially in household life? Thieves, professional servants, soldiers and merchants try to acquire money even..."
Prabhupāda: Here is a very nice example. Soldiers. They know "We are going to give up our life." And what for? "Money." (laughs) They are prepared to give up life for money. Money is so sweeter than honey. (laughs) And thieves, they go at night for burglary. He knows that "If I trespass anyone's house, he can kill me immediately." But still he takes the risk for money. That is all explained here. What is the verse?
Hṛdayānanda: "Thieves, professional servants, soldiers and merchants try to acquire money even by risking their very dear lives."
Prabhupāda: Merchants also. Formerly, merchants used to go from one country.... And now they also go, now. Facility of transport is easier. Formerly, they had to cross the big ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, waves, and many of them died. Still, for money, they used to go.
Mother: I read so much, you know, and I have four children—(indistinct) doesn't live at home—and I read so much that people probably wonder how I get my work done. But it gets done. (Prabhupāda chuckles). And it's like I'm in another world. It's really great. I had a dream about you, Prabhupāda. And I dreamed.... This is a dream that's coming true. But you didn't acknowledge me because I didn't say "Kṛṣṇa." (Prabhupāda laughs) And then when I give in, you did, and you asked me what I knew about Kṛṣṇa, and I didn't answer you because I didn't want to display my ignorance.
Prabhupāda: Very good. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be one of our members. Your son is also very good. Mother good, son good. According to our Indian estimate, son acquires the quality of mother and the daughter acquires the quality of the father.
Mother: I didn't understand.
Pradyumna: You didn't understand? The son acquires the quality of the mother and the daughter acquires the quality of the father. So like mother, like son.
Mother: When Frank(?) was living in the temple, I didn't tell Kim this, but he looked ten years younger than he does right now.
Mādhavānanda: When he was living in the temple he looked ten years younger. I was thinking he should live in the temple again.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that's a fact. One clergyman, he asked me, "Swamiji, why your disciples look so bright?" And that's a fact.
Prabhupāda: Yes, you invite them: "Come in, take prasāda." So out of inquisitiveness, they may come, and give them prasāda, show them temple. In this way.... Show them our books. Simply put there signboard, "Please come in and take prasāda." (break) ...and read our books, like that. The bird took a fish in that way?
Mādhavānanda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: And fell and flew away. How quickly they can take. Everyone knows his business. That intelligence there everywhere. Āhāra nidrā bhayam maithunī, for these things, how to eat, how to sleep, how to enjoy sex and how to defend, everyone knows. You do not require to educate them. Only they cannot take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is only possible by the human beings. Otherwise, other necessities of bodily, everyone knows. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. Every morning, this place should be washed with water. Then it will be very nice. Then we can sit down and chant all day and night, Hare Kṛṣṇa. What is the wrong there? Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). Haridāsa Ṭhākura was doing that. But don't imitate. But I mean to say, if you do that, where is the problem? (break) ...I think you can acquire some land through the government for agriculture and cow protection. There are so many, so much vacant land. I think they will accept community proposal. Sometimes invite some important government officials; let them see what you are doing.
Prabhupāda: You also like? So finance this project. (laughter) Vedic planetarium.
Ambarīṣa: Where will this be?
Prabhupāda: Māyāpur. My idea is to attract people of the whole world to Māyāpur. So we are just trying to acquire three hundred fifty acres of land from the government. It is going on under consideration. Some men are against and some are in favor. But those who are against, they have counted ninety?
Hari-śauri: Ninety against, two thousand for.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In Māyāpur itself.
Hari-śauri: The local farmers.
Prabhupāda: So all of you now make a complete idea how to make Vedic planetary, planetarium. Another question. Why in every map the northern side is accepted up? (laughter) Can anyone answer this? North, south. South is considered down. East, west. Why not other ways? I can make east on that side. Why it is north only up side? Can anyone answer?
Scheverman: Do you hope to acquire school buildings for teaching school?
Prabhupāda: Yes, why not? If there is arrangement for financing such school we can start, very nice.
Kern: Father would sell you a fine school.
Scheverman: We have a building that will be available shortly (laughs) if you want to start a school.
Prabhupāda: So let us cooperate.
Scheverman: (laughs) Let us cooperate. And your teachers. There's no question about the kind of thing you're talking about here is needed.
Prabhupāda: "Father" means responsibility. According to our Vedic literature, one should not become a father unless he can deliver his son from the cycle of birth and death. Pitā na sa syāj na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum. At the present moment we are in the cycle of birth and death in the conditioned stage. So it is the duty of the father how to save the son from the cycle of birth and death. This is responsibility.
Prabhupāda: So where is that institution to train people to acquire these transcendental qualities? There is no such institution. We are attempting to qualify the man in transcendental qualities. This is the only institution. Otherwise, where it is? I don't think, throughout the whole world, there is any institution to train the students in transcendental qualities. Who cares for transcendental qualities? Go on.
Yadubara: That would be a separate building from the temple?
Prabhupāda: Yes. We are acquiring 350 acres of land for life for constructing a small township...
Vipina: Śrīla Prabhupāda, if we're born each with a qualification, how is this qualification developed in our early years?
Prabhupāda: There is no question of developing any particular qualification. Whatever qualification you are, if you agree to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, that is the best qualification. It doesn't matter what material qualification you have. It doesn't matter. You simply acquire this qualification, that "From this day I fully surrender to Kṛṣṇa." That everyone can do. Is there any difficulty? Simply he must agree, this qualification. That depends on him, agree or not agree. If you agree, then you become qualified. If you don't agree, you remain disqualified. So that is intelligence. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). After many, many births of struggle, one who is fully in knowledge, he surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān. Not the foolish. Foolish person cannot. But vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). You can become immediately mahātmā by surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. That is intelligence. Why shall I wait for many many births to become a mahātmā? Let me surrender immediately and become a mahātmā. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ bhajanty ananya-manasaḥ (BG 9.13)—chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, become a mahātmā. It is not very difficult. You can become mahātmā immediately, within a second. But the disease is that you'll not agree to Kṛṣṇa. That is the dangerous disease.
Prabhupāda: Wrongly, wrongly. Kṛṣṇa says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). So according to quality and work... That is fact. If you have got engineering qualification and if you can work as engineer, people will call you engineer-sāheb. Is it not? So there may be a class of engineer, but that depends on quality and work. But if you have no quality, no work, how you become engineer? If you have no qualification of becoming an engineer, and you do not work, you work as a clerk, and if somebody addresses you "Engineer-sāheb," he is a fool, you are a fool. (laughter) So if he's not a brāhmaṇa, if you call him a brāhmaṇa, then you are fool and he is also fool. So that is going on, fools' paradise. A rascal who is not in qualification a brāhmaṇa, if he's addressed and given honor of a brāhmaṇa, he's sees, "Oh, for nothing I am getting this honor, that's right, very nice." And who is giving him honor as brāhmaṇa, he's also rascal. But it is not that. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). Not by birth. One must acquire the quality of a brāhmaṇa.
- śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ
- kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca
- jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ
- brahma-karma svabhāva-jam
- (BG 18.42)
He must be truthful, he must be self-restrained, self-controlled, full of knowledge, very simple. All these qualifications, when he acquires, then he becomes a brāhmaṇa.
George Harrison: The only thing I could eat was papaya.
Prabhupāda: Papaya is very good, yes.
George Harrison: I still have...
Prabhupāda: Give him, give him, give him. No, that is the different. Oh, all right. We are just attempting a big planetarium in Māyāpur. We have asked government to acquire land, 350 acres. That is negotiation going on. We shall give a Vedic planetarium.
Prabhupāda: So organize. If you have got sufficient place, sufficient scope, let them be trained up very nicely. If some four, five centers like this there are in Europe, the whole face will be changed. Important places like Germany, France, England. Now we are getting place. I like that place, German, on account of this. It has got scope.
Harikeśa: There's no land.
Prabhupāda: That you can acquire, that you can acquire. But building is very nice.
Hari-śauri: We don't own that place, though, do we?
Prabhupāda: Never mind, own or not own. You possess and that's all. You don't own anything. Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Do you think it is, you own this?
Hari-śauri: No, I was thinking in terms of ISKCON.
Prabhupāda: This is all Kṛṣṇa's property. So long He likes, we shall remain. That's all. I know that. (laughs) Just like we entered Bhaktivedanta Manor without any arrangement. I know that so long Kṛṣṇa will like, we shall... If Kṛṣṇa says "Go away," we shall go away, what is that? Why so much legal implication? Everywhere, although we have got big, big buildings, I don't think we own it. It is Kṛṣṇa's. So long He likes, we shall remain there, if He doesn't like, we shall go away. What is this? Why you should stress on the proprietorship?
Jayapatākā: Let the big land be acquired and pick the best place. Let the whole land be acquired and then pick the best place. You wanted to wait for the whole land to be acquired, and then pick the best place.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And not I want, but that you all see, that is the best place.
Jayapatākā: For the most privacy.
Prabhupāda: For the time being, that place is very nice, that pond. What is there?
Gargamuni: It's become congested there now.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Pradyumna: "In point, in Bombay, a huge plot was acquired in Juhu for rupees fourteen lakhs. They have put up a temple there with a barbed wire fence around it."
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Where is the barbed wire?
Pradyumna: They just put things to make it seem like we're... (laughing) What is the... Everyone is...
Prabhupāda: Yes, the barbed wire is there. No Blitz editor can go there. (laughter) No rogues and Blitz editors allowed. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Everyone, all over the world, they are being educated to seek after some good service. Paricarya: he must have a good master; then his education will be... He cannot act independently. So therefore in the śāstra it is said that everyone is anxious to get a good job, therefore, kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ, in this age almost everyone is śūdra. So if śūdras are there only, if there is no brāhmaṇa, no kṣatriya, no vaiśyas, that society will not prosper very much. If we accept the injunction of the śāstra, yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma (BG 16.23). So this brāhmaṇa, or kṣatriya, vaiśya, it is not by birth. It is by qualification. Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). Guṇa. One must acquire the quality of brāhmaṇa and he must act as a brāhmaṇa. Then he is brāhmaṇa. Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. Even in śūdra family, if one is born śūdra, but he has attained the quality of a brāhmaṇa, he must be accepted as brāhmaṇa. That is the śāstra injunction.
Prabhupāda: We are trying for another big scheme in Bengal. We have applied to the government to acquire land, 350 acres, a big planetarium. Planetarium. We have described the planetarium in our Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In that planetarium it is said that the moon is above the sun planet. By one million six hundred thousand miles.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So if we can get that land, then we can divert our sewer in the land and utilize it for nice agricultural purposes. So instead of spending lakh of rupees for municipality, why not acquire that land?
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Acquire or buy? Acquire.
Prabhupāda: Acquire means you have to pay, but government...
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, but acquire usually takes a long time.
Prabhupāda: Not long time. They'll give us, because it is lying vacant.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi)... Mantrer(?) was so against, that "We must stop this." Yes. I heard from that doctor that he was insulted by Seti, "Either Seti should go..." Like that, he has repeated me. He gave me hint that Seti... (Hindi) And you know that. The doctor, what is that doctor? He suggested. He's Mantrer's(?) man. Yes. Yes.
Setterji: He was also play the game in the land, that...
Prabhupāda: He gave hint that "Give Mantrer two lakhs of rupees." Yes. He was canvasser on behalf of Mantrer. He wanted two lakhs.
Setterji: Which we'll not give you a single paisa. We will fight to you. "Come on."
Prabhupāda: So I think you make this point. But best thing is that if you can acquire that land, that is the best solution. We can utilize that land?
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, for agriculture. That's very good.
Prabhupāda: It is just in the corner.
Indian man: Swamiji, I get two thoughts. Number one: having acquired a family, I am willing to renounce, but would I not be running away from the responsibility, in the name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, for the bringing up and educating the children? And second thing...
Prabhupāda: You cannot educate, neither you bring. This is māyā. Do you think... Do you think that only in your presence your children will be happy? There are... Just see here in the corner, the father, mother, and the child is always, twenty-four hours, crying. The father, mother, is there. They are poor men, they are taking care, but still, the child is unhappy; it is crying twenty-four hours. There are many you'll find. So does it mean that in the presence of father, mother, a child is happy? Everyone is being conducted by his destiny. The father, mother, may be there or may not be there; his destiny will go on. This is the law of nature. You see here. Do you mean to say, because that man is poor, he's not taking care of the child? Why the child is crying twenty-four hours? So if one child is made to cry by his destiny, even in the presence of his father, mother, he has to cry. Nobody can make him happy. So this is called illusion, that "I am doing." Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). A rascal, he thinks like that. But it is not the fact. The fact is prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ. His destiny or her destiny is to suffer. So even though father, mother... Suppose a rich man's son is sick. He has engaged good physician, good doctor. Does it mean that he will guarantee life? Then what is the principle? Bālasya neha śaraṇaṁ pitarau. Prahlāda Mahārāja said that "It is not a fact that when the children are under the protection of father and mother, he's secure." Tvad-upekṣitānām: "If You neglect, that 'This child must cry; this child must die,' then even by the greatest care of the father and mother, he will die." So what is the use, saying that your duty...? Duty? That is māyā.
Prabhupāda: Fifty-seven years after. (laughs) So the body has not changed? Where is that body? Now I am with stick. (laughter) Then I was jumping. Is not that? I am there. I remember. The body has changed. What is the difficulty to understand? I am the same person. How I am remembering all these things. But I have no... That body is now lost. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Why this simple philosophy these rascals cannot understand? I remember I am not the second man. I am the same person but I haven't got the same body. The whole world this simple philosophy cannot understand. Where is the difficulty? I cannot understand.
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara prāptir
- dhīra...
- (BG 2.13)
because they are not dhīra. Dhīra means sober. They're rascals. They cannot understand. But dhīras tatra na muhyati. Those who are sober, they can understand immediately. So there is no education to make people sober and intelligent. All rascals, fools, rogues, thieves, that's all. Animals. What they will understand about spiritual life? Therefore Kṛṣṇa... After all, Kṛṣṇa is speaking. This very word is used. Dhīras tatra na muhyati. Adhira. There are two classes of men, dhīra and adhīra. Dhīra means sober, and adhīra means restless. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He gave us something... Dhīrādhīra. Kṛṣṇotkīrtana-gāna-nartana-parau premāmṛtāmbho-nidhī dhīrādhīra. What is next word?
Gurukṛpa: Dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau.
Prabhupāda: Ha. Dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau. The sober and the restless, both of them will take it. Krsnotkīrtana-gana-nartana.
Hari-śauri: ...want to go this way, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Very nice beach. So acquire this, yes.
Gargamuni: I'll see the D. M. (District Magistrate) this morning. There's still those other two plots...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Was that your plan for Kurukṣetra, to have a university there?
Prabhupāda: If you can develop all this, you don't require separate. But if the government donates the land or give us acquiring, then we can do something. That life member, big life member, came to see?
Gargamuni: So I told them that as far as I know there was no plan of Your Divine Grace...
Prabhupāda: No, because Manipur has not supplied. Otherwise, it was program that I shall come back, and after I shall go to Manipur.
Gargamuni: And Upendra is there, so I told him that he should come. Jayapatākā said that the government has approved in principle of the land acquisitions. They would acquire land slowly.
Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter.
Gargamuni: Not all at once. But they would acquire this land and if they see that it is being used nicely, then they will give another...
Prabhupāda: That doesn't matter.
Gargamuni: He said he'll be sending you a letter.
Prabhupāda: This is a great, nice, very... Activities are nice.
Prabhupāda: But if he's not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he may rise up to that position by endeavor. Then he will fall down. And I have given this example, Nixon and Indira Gandhi. This is factual. To come to take the post of prime minister, to become the president, is not easy job. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa, great hardship. Similarly, the Māyāvādīs, they also undergo severe austerities to become one with the Supreme, impersonalists. Any... I have given the... Karmī, jñānī, yogi, politicians, and everyone—everyone has got some aim. Many rich men, they commit suicide. So this is possi... This is the ultimate result of nondevotee. He may rise up by endeavor to certain position as he imagined, "This is the best position." Just like we are also trying to occupy the best position, to become associate of Kṛṣṇa, to live with devotees. We have got also some aim, and the nondevotees, they have also got aim. But the devotees will never fall down, while the nondevotee will fall down. And if devotee circumstantially, by chance, falls down—not like them-he'll be again picked up by Kṛṣṇa. This is the science, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A devotee's position is certain. Now, take for example my position. For ordinary karmī to possess so many properties all over the world and so many other things, money and everything, if karmī had to do it, how much hardship he had to go. And actually they are doing. Is it possible for one's life to acquire so many?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, even Birla doesn't have.
Prabhupāda: I have given this example, our court case, that the case would have been continued for years, but one day... Even though there was some difficulty, it is finished. So our enemies, they tried to block our march, but we shall kick on their head and progress our end—if we stick to our principles. These things... I have discussed this nicely. How do you think?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Gargamuni's library sales.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And any other party who are making book sale.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So what he does is he gets billed by Gopāla, and he pays his bill, Gargamuni.
Prabhupāda: So that means Gopāla will pay from the bill.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fifty percent.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's the point. Yeah, that was your original...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...fifty percent for construction.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And that money should be reserved for their world propaganda, scientific. And this gurukula should be by local subscription, in this way. And settle up this by paying them also compensative, and begin immediately. And you acquire those lands immediately. They are ready to give. Take.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah, I'll write to those members in Manipur.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That "We want to take it and develop it immediately."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's still many rooms in this two towers which have not yet been sold. So that could also bring in money.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Mr. Thakur is coming today? No.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: No. We didn't decide a date.
Prabhupāda: So you can say, "Any day you are welcome." So he talked sense.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Sense?
Prabhupāda: He said very sensible thing, no.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah, I think he can be coordinated(?). He said when he was very young...
Prabhupāda: No, no, what is, what is his conception about God?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: He had a Kṛṣṇa...
Girirāja: Well, spiritually, he's on the verge of becoming a devotee. He is...
Prabhupāda: He has got attachment for Kṛṣṇa.
Girirāja: He has attachment. And he realizes that if he develops his attachment for Kṛṣṇa, that will solve all of his problems.
Prabhupāda: If you simply follow the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, the whole world will be perfect. That's all. But these rascals, they take Kṛṣṇa as fictitious. Such a rascal, educated man, that for "fictitious Kṛṣṇa," Vyāsadeva has taken so much trouble. Such a great writer and Vedavyāsa, and later on, all the ācāryas, big, big ācāryas, they have wasted time for something fictitious. Such a rascal. I say, "rascal..." (end)
Jayapatākā: No. But they don't have any... They don't have any sādhu to go there.
Prabhupāda: They have nothing. Still, they have got... That is called in Bengali, bisnai kulavane cakra(?). There is no poison, but the hood is: "Arrhh." (laughs) That is their... Even this bite, there is no poison. But they are showing kulavana cakra(?). Still, it is bhayaṅkara. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, maṇinā bhūṣitaḥ sarpaḥ kim asau na bhayaṅkaraḥ: "A snake..." Sometimes snake has got some jewel on the hood. So he can go in the darkness by the light of the hood. If somebody thinks, "Oh, here is a snake with jewel. Let me embrace him," no, no, no, it is very ferocious. Even it is jewel there, it is ferocious. Similarly, these people are envious. Although they have become so-called Vaiṣṇava, they are ferocious. They have not acquired the qualification of Vaiṣṇava. Simply vesopidin(?), by dress. So what is there? They could not do for the last fifty-sixty years. Still... They wanted to exchange. I stopped it, the Mohini Babu. Mohini... Bali hatti zamindar(?). So if we do not get that place, we can get other place?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: I'm going to New York in a week, and I can try to either purchase it...
Ādi-keśava: It's open.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's still available. We checked.
Ādi-keśava: The building's available now.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Should we not acquire it, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: If you can maintain it, then it is all right. That, you mean to say, that storefront or the whole building?
Gargamuni: The rear apartment or the storefront?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: The storefront as well as the building, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Both storefront and the building.
Prabhupāda: Oh. I, I know that that building was several times changed hands.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes. I can find out who it belongs to.
Prabhupāda: But the difficulty will be how to maintain the tenants. To purchase the house is not difficult.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Vacate them? To vacate them.
Prabhupāda: Vacate? What you will do?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We can put Bhaktijana there 'cause he's always very fond of preaching. You know, Bhaktijana. He's always wanted to go to Harlem. So...
Prabhupāda: Yes, then we can deliver them. They are, after all, simple. These negroes, they are, after all, simple. We have to claim them. You have got now experience in Detroit. They are very good-behaving negroes. They come to our temple. Nobody could drive there. Therefore we could acquire that house so cheap.
Rāmeśvara: "I, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder-Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, disciple of Oṁ Viṣṇupāda 108 Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja Prabhupāda and settler of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, at present residing at the Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Temple in Vṛndāvana, hereby solemnly declare, say and confirm as follows: 1. That I am the Founder-Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, known as ISKCON, a society registered under the Society Registration Act of 1860, with its headquarters at Juhu, Bombay, and branches at..." And then it's to be filled in. "2. That some properties with movable and immovable..." What is this word? "...have been donated to me by the devotees of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness or purchased or otherwise acquired by me in my name which still stand in my personal name; 3. That I hereby categorically declare and say that I am just a benāmadāra (benāmi) of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness..."
Prabhupāda: What is benāmadāra?
Girirāja: It means... Just like in the Chand Society. Due to some reason we could not take in the beginning in the name of BBT, so we appointed someone to keep in his name, but actually it is not his. He is the only the benāmadāra on behalf of the society.
Prabhupāda: Oh, benāmadāra.
Surendra Kumar: Yes, I know, you have always been telling that is not what you're saying. What Kṛṣṇa said, you tell them...
Prabhupāda: That's all right. This is very easy. So I am not a scholar. I am simply... Whatever is said there, I am trying to distribute in a palatable way. That's all. It is not my manufacture. And that is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's... Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). You all become guru. "How can I become guru? I have no education. I have no knowledge." No, you haven't got to acquire all these things. That is already... Yāre dekha tāre kaha. Finished. So I never tried to become a scholar. But I tried, whatever is spoken by Kṛṣṇa, deliver. That's all. And that is guru. If some...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The whole article is more or less... It's not really worth reading the whole thing. It's mainly about that they're here to stay. It mentions Hare Kṛṣṇa. It says, "After nearly a decade of this ferment, the underlying question is whether these new groups will last. The answer appears to be that most of them, though faced with high attrition rates and continuing obstacles to survival, have retained a small but sufficient core of devoted followers and are acquiring the resources needed to continue their work." It mentions that there are a number of court battles, including members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa. Ours is the first group they mention.
Prabhupāda: That, it does not mention about the Transcendental Meditation?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But it says, guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya, bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). So it's fortunate because the guru gives the...
Prabhupāda: So that fortune is... By fortune he gets a guru. And by the instruction of guru he gets Kṛṣṇa. So to create fortune we have to take this regulative principle, to become fortunate that someday he'll be able to meet somebody who is real guru and who will give him real guidance. "Man is the architect of his own fortune." Therefore pious activities and other things, yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-kriyā, these things are recommended, to acquire the qualities of brāhmaṇa. These things are required. If he remains like animal, that fortune will never come. This is the architecture. So that fortune begins when he enters the varṇāśrama-dharma, four varṇas and four āśramas. That is a easiest way. Fortune does not come that "This is very important. Man is the architect of his own fortune." He must accept some process to become fortunate. And if you want to become fortunate through the rich man, you should enter... (microphone moving) ...just like businessman... (microphone moving) And without doing something, how you can get fortune? That is now... There is no such program. The program is just a animal program: eating, sleeping, mating and defend. Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so important, to give them the fortune, not immediately but our immediate future, by acting in this way, he'll be fortunate.
| Page Title: | Acquire (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, MadhuGopaldas |
| Created: | 21 of Feb, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=80, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 80 |