Now at the present moment it is the day of machinery, but we should always know that behind the machinery, behind the wonderful working of the machinery, there is a driver. So the Supreme Lord is the driver, adhyakña. He is the Supreme Personality under whose direction everything is working.
At the present moment (Lectures on BG)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):
One cannot say anything about the transcendental world without being free from the materially contaminated consciousness. So the Lord was not materially contaminated. But our consciousness, at the present moment, is materially contaminated. So whole thing, as the Bhagavad-gītā teaches, we have to purify the materially contaminated consciousness and in that pure consciousness, the actions will be done.
Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):
Three-fourths part of the creation is the spiritual world and in the one-fourth part of this creation there are millions of universes like this which we are experiencing at the present moment. And in one universe there are millions and billions of planets.
Introduction to Bhagavad-gita As It Is -- Los Angeles, November 23, 1968 :
At the present moment (chuckles) hardly there is any sense of renunciation, but formerly there were many kings, many princes who renounced everything for spiritual advancement. So these six principles are called bhaga.
Introduction to Bhagavad-gita As It Is -- Los Angeles, November 23, 1968 :
Chinese are considered to be Communist country, but he has very impartially said that if you have to learn what is religion then you have to go to India. Anyway India, actually it is the land of religion, dharma-kṣetra, although it has gone down at the present moment.
Introduction to Bhagavad-gita As It Is -- Los Angeles, November 23, 1968 :
The laws of God. You cannot manufacture. So Kṛṣṇa said that this principle of Bhagavad-gītā... At the present moment Bhagavad-gītā is being interpreted by anyone and everyone according to his whims. That is not permissible.
Introduction to Bhagavad-gita As It Is -- Los Angeles, November 23, 1968 :
Just like we are, in our material conditional life, we are under the material energy. Similarly, in our liberated state we have to become under the spiritual energy. That spiritual energy is Rādhārāṇī. We are acting at the present moment under material energy, because our body is made of material energy.
Lecture on BG 1.12 -- London, July 13, 1973:
If you want sufficient water, then you must perform yajña. These are the indications, direction of the Vedic wisdom. So at the present moment no other yajña is possible.
Lecture on BG 1.20 -- London, July 17, 1973:
Not like at the present moment, a brāhmaṇa is working, a servant, a śūdra, and he is brāhmaṇa. No. This is called asuric varṇāśrama.
Lecture on BG 1.28-29 -- London, July 22, 1973:
The democracy is a farce. At least, I do not like it. Because so many rascals, simply by getting votes, go to the government, and what do they know how to rule over? Therefore, at the present moment, all over the world there is no good government.
Lecture on BG 1.36 -- London, July 26, 1973:
So there is always fight between deva and asura. Now at the present moment, the number of asuras have increased. Formerly the number of devatās were greater.
Lecture on BG 1.37-39 -- London, July 27, 1973:
So, so much responsibility is there, killing the family. Because they have no responsibility at the present moment, everyone irreligious.
Lecture on BG 1.37-39 -- London, July 27, 1973:
So at the present moment, there is no such family life, no consideration of religion, no consideration of irreligious life. Everything, just like animals.
Lecture on BG 1.40 -- London, July 28, 1973:
So at the present moment, because these purificatory processes are not accepted, even in India... Accepted, they're unable. Everything has topsy-turvied.
Lecture on BG 1.40 -- London, July 28, 1973:
In human society, viṣṇur ārādhyate, the Lord is worshiped. But ne te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuḥ. At the present moment, these rascals, they do not know. Andhā yathāndair upanīyamānāḥ. And the so-called leaders, they are blind, themselves, and they are trying to lead other blind men. This is the social position.
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
When there are unwanted children, then the family tradition, the family obligation, they are all forgotten. At the present moment, nobody knows that after death there is life, and still such life is connected with the family, the forefathers and the descendants. Nothing of this science is known at the present moment. More or less, exactly like animals.
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
An animal has no such feelings of connections. Simply the number of days he will eat. He will eat, sleep, have sex life and die, that's all. This subtle regulation of family connection is unknown at the present moment, and still they are very proud of advancement of knowledge.
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
The exact example of varṇa-saṅkara is the hippies at the present moment. All over the world, not only in the Western countries but in India also. So the population, hippie population means saṅkara population.
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
How much advanced he was in education and learning, just imagine. At the present moment they are reading Bhagavad-gītā years after years, big, big scholars, big, big theologians and... But they cannot understand. After reading Bhagavad-gītā, they are accusing Kṛṣṇa as immoral.
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
So Bhagavad-gītā is within the Mahābhārata. So actually it was meant for the less intelligent class of men. But, at the present moment, the highest intelligent class of men cannot understand. Just see the difference.
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
They want to remain demons; at the same time, they want to become leaders. So at the present moment, comparing the social status 5000 years ago... According to Darwin's theory, 5000 years ago, men were uncivilized, uncivilized. Now this literature is written by uncivilized men. Just see.
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
If the so-called advanced in education they speak so irresponsibly, naturally, others will follow. Therefore, at the present moment, the whole generation is covered with ignorance and darkness. No clear knowledge. And without clear knowledge, whatever we do... Just like in darkness, whatever we act, that is simply embezzlement. That's all. It is not very correctly understood.
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
Only the śūdra can become servant of others. Paricaryātmakaṁ karma śūdrasyāpi svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). So, at the present moment, nobody can observe the strict rules and regulations, that "I am born in a brāhmaṇa family. I cannot accept anyone's service."
Lecture on BG 1.41-42 -- London, July 29, 1973:
I shall give you deliverance from all the reactions of sinful activities." Therefore at the present moment, because we have lost all culture, we have done so many sinful activities, if we want to be saved, it is, the only remedy is to surrender to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and thus become saved.
Lecture on BG 1.43 -- London, July 30, 1973:
As we have got four divisions in (break) ...brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra must be there. (break) And each one should serve according to his guṇa-karma, quality and capacity to work. Then the whole society is organized... (break) ...will be perfect, there will be peace... (break) ...no war, nothing of the sort, and gradually making progress back to home, back to Godhead. Otherwise it will be chaos... (break) ...become at the present moment.
Lecture on BG 1.45-46 -- London, August 1, 1973:
You cannot think; neither you can manufacture. So either you should hear from Kṛṣṇa directly or... That is not possible because we are not in touch with Kṛṣṇa at the present moment. We are trying to see Kṛṣṇa through the transparent medium of spiritual master. So we cannot manufacture that "This is Kṛṣṇa's desire." No. You have to get it confirmed from the transparent medium, spiritual master. These are the principles.
Lecture on BG 2.1-5 -- Germany, June 16, 1974:
So no learned man takes serious consideration of the body. Therefore in the Vedic literature it is said that "One who is in the bodily concept of life, he is nothing more than an animal." Therefore at the present moment, without knowledge of the self, the whole world is going on under the bodily concept of life. The bodily concept of life is there amongst the animals. The cats and dogs, they are very proud of becoming a big cat or big dog.
Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:
But at the present moment they claim that "We belong to the Āryan family," but they have not the qualification of an Āryan. The Āryan qualification is described there. Simply Arjuna was little flickering, he showed his little weakness, and he was at once condemned as non-Āryan.
Lecture on BG 2.1-11 -- Johannesburg, October 17, 1975:
Either coat, pant, or these bones and the skin and the blood and the stool and urine, whatever this body is composed of, it is all material. And when the living entity goes away from this body, the same lump of matter... Does it change? So we are not lamenting at the present moment because it is moving.
Lecture on BG 2.1-11 -- Johannesburg, October 17, 1975:
Therefore the first instruction is that "You are lamenting on the body which is not eternal, but you are eternal. Your business is to understand the eternal." That is called sat. And cit. Cit means knowledge. At the present moment we are all in ignorance. We do not know what is the next step, "Whether I am going to live or to die."
Lecture on BG 2.6 -- London, August 6, 1973:
Fighting. So when that fighting should take place? Of course, at the present moment, by the ambitious politicians, they fight. But fighting, according to Vedic civilization, fighting means dharma-yuddha. On religious principles. Not by whims of political ideas, ism.
Lecture on BG 2.6 -- London, August 6, 1973:
If you want to forget God, then God will put you in such a condition that you can never understand what is God. That is demonic life. That time is also coming. At the present moment, still a few men are interested, what is God.
Lecture on BG 2.7-11 -- New York, March 2, 1966:
Somebody may say that "Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, why He is encouraging in the matter of fighting?" People, at the present moment, when there is a question of war, people want to stop that war. At the present moment, the movement is going on between all nations that they do not want war.
Lecture on BG 2.8 -- London, August 8, 1973:
There are so many yajñas... And sometimes India, they perform so-called yajñas. They collect some money. That's all. It cannot be successful because there is no yajnic brāhmaṇa. The yajnic brāhmaṇa is not in existence at the present moment. The yajnic brāhmaṇa used to test how correctly they are pronouncing Vedic mantra.
Lecture on BG 2.8-12 -- Los Angeles, November 27, 1968:
So first of all you have to come out from this conditioned life. Then the question of serving gopī will come. Don't be at the present moment, very eager to serve gopī. Just try to get out of your conditional life. Then time will come when you'll be able to serve gopī. In this conditional stage we cannot serve anything.
Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:
Human being must be interested to know the Absolute Truth. That is perfection of human life. Because in the cats' and dogs' life... Unfortunately, at the present moment, people do not know what is the distinction between cats and dogs and a human being.
Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:
There is some chaos in the society. So at the present moment the education department does not distinguish who is a brāhmaṇa, who is a kṣatriya, who is a vaiśya or a śūdra.
Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:
Just like in education anyone can become engineer, anyone can become medical practitioner or anyone can become lawyer if he takes such education from the very beginning, similarly, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, there are natural division of the society. But at the present moment there is scarcity of brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa means who has got very nice intellectual brain, who can understand the Absolute Truth.
Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:
We commit mistakes and we are sometimes illusioned. Illusioned. That we can make experiment, that every one of us at the present moment is illusioned. How it is? That I have..., am not this body, but I am accepting this body as "I am." The whole world is—I may say whole world, but at least the majority portion—everyone is under the impression that "I am this body." But I am not this body. I am soul.
Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:
So long the soul is there, it is moving. So when the soul leaves this body and accepts another body, the body was already dead, a lump of matter, and now it is left aside, and the soul has gone to another body. So it is a lump of matter at the present moment, then, after death or after leaving, after the soul has gone from the body, it is the same lump of matter.
Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:
Suppose you are sleeping. Then I have to call "Mr. or Mrs. Such-and-such, please get up, get up, get up." You get up. Similarly, at the present moment it is our sleeping stage. Therefore this transcendental vibration will awaken to spiritual consciousness. Just try to understand. When one is asleep, the sound vibration can help him. Similarly, at the present moment, in our material condition of life we are sleeping.
Lecture on BG 2.9 -- London, August 15, 1973:
At the present moment, everyone is trying to satisfy his senses. Ahaṁ mameti. Janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). Puṁsaḥ striyā maithunī-bhāvam etat. The whole material world is that... There are two living entities, male and female. The male is trying also, satisfy his senses, and the female is also trying to satisfy her senses.
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- New York, March 4, 1966:
Now, in this, at the present moment, when people are godless, I think, this definition is convincing. If you find out a personality that, one who has got in full all these opulences, He is God. Then it will be very difficult to present an ordinary man as God.
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- New York, March 4, 1966:
What is that imperfectness? That we must commit mistake. We must commit mistake. Our constitutional position at the present moment is such that we are sure to commit mistake. Even greatest politician like Gandhi, he committed mistake, and so many great men, they committed mistake.
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Edinburgh, July 16, 1972:
Actually, I am not this body. I have given you so many examples. I am spirit soul. But at the present moment every one of us is busy on this understanding that I am this body. Nobody is working on the understanding that he is not body, he's spirit soul. Therefore try to understand this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Edinburgh, July 16, 1972:
This understanding is wanted at the present moment. Otherwise, you'll be a civilization of animals. Just like in the jungle, there are animals.
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Edinburgh, July 16, 1972:
So similarly, we are, at the present moment, due to our ignorance, we are sleeping. We are sleeping. Therefore, to awaken us, this mantra, mahā-mantra, is required to awaken.
Lecture on BG 2.11 -- London, August 17, 1973:
That anyone within this world, if he has got bodily concept of life, he's not a learned man. He's a fool. So this world at the present moment at least, it is a fool's paradise. Nobody is learned. Because everyone is working under the bodily concept of life.
Lecture on BG 2.11 (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 11, 1975:
People are accepting knowledge from a school, college, university, but at the present moment at least, how many people know that he is not body? Unless we understand this first principle of knowledge, there is no question of spiritual advancement of life.
Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 7, 1966:
At the present moment also, we are seeing that there are individual persons. So why not in the future? How it is that in the future they'll mix up and become one, homogeneous thing? It is quite reasonable. And this conclusion is like this: just like in two hundred years before, in the month of March, the climatic position was like this.
Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 7, 1966:
Here the, the statement of Bhagavad-gītā as by, spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa, is very clear, that "Myself, yourself and all these people who have assembled here, they are all individual persons. And they were individual persons in the past, and at the present moment, we see that they are individual persons, and they will continue.
Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:
Just like in your state, at the present moment, there is violence because one party is trying to become Supreme than the other. That is going on everywhere, all over the world, the struggle for existence. Everyone is trying to become supreme than the other. So there must be violence. So expecting that there will be violence, the kṣatriya class required.
Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:
If we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then we come to our perfection. At the present moment, we are illusioned.
Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Mexico, February 12, 1975:
So Bhagavad-gītā begins with this point, that one should know that he is not this material body. That knowledge is lacking at the present moment throughout the whole world. Yes. Everyone is identifying with this body like the animals.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Pittsburgh, September 8, 1972:
This is the problem at the present moment. People are not educated about the vital force of this body. Here in the Bhagavad-gītā, it is explained, dehī. Dehī means the proprietor of this body. Both we all, not only we human being, but also lower than human being, all living entities...
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972:
Do you think that is very creditable task, to work hard day and night for finding out where is stool? This is hog's business. So at the present moment, the civilization is going on, "Where is food?", "Where is apartment?", "Where is sex?" and "Where is defense?" So these are the inquiries of the animals.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972:
There are three planetary systems, triloki: the higher planetary system, the middle planetary system, and the lower planetary system. So we are at the present moment Bhūrloka, Bhūrloka, middle planetary system. Above this there is Bhuvarloka. Above that there is Svarloka, there is Janaloka, there is Tapoloka, there is Maharloka, there is Satyaloka, there is Siddhaloka, there is Brahmaloka. What do they know, the modern astronomers? They do not know anything.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 18, 1972:
At the present moment, people are mostly āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ. Āsuri, āsuri bhāva means to defy God: "There is no God. God is dead. I am God. You are God. So many Gods are loitering in the street. Why you are finding out God?" These are so many statements.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 19, 1972:
Actually, that is the position at the present moment. Therefore, according to the Vedic system, marriage is there. Without marriage, the population, increase of population, means varṇa-saṅkara.
Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Public Lecture With German Translation Throughout -- Hamburg, September 10, 1969:
Within the coat, you are the person. Similarly, within the dress, I am the person. So at the present moment we are on the dress consciousness. "I am German dress," "I am Englishman dress," "I am Indian dress." "I am male dress," "I am female dress."
Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968:
The animals were put into the sacrificial fire. By Vedic mantra, he was given new life. But at the present moment such expert priests and brāhmaṇas are not available. Therefore it is stopped. Animal sacrifice is stopped.
Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Mexico, February 15, 1975:
So at the present moment, somehow or other, being fallen in this material condition, we have lost our godly qualities. We can cure that, just like a diseased man lost his appetite, but by treatment he can again awaken his appetite and eat properly.
Lecture on BG 2.16 -- London, August 22, 1973:
Unfortunately, the people at the present moment, they do not know, neither they can imagine even that there is possibility of becoming immortal. This is very important point. There is not possibility, there is fact.
Lecture on BG 2.16 -- Mexico City, February 16, 1975:
So as the color painter, er, painter knows how to mix and make varieties of colors, similarly, the three modes of material nature being mixed up, they are represented in so many different forms of body. So at the present moment, in your human form of body, you are also mixing the same qualities in your different desires.
Lecture on BG 2.17 -- Hyderabad, November 22, 1972:
So at the present moment especially... This ignorance is there always, in the material world, that one is identifying this material body with the real self.
Lecture on BG 2.17 -- Hyderabad, November 22, 1972:
We are creating disturbances. By God's creation, everything is nice. Everything is fine. Take, for example, within this planet, there is sufficient place to grow food for all the population. Not only all the population at the present moment, but if the population increases ten times, twenty times, still, there is sufficient place to produce food for them.
Lecture on BG 2.17 -- Hyderabad, November 22, 1972:
As, at the present moment, because the leaders are foolish, blind, they have no spiritual knowledge, all the population of the world becomes godless. Therefore our appeal is to the leading personalities to understand this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Lecture on BG 2.17 -- (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 17, 1975:
The real position is, because we are spiritual, we should live in the spiritual world. At the present moment we have lost our spiritual constitutional position; therefore we are in this material world. Just like a man is generally healthy, but sometimes he falls sick, so at the present moment our condition is sick. It is called bhava-roga. Bhava-roga. Bhava means to become, and roga means disease.
Lecture on BG 2.17 -- (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 17, 1975:
Disease should be cured, not to increase it. But at the present moment we are mad after increasing the disease. We are acting in such a way that we have to accept another body. That means material disease will continue.
Lecture on BG 2.17 -- (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 17, 1975:
Actually, at the present moment there is no education, because education means to understand my identity. The so-called education which is going on, that is called art. Of course, they also say, "B.A., M.A., Bachelor of Art, Master of Art."
Lecture on BG 2.20 -- Hyderabad, November 25, 1972:
So we have to purify. That purification means one must know that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul." So what I am doing as spirit soul? Whatever I am working, at the present moment, on this bodily concept of life... But what about, what I am doing as spirit soul? This knowledge required.
Lecture on BG 2.20-25 -- Seattle, October 14, 1968:
Just see. They want to see God. They cannot see even the small particle of God, the soul, and they want to see immediately God. Yes, one can see God. But not immediately. You have to prepare your eyes. You'll see God, you'll see soul, everything. Everything will be visible. At the present moment it is invisible because we have got material eyes.
Lecture on BG 2.22 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:
So we have given up all kinds of yajña. Although performing yajña at the present moment is very difficult because we cannot get pure ghee... The yajñas, or the sacrifices mentioned in the Vedas, it requires tons of ghees. But that is not possible to obtain at the present moment. But there is another yajña.
Lecture on BG 2.22 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:
At the present moment, the computer is a very subtle machine. But this computer cannot work without an experienced mechanic who pushes the button and it works. These people, they cannot understand that without spiritual touch, matter cannot work.
Lecture on BG 2.22 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:
So this is going on. At the present moment, they are after the sense gratification. They do not know that there is another life beyond sense gratification. They have no... That life is being taught in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "You are trying to advance your civilization for keeping this body fit, but you are not this body.
Lecture on BG 2.22 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:
The senses must be there. Otherwise, I am not a living being. I am stone. But at the present moment, I am misguided. I am using my senses for other purposes than Kṛṣṇa's. Therefore I cannot control. And as soon as you apply your senses for satisfying Kṛṣṇa, then they are controlled, automatically.
Lecture on BG 2.24 -- Hyderabad, November 28, 1972:
Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that every living entity is, in his original position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness... At the present moment we have got different consciousness. That is māyā. This is mental concoction. I am thinking that "I'll be happy in this way." That is a mental concoction. You cannot be happy unless you surrender to Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 2.25 -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:
So at the end of this Kali-yuga they will be so much degraded that it will be impossible for them to understand God. At the present moment, although it is Kali-yuga, there are some persons who are trying to understand God. At least, there is attempt.
Lecture on BG 2.25 -- London, August 28, 1973:
Those who are in the modes of ignorance, jaghanya, very abominable condition. So at the present moment... That is śūdra. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. In this age of Kali, everyone is in the modes of ignorance. Śūdra. They do not know because they have no...
Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:
The warfare of the kṣatriyas and the warfare at the present moment of the whimsical politicians, it is, they are different. Formerly it was not democracy. Only the kṣatriyas would fight. Especially the king, the royal order, they should come forward.
Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:
Brahmā has heard from Kṛṣṇa. So this is the paramparā system, disciplic succession. So there are four paramparā systems. They are known as, at the present moment, Rāmānuja-sampradāya, Brahma-sampra..., Brahma-samprada..., yes, Madhva-sampradāya, Brahma-sampradāya, Madhva-sampradāya, the same, and Rudra-sampradāya and Śrī-samp..., Śrī, Rāma, Kumāra-sampradāya. These is four sampradāyas.
Lecture on BG 2.31 -- London, September 1, 1973:
At the present moment there is no such division. Therefore gradually people are degrading to the lowest quality—ignorance, śūdra. They are taking to the śūdra principles.
Lecture on BG 2.32 -- London, September 2, 1973:
We have discussed this point yesterday, sva-dharmam api cāvekṣya. Sva-dharma. This is very important. At the present moment there is no sva-dharma. Therefore according to Vedic injunctions, dharmeṇa hīna paśubhiḥ samāna. One who is not executing his own religious principle, he is no better than the animals. So who will see that everyone engaged in discharging his occupational duty? Sva-dharmam means occupational duty.
Lecture on BG 2.32 -- London, September 2, 1973:
If one king is not properly... Just like in some states at the present moment... What is called? Secular. Secular means they have meant like that, that "You do all nonsense; we don't care. You pay me tax, that's all. Income tax.
Lecture on BG 2.32 -- London, September 2, 1973:
So this system of human civilization as conceived by the Vedic process is completely different from the rascal civilization at the present moment. Therefore, people cannot be happy. It is not possible.
Lecture on BG 2.39 -- London, September 12, 1973:
Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Being, and we are subordinate being. So these people at the present moment, they do not know. But we have to take instruction from Vedas. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). The Supreme Being, He is eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He is supplying the necessities of life, kāmān, whatever we require.
Lecture on BG 2.40-45 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1968:
Long, long ago he appeared. But Lord Buddha, he was also princely order, and he was young man. He also gave up everything, his father's kingdom, everything. That you know because Lord Buddha is known at the present moment.
Lecture on BG 2.46-47 -- New York, March 28, 1966:
We have to act in such a way that... At the present moment I am within this body. So we have to make utilization of a bad bargain. I don't require this body. Somehow or other, I am now entrapped or encaged in this material body.
Lecture on BG 2.46-47 -- New York, March 28, 1966:
Every, every reformer or every great religious leader or God Himself, He comes on this earth to reclaim these conditioned soul to back to Godhead, back to the kingdom of Godhead. That is the whole idea of incarnation. Now, at the present moment... Not at the present moment. Practically always, the people, by material contact they forget their relation, their relationship with the Supreme Lord, their constitutional position.
Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:
But the people have developed such a consciousness at the present moment that whenever they hear of God or whenever they hear of some religion, they at once become adverse to it. In my country also the same position...
Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:
So the condition is very precarious at the present moment. And we are preaching Bhagavad-gītā and the formula, but the formula is practically very difficult to apply in the present circumstances. You see? Yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi. People have gone so much ahead in material, I mean to say...
Lecture on BG 2.51-55 -- New York, April 12, 1966:
Any activity, it has got reaction. And that reaction is another bondage for me. Now I am engaged in one action, and I am producing another reaction. Now, at the present moment, I am bounded by one kind of activities, and I am producing another kind of activities. Just like in the cinematographic spool, there are hundreds and thousands of pictures.
Lecture on BG 2.55-56 -- New York, April 19, 1966:
We are, at the present moment, in our material conditions, we are manufacturing ideas, and being baffled also because it is the business of the mind to create something and again reject it. Mind will think something, "Yes, let me do this." Again it will decide, "Oh, better not to do this." Yes. This is called saṅkalpa-vikalpa, deciding and rejecting. And this is due to our unsteady condition in the material platform.
Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:
I shall train myself in such a way that my senses may demand, "My dear sir, give me this facility," I will say, "No. You cannot have." This is called gosvāmī or svāmī. At the present moment, everyone, we are, we have made our svāmī or master the senses, and when you actually become the master of the senses, then you are svāmī or gosvāmī. That is the significance of svāmī and gosvāmī. It is not the dress.
Lecture on BG 3.14 -- Sanand, December 27, 1975:
"Whatever you give, that doesn't matter, but the result should be given to Me." So at the present moment in this age, all over the world people have forgotten Viṣṇu, or God. They are whimsically doing things which will implicate them birth after birth, sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. Either higher class of birth or lower class of birth, sat and asat. But this is not solution of life.
Lecture on BG 3.16-17 -- New York, May 25, 1966:
Now, at the present moment the best sacrifice is recommended in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the sacrifice of chanting the holy name of Lord. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ (SB 11.5.32). So now you come here and sit down here for sometimes and chant the holy name of the Lord. That is also sacrifice. That is also sacrifice. This is recommended for this age especially. Because we cannot make any other sacrifice, so in this age...
Lecture on BG 3.16-17 -- New York, May 25, 1966:
Nobody can secure all those ingredients at the present moment. Neither it is recommended. In the Kali-yuga it is recommended that one can perform the saṅkīrtana-yajña. That will give him the same result which was derived by meditation in Satya-yuga.
Lecture on BG 3.18-30 -- Los Angeles, December 30, 1968:
You have come to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Before coming to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, were you in varṇāśrama-dharma? No. So at the present moment, there is no possibility of persons following the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma, either here or anywhere.
Lecture on BG 3.21-25 -- New York, May 30, 1966:
Now, somebody is fighting for some personal gain. Now, at the present moment sometimes fighting takes place for some personal ambition. To fulfill some personal ambition. But that was not... That should not be the case. To fulfill one's personal ambition, any risky thing should not be taken.
Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Melbourne, June 27, 1974:
Now, at the present moment, there are so many gurus. How we will understand who is perfect? That is also another problem. So that perfection is...
Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Melbourne, June 27, 1974:
It is very scientific movement, scientific movement because at the present moment we are all godless, forgotten what is God and what to speak of His name.
Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Melbourne, June 27, 1974:
So we are at the present moment rotting in this material world. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ. That is also mentioned in the thirteenth chapter. It is said that puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ. Where is that verse? (aside:) I told you to...
Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Madras, January 1, 1976:
So what is His purpose? The purpose is, at the present moment, these mūḍhas, how they will understand Vedānta? Better chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then you will get all knowledge.
Lecture on BG 4.1 and Review -- New York, July 13, 1966:
The trick is that because Gītā is a very reputed literature and Dr. Radhakrishnan, he's also a reputed scholar, so he thought that "I can..." Now, at the present moment, the things are going that everyone can give his own interpretation.
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:
Attachment. So he is forbidden. But at the present moment everything has changed. So bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate. We are in the existence of changing, always transforming from one platform to another, one form to another, one business to another.
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:
There was no question of democracy. At the present moment, by democracy if somebody can some way or other acquire some votes he becomes the chief man, but formerly the practice was that a qualified man who is trained, a king, he was on the seat. They were called rājarṣi. Rājarṣi means practically they were sages.
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:
Just like by time sometimes a clear sky is overclouded, covered with cloud. But that does not stay. Similarly, this cloud of ignorance at the present moment, it guhyatamaṁ bhūyaḥ śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ. "Most confidential I am speaking to you.
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971:
A man may be very healthy body, but the, if the brain is cracked, this body will not help. Everything is spoiled. So at the present moment there is no brain, there is no brāhmaṇa, neither there is kṣatriya, simply śūdras and vaiśyas, mostly śūdras.
Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Bombay, March 21, 1974:
At this age, in this age, at the present moment, if a person can provide his family nicely, nice apartment or nice house, good dress, good food, he's considered to be very successful man.
Lecture on BG 4.1-2 -- Columbus, May 9, 1969:
Forty-three hundred thousands of years multiplied by seventy-one. It is a very long duration of life. Now, at the present moment the Vivasvān, the Vaivasvata Manu's age is half-finished. That means the number, the numerical strength, forty-three hundred thousands of years into seventy-one, divide by two. So long years Bhagavad-gītā was spoken.
Lecture on BG 4.3-6 -- New York, July 18, 1966:
When one's sense becomes purified... Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Now, at the present moment, I am covered by, I am embarrassed by so many designations. My senses are engaged in performing or satisfying my designational position.
Lecture on BG 4.4 -- Bombay, March 24, 1974:
When they are perfect, so minute quantity, then we can also become a little more advanced than at the present moment. But not like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is cent percent perfect. We can become minutely perfect, seventy-eight percent.
Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:
But at the present moment, I am thinking that I am master, I'm not servant. This is called māyā. Actually I am servant, but I am thinking master. Everyone is trying to lord it over the material nature according to his capacity.
Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:
There are many different categories of His descendance. And at the present moment this Kṛṣṇa has descended in His holy name. You should understand that. Kṛṣṇa kali-kāle nāma-rūpe kṛṣṇa-avatāra. This is the statement of Lord Caitanya, that in this age of Kali, Kṛṣṇa has descended in the sound vibration form.
Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:
Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, now, at the present moment, has descended in the form of His holy name. His name and He, there is no difference. So why? Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). People are now forgetting his relationship with God.
Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:
If you chant or if you associate with the chanting of holy name of Kṛṣṇa, then you will get the highest perfectional stage of life, and we should accept that Kṛṣṇa has descended at the present moment in the form of His holy name. Thank you very much.
Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:
Anyone and everyone can take part in it. There is no necessity of education, of pre-qualification. And because in this age people are very slow, very unfortunate, badly associated, so many (dis)qualification they have got at the present moment.
Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Montreal, June 13, 1968:
That cannot be changed. But when the spirit soul identifies himself with this body and the mind, that is changed. Just like at the present moment you have got American body. So your dharma or your occupational duty is different from another body.
Lecture on BG 4.7 -- Bombay, March 27, 1974:
Therefore service means, at the present moment, service means kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśāḥ. Our so-called service is to serve my lust. Kāmādīnām. Kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mātsarya. We have got all these things.
Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966:
Just like at the present moment we think, "This material body is my actual body and there is dress, shirt and coat. The shirt and coat is superficial to this actual body." But here in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that we have got our real, spiritual body, separate from the material covering.
Lecture on BG 4.7-10 -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969:
So in the present age, this hari-nāma, Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa has descended at the present moment in the incarnation of His holy name.
Lecture on BG 4.7-10 -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969:
Of course, at last, when Kalki incarnation will come... That is, of course, long, long after. But at the present moment, God is compassionate. Taking consideration of the people's most fallen condition, there is no process of killing, but reclaiming them simply by this chanting process.
Lecture on BG 4.8 -- Montreal, June 14, 1968:
And according to that consciousness, I'll get a particular type of body. So at the present moment, because we are changing different kinds of bodies, that means my consciousness is not pure.
Lecture on BG 4.8 -- Montreal, June 14, 1968:
At the present moment people are denying the existence of God, or they are thinking that God is dead. That means imperfection of knowledge.
Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Montreal, June 19, 1968:
To know the Absolute Truth is not possible by our present senses. That is also another fact. Because at the present moment we have got materially affected... Not material senses. Our sense are originally spiritual, but it is covered by material contamination.
Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Bombay, March 29, 1974:
Still in India we'll find in the villages severe cold. Still the people are taking bath early in the morning. They are accustomed. But now we are giving up. Now we are rising at seven o'clock because we are advanced in education. And if there is maṅgala-ārātrika, it is nuisance. This is our advancement of civilization at the present moment.
Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Bombay, March 29, 1974:
At the present moment our mind is so disturbed, we are disturbed in so many ways. Meditation is not possible in this age. Maybe there may be one or two persons who can meditate. The real meditation means to think of Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 4.10 Public Meeting -- Rome, May 25, 1974:
Actually, at the present moment, there is no education of the understanding of spiritual life. Everyone is interested with this material body only. Nobody is educated, neither interested in the spiritual life. But unless you take interest in spiritual life, our this material condition of miserable life will continue.
Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974:
In the material existence, at the present moment, we are very much attached to the material enjoyment. That is called rāga. And if we cannot fulfill our desires, then there is krodha, anger. And accompanied by krodha and attachment, there is always a tendency of fearfulness.
Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974:
So at the present moment, the people, the whole human society, is missing this knowledge of spiritual nature. Therefore they are attached to this material nature, and here is a formula how we can become detached to this material nature and come to our original nature, spiritual nature.
Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974:
So on the whole this great knowledge is missing at the present moment in the human society. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is specifically meant for educating people about the spirit soul. It is not a sectarian religion. It is a science.
Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974:
The idea is that we should not be disturbed by these material miseries, which come and go like this change of season. It is not permanent. At the present moment, the whole human civilization is simply disturbed by the change of this cold and heat.
Lecture on BG 4.11 -- New York, July 27, 1966:
Similarly, Śrī Rāmānujācārya, he accepts. And now Lord Caitanya, He also preached this Kṛṣṇa philosophy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And formerly also, great leaders like Vyāsadeva, Nārada, and even at the present moment all big leaders of India...
Lecture on BG 4.11 -- New York, July 27, 1966:
Qualitatively, the one, but at the present moment, because we are materially bound up, therefore we find so many different consciousness.
Lecture on BG 4.12-13 -- New York, July 29, 1966:
So nowadays, at the present moment, this cultural program... I am speaking of India and everywhere. There is no such cultural program. That cultural program, that program to beget nice children, the whole program is, we must know, the whole Vedic system is to give the human life the greatest chance of self-realization and get free from these material miseries.
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- New York, April 8, 1973:
So we have become very much proud of our scientific knowledge, and therefore, at the present moment, we defy the existence of God. Sometimes we say that "I have become God now." These are foolish statements.
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- New York, April 8, 1973:
At the present moment, where there is the question of overpopulation? Now how many of us giving birth hundreds of children? No. Nobody. But formerly, a father could give birth to one hundred children.
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- New York, April 8, 1973:
So at the present moment, the difficulty is there is no brāhmaṇa, there is no kṣatriya. There are only the vaiśyas and the śūdras, belly, vaiśya means belly and śūdra means the leg. So if, out of the four divisions, one is wanting, the society must be in chaotic condition.
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- New York, April 8, 1973:
The next intelligent class, the industrialists, merchants. The next intelligent class is the worker. All of them are required. But at the present moment, there is only this mercantile industrialist and worker. There is no brain.
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Bombay, April 2, 1974:
So Kṛṣṇa says for the upkeep of the society, there must be this cultural division of the society, namely varṇa and āśrama. But at the present moment people do not know what is the aim of life. They do not know.
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Bombay, April 2, 1974:
Therefore people are so much disturbed at the present moment. There is no sober life, dhīra. If you want peaceful life in the society, then you must accept this program.
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Bombay, April 2, 1974:
Generally, we understand, vaiśya means the mercantile class of men. No. At the present moment the so-called vaiśyas are śūdras, less than śūdras. Why? Now the vaiśya's business is kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). The vaiśyas must be engaged in producing foodgrains, but they are not interested.
Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Johannesburg, October 19, 1975:
That has happened at the present moment. Nobody knows what is meant by religion. And this is the essence of religion, to surrender to God.
Lecture on BG 4.13-14 -- New York, August 1, 1966:
Similarly, every living entity has got a specific position in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Now, at the present moment, we are covered. We do not know what is our relationship.
Lecture on BG 4.14-19 -- New York, August 3, 1966:
Now, what is the work at the present moment for us, Kṛṣṇa's work? Kṛṣṇa is not present now to dictate that "This is My work." Just like Arjuna was fortunate enough.
Lecture on BG 4.16 -- Bombay, April 5, 1974:
At the present moment there is no aim of life. The aim of life is sense gratification. That's all. Indriya-tṛpti. That is forbidden in the śāstras. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Kiṁ karmeti kiṁ vikarmeti will be described. So karma and vikarma, prescribed duties according to qualification, position, occupation, that is called karma. And just opposite, it is called vikarma. Karma akarma vikarma. That Kṛṣṇa will explain. So at the present moment... Not at the present moment.
Lecture on BG 4.17 -- Bombay, April 6, 1974:
The father is the guide, the king, the government is the guide, the elderly, guru is the guide. There must be guide. Gurur na sa syāt pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt. In this way.... Sva-jano na sa syāt na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum. These laws are unknown at the present moment in this age.
Lecture on BG 4.18 -- Bombay, April 7, 1974:
The division is there, but the whole aim is to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But at the present moment, we are so educated, we do not know what is the meaning of Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is our position.
Lecture on BG 4.18 -- Bombay, April 7, 1974:
The vivid example is Arjuna. He is working for Kṛṣṇa. So you can do also. Simply by fighting... Arjuna was not chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So you can do also. Because... Nowadays in the Kali-yuga because people are... (break) ...because they knew the duty, but at the present moment... (break) ...kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. In the Kali-yuga, because there is no such division, so everyone is śūdra or less than śūdra. This is their yajña. This is also yajña.
Lecture on BG 4.18 -- Bombay, April 7, 1974:
Everything is there in the śāstra. Therefore we have to follow the śāstra. At the present moment... Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam, yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyaiḥ. This is the recommendation for this age, how to worship God. So this is the method.
Lecture on BG 4.19 -- Bombay, April 8, 1974:
Everyone is given some honor. Especially in upper India, the brāhmaṇas, even at the present moment, they are addressed as Panditji. And the kṣatriyas, they are addressed as "Thakur Saheb". And vaiśyas, they are addressed as Sethji, and the śūdras, they're addressed as Choudhuriji. They're also given some honor.
Lecture on BG 4.19 -- Bombay, April 8, 1974:
So we have to accept. At the present moment, the ācārya, Kṛṣṇa, is instructing Arjuna. So Arjuna is ācārya. One who is speaking exactly like Arjuna, he's ācārya. Not that one is speaking nonsense according to his own opinion.
Lecture on BG 4.19 -- Bombay, April 8, 1974:
But at the present moment, because everything is lost, now simply śūdras are there, therefore the common medicine is prescribed:
Lecture on BG 4.19-22 -- New York, August 8, 1966:
Now, at the present moment, after the, we have got sva-rāja, or independence, the government has interfered with this sort of service. They say that "This is waste of money. Why you are offering?" They are becoming atheist.
Lecture on BG 4.19-25 -- Los Angeles, January 9, 1969:
So because this human civilization at the present moment is so made that everyone is dependent. Nobody is self-sufficient. One has to work somewhere for his livelihood.
Lecture on BG 4.20-24 -- New York, August 9, 1966:
Just at the present moment our conception is that I am the proprietor of everything. Actually, I am not the proprietor. The Īśopaniṣad says that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam: (ISO 1) "The Supreme Lord, Personality of Godhead, or Kṛṣṇa, He is the proprietor."
Lecture on BG 4.20-24 -- New York, August 9, 1966:
We are not material fragment. But just because we have no other conception at the present moment except material understanding, therefore I am just trying... This is translated into English as "fragment," but not like that material fragment.
Lecture on BG 4.20-24 -- New York, August 9, 1966:
At the present moment... Of course, formerly, we understand from the scriptures that they used to pour tons of tons clarified butter in the fire because at that time they were available. But at the present moment...
Lecture on BG 4.20-24 -- New York, August 9, 1966:
"At the present moment we have to perform sacrifices by chanting the hari-kīrtana, the glorification of Kṛṣṇa." This is yajña. Other yajñas, although they are prescribed... Because when Kṛṣṇa was speaking, He was speaking generally, but there are specific considerations.
Lecture on BG 4.20-24 -- New York, August 9, 1966:
It was practically testing of the Vedic mantra by the qualified brāhmaṇas. So He said, "Because at the present moment there are no qualified brāhmaṇas, therefore such kind of sacrifice is stopped. Stopped." That was His explanation.
Lecture on BG 4.21 -- Bombay, April 10, 1974:
At the present moment, in our material condition, we have forgotten our relationship, our eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa, or God.
Lecture on BG 4.21 -- Bombay, April 10, 1974:
At the present moment my existence is not śuddha, purified. Just like if your health is contaminated, then you get some disease. So for the soul, the living entity, this disease, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9), this is a kind of disease.
Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:
Not only at the present moment, because Kṛṣṇa was speaking five thousand years ago. And before that, He spoke Bhagavad-gītā millions and trillions of years ago to the sun-god. This is the way of material civilization or material conditioned life, competition.
Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:
Just like at the present moment, politically, a poor man is envious of a rich man, because there is no Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And a so-called rich man, he is eating himself sumptuously, but he does not take care of the poor man.
Lecture on BG 4.23 -- Bombay, April 12, 1974:
We are.... just at the present moment we are acting according to our past karma, and again we are creating another karma so that we have to enjoy or suffer in the next life.
Lecture on BG 4.24-34 -- New York, August 12, 1966:
Ayam, in this world, in which we are at present, that is also becoming more miserable. At the present moment people are feeling so much painful in the modern existence because this process of yajña has been... Completely, people are engaged, "Work hard, earn money and be engaged in sense gratification." That's all. This is the whole program, at the present moment is going on. That cannot bring any peace and prosperity to the society. We have to perform yajñas. That is the natural law.
Lecture on BG 4.26 -- Bombay, April 15, 1974:
At the present moment, because we are in bodily concept of life, I am thinking that "I belong to this family. So if I do not satisfy the family members... "I have to satisfy. This is my real position. Jīvera 'svarūpa' haya—nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). My position is servant of Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 4.26 -- Bombay, April 15, 1974:
We are simply animals at the present moment. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunam. But human society means to divide the whole human society into these eight divisions, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha. Then it is systematic.
Lecture on BG 4.34-38 -- New York, August 17, 1966:
There are millions of names of God in different parts of the world, but Kṛṣṇa is the supreme name according to Vedic knowledge. So therefore Lord Caitanya has recommended—and His recommendation is accepted by the authorities even at the present moment—
kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya
- yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei 'guru' haya
- (CC Madhya 8.128)
And you'll be surprised that Lord Caitanya's principal disciples were all so-called fallen in the society. He appointed one Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Nāmācārya Haridāsa Ṭhākura.
Lecture on BG 4.34-38 -- New York, August 17, 1966:
And there is need of spiritual master at the present moment. We require thousands of spiritual master to preach all over the world this science of Kṛṣṇa, the science of Kṛṣṇa. That will solve all problems of the world. Take it from me.
Lecture on BG 4.34-39 -- Los Angeles, January 12, 1969:
Of course, that training is not possible at the present moment. The days have changed. But this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so nice that even brahmacārī begins immediately, he is trained up. He is trained up very nicely. Go on.
Lecture on BG 4.37-40 -- New York, August 21, 1966:
Similarly, at the present moment, due to this covering of material body, I have got different designative sensation, designative sensation. I am feeling I am, I am just using my senses under some designation.
Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:
Just like at the present moment... Not present moment. Always. People are engaged in the matter of economic development for sense gratification. So that is also ignorance. That is also ignorance. Because advancement of economic development...
Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:
Everyone, any highest, I mean to say, highly situated person in knowledge, his main business was how to conquer death. Now, at the present moment that question has become subordinate thing only, how to conquer death. "Let death there be. So long death does not come, let me enjoy and have sense gratification." That has become the standard of civilization at the present moment. But real problem is how to conquer death.
Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:
Death is there, and the problem... Formerly people used to think of how conquering death, but at the present moment they are thinking, accelerating death, and they call it advancement of knowledge, advancement of science. So this is going on. So practically this is ignorance.
Lecture on BG 5.17-25 -- Los Angeles, February 8, 1969:
We accept it as pleasant. But actually, satisfaction of my sense is not real pleasure because my senses are at the present moment diseased.
Lecture on BG 6.2-5 -- Los Angeles, February 14, 1969:
If there is any disease you can spend any amount to cure. Similarly we at the present moment in the conditioned state of material existence, we are separated from God.
Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:
At the present moment, the modern way of our civilization, mode of our life... Just like I am a sannyāsī, I am renounced order of life, but still, I have come to a city, New York City, the largest city of the world.
Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:
So these things cannot be understood at the present moment. Therefore this Padma Purāṇa says that only when one becomes spiritually saturated by the transcendental service to the Lord, then, are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to you.
Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:
He has only desire how to serve Kṛṣṇa. That means his desire is purified. This desire is, you cannot give up desire. That is not possible. You are living entity, you must have desire. But our desire is at the present moment is contaminated. "I want to, I desire to satisfy my senses by material possession." But if you desire for Kṛṣṇa, this desire for material possession will automatically vanish. Go on.
Lecture on BG 6.11-21 -- New York, September 7, 1966:
Now, comparatively, at the present moment, if you have to practice yoga, then strictly, according to the rules and regulations, you have to leave your home, you have to go out in a secluded place, in a sacred place, and there you have to execute the performance of meditation and yoga.
Lecture on BG 6.16-24 -- Los Angeles, February 17, 1969:
This is pure mind. Pure mind means to understand oneself that "I belong to Kṛṣṇa." That is pure mind. Mind, at the present moment my mind is contaminated.
Lecture on BG 6.25-29 -- Los Angeles, February 18, 1969:
Artificially when you are not advanced if you try to fix up your mind in Kṛṣṇa, that yoga practice as it is recommended here, that you have to sit down in this way, straight, you have to concentrate your eyesight on the tip of the nose in a secluded sacred place. But where are these chances? At the present moment, where is the chance of all these facilities?
Lecture on BG 6.25-29 -- Los Angeles, February 18, 1969:
That is the yoga success. At the present moment the mind is controlling me, go-dāsa. Mind is dictating me that, "Please, why not see that beautiful nice girl," and I go and...
Lecture on BG 6.30-34 -- Los Angeles, February 19, 1969:
That spiritual platform is called Brahman platform. So to become liberated means to stand on the Brahman platform. Conditioned soul, we are at the present moment we are on the platform of this bodily concept of life or sensual platform.
Lecture on BG 6.32-40 -- New York, September 14, 1966:
This Bhagavad-gītā, which is not understood in one life at the present moment, he understood this Bhagavad-gītā in one hour. So how much intelligent he was. And he belong to the royal family.
Lecture on BG 6.32-40 -- New York, September 14, 1966:
Now, we have to think that "What was not possible for Arjuna in such favorable conditions, and five thousand years before, how it is possible for me, a tiny living entity and disturbed by so many things at the present moment.
Lecture on BG 6.32-40 -- New York, September 14, 1966:
They used to live for ten millions of years, and it is very difficult to live for fifty years or sixty years at the present moment. Utmost, a man lives eighty years. That's all.
Lecture on BG 6.32-40 -- New York, September 14, 1966:
At the present moment, you will find, 80% people, they are unfortunate. If we compare what is fortune or misfortune, then we'll find, in every country, 80% people, they are unfortunate, and therefore this world is getting to Communism because they are fighting.
Lecture on BG 6.32-40 -- New York, September 14, 1966:
It is a process, recognized process, but it is very difficult for the human being at the present moment. The process is not rejected. Bhagavad-gītā accepts the yoga process. That means the process is recognized. It is a science. But at the present moment, even five thousand years before, it was impossible to be practiced.
Lecture on BG 6.40-42 -- New York, September 16, 1966:
Only to give all sorts of comfort to this body. But actually human civilization means that people should be very serious to have perfection of this human body, spiritual perfection. That is perfect human civilization. That is missing at the present moment.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, September 10, 1968:
At the present moment, although we remember sometimes there or the material energy, we have forgotten. So we have to establish, reestablish our forgotten relationship.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971 University of Florida:
You cannot change your āsana. There are so many rules and regulations which is not possible at the present moment. What to speak of at the present moment, even five thousand years ago, when circumstances of the world was different...
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Madras, February 14, 1972:
It is for simply developing your lost consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Because originally we are Kṛṣṇa conscious. Because we are all sons of Kṛṣṇa or part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa; therefore Kṛṣṇa and our relationship cannot be, I mean, eliminated. It is eternal. But that, at the present moment, we have forgot. That is our present position, māyā. By the pressure of māyā we have forgotten our relationship.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Madras, February 14, 1972:
So the defect at the present moment: that we are manufacturing our own concoctions. This should be stopped. You take as it is stated in the śāstra.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Sydney, February 16, 1973:
In some places there is no rainfall, but here we have got sufficient rainfall at the present moment. It is God's mercy. You cannot do it. Where there is shortage of rainfall, they cannot bring in rainfall by their scientific advancement of knowledge. That is not possible.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Sydney, February 16, 1973:
If we take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we are not affected by the bad effects of Kali-yuga. That is recommended. (break) Kali-yuga is disagreement and fight. This is called Kali-yuga. Here, at the present moment, in this age, everyone disagrees with other, and they fight. Therefore it is called Kali-yuga.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Upsala University Stockholm, September 8, 1973:
We, at the present moment, in the material condition, we are changing body. That change of body is called death. Actually, the living entity within the body, he has no death. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. This description we have got in the Vedic literature.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Upsala University Stockholm, September 8, 1973:
So... And sixteen thousand wives were given sixteen thousand palaces. And each wife got ten children. And Kṛṣṇa also expanded Himself into 16,108. That is God. For us, it is very difficult to maintain even one wife at the present moment. This is the difference.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Upsala University Stockholm, September 8, 1973:
The beginning and the end, the same thing. If you increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa... Because, at the present moment, in our material conditional life, we have no attachment for Kṛṣṇa. We have got attachment for non-Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Hyderabad, April 27, 1974:
This is our position. But at the present moment, because we have got this body, it is no very pleasurable condition. It is miserable condition.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Hyderabad, April 27, 1974:
Unless there is brain, what is the use of these hands and legs? If one's brain is cracked, madman, he cannot do anything. So at the present moment, because there is scarcity of brahminical qualified men in the whole human society... It is not meant... Brāhmaṇa is not meant for simply for India of Hindus.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Hyderabad, April 27, 1974:
Suppose from your body if the brain is cut off, your head is cut off, then you are finished. What the hands and legs will do if there is brain, if there is no brain? So at the present moment there is scarcity of brain in the whole human society. Therefore, it is in the chaotic condition.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Hong Kong, January 25, 1975:
Our form and Kṛṣṇa's form—different. Kṛṣṇa is complete spiritual, divine, and we are, at the present moment, although we have got our spiritual form within this body, but because we have no vision of the spiritual form, we are taking this body as our form. This is called illusion.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Hong Kong, January 25, 1975:
Just like at the present moment, Kṛṣṇa is not physically present, but we understand through śāstra what is Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- London, March 9, 1975:
So if we become purified, sarva upādhi-vinirmuktam, that is called mukti. Mukti, the definition of mukti, means hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6). Because we are staying at the present moment in this material state, we have got so many material attachments. That is, we are staying in a different way.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- London, March 9, 1975:
As soon as we... Because Kṛṣṇa is not visible at the present moment. He is visible, but we cannot see. So we take āśrayaḥ, shelter of His devotee. Therefore Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī gives his formula how to become attached to Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Fiji, May 24, 1975:
At the present moment the human society is busy where to find out food, where to find out shelter, how to have nice sexual intercourse, and how to defense from other nation or other enemy. This has become the business.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Fiji, May 24, 1975:
For upkeep of the human society in order, according to the quality and work there must be division. But that is not that division as we are thinking at the present moment in India—a man is born in the brāhmaṇa family, he is brāhmaṇa. No. He must have the brahminical qualification. That is first consideration.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Durban, October 9, 1975:
It is Kṛṣṇa's mercy that He comes before you in the Deity form made of so-called wood or stone because we cannot see at the present moment except wood and stone. We cannot see. Just like I was explaining we cannot see even our father, the spirit soul.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bombay, December 20, 1975:
The yoga system which is known as bhakti-yoga... Everyone is trying, not everyone, at the present moment, practically nobody wants to understand what is God. Everyone is busy to fulfill the desires and necessities of the body.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bhuvanesvara, January 22, 1977:
So in this land at the present moment our young men are inquiring what is God. Here Bhagavān comes personally, He leaves His instruction, He's accepted by the ācāryas, and our young men have become so much advanced in education that they're asking what is God.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bhuvanesvara, January 22, 1977:
So we should understand what is the situation at the present moment. So why this has happened? It has happened because we are making progress towards animal civilization.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bhuvanesvara, January 22, 1977:
Unfortunately we have rejected at the present moment the persons who are actually brāhmaṇa. On the other hand, in the name of brāhmaṇa, some persons claiming as brāhmaṇa, they are ruling over the society. But that is not the way. The brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya or vaiśya, śūdra, they are ascertained by the symptom.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bhuvanesvara, January 22, 1977:
At the present moment they are trying to create classless society. That is chaotic society. That is not real society. That is not Vedic civilization.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bhuvanesvara, January 22, 1977:
At the present moment so many unauthorized persons are presenting themselves as guru. But you should be very careful. Guru, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). He says that "I order you that you become guru. And your business is to deliver this country."
Lecture on BG 7.1-2 -- Bombay, March 28, 1971:
At the present moment we have got many doubts whether actually there is God or not. In Europe and America, when I first went there in 1965, I was informed even by some clergymen that "God is dead." Then again, when I was chanting in the Tompkinson Square in New York, they admitted, and they published a very big article in one of the important papers of New York.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- London, August 4, 1971:
So this human form of life, Kṛṣṇa is stressing on this point, that manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Out of many millions, at least at the present moment, nobody is interested to know what is the perfection of life. They think or one thinks that perfection of life means to enjoy the senses to the best capacity, and as soon as the body is finished, everything finished.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:
Generally, whole human society, especially at the present moment, nobody cares for perfection of life. They do not know what is perfection of life. Just like animals, they do not know what is perfection of life. They think perfection of life: to gratify the senses.
Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Hyderabad, April 28, 1974 :
Every living entity is fearful what will happen next. There are, just like at the present moment, everywhere, every time, every, always we are fearful. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād. As soon as we forget our constitutional position and Kṛṣṇa, then an artificial way of fearfulness is created.
Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Hyderabad, April 28, 1974 :
At the present moment we are trying to understand the energy of Kṛṣṇa. We cannot see directly Kṛṣṇa. But as soon as you see the energy or you perceive the energy, you can understand there is Kṛṣṇa, there is God. That is called intelligence. This is called jñānam.
Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Hyderabad, April 28, 1974 :
As you may advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is possible. Then, gradually making progress means gradually you will be lover of Kṛṣṇa. That is required. Mayy āsakta, as soon as you become lover, you become attached. That is required. Now, at the present moment, we are attached to so many things, because we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa. Now gradually, if you increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa, then you will forget all these material.
Lecture on BG 7.2 -- San Francisco, September 11, 1968:
We should not go simply by sentiment. Religious sentiment is good for persons who follow blindly. But at the present moment, people are advanced in so-called education. So Bhagavad-gītā gives you full information so that you can accept God with your reason, with your argument, with your knowledge.
Lecture on BG 7.2 -- San Francisco, September 11, 1968:
How you can get out of the senses? Because you are living entity, the senses are there. But the thing is that at the present moment, because we are materially contaminated, our senses are not getting full enjoyment.
Lecture on BG 7.2 -- San Francisco, September 11, 1968:
So at the present moment the education system is so bad that it is practically animal education. Animal education means when at the present moment the education system is so bad that it is practically animal education.
Lecture on BG 7.2 -- London, March 10, 1975:
Now it has been developed at the present moment, so many. But if you again connect all of them, they will come to the same categories or divisions.
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Montreal, June 3, 1968:
At the present moment, due to my material conditional life, because I have got this material body, therefore my pleasure... I am hankering after pleasure, but whatever pleasure I am acquiring, that is not permanent, or flickering, or simply illusion.
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Bombay, March 29, 1971:
At the present moment, although we are eternal, we have to accept a certain type of body which is not eternal. Asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). Asann api. This body is temporary, but it is very miserable. It is always giving us trouble. That we should know.
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Bombay, March 29, 1971:
At the present moment, there are few vaiśyas and mostly śūdras. Rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ (SB 1.2.19). Rajas-tamaḥ, by the rajo-guṇa, the kṣatriyas are produced, and by tamo-guṇa the śūdras are produced.
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Bombay, March 29, 1971:
This para-upakāra business, welfare activities to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world, is the most important business at the present moment. It will unite everyone politically, socially, culturally, religiously, in every way. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the center.
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Vrndavana, October 31, 1973:
Out of many hundreds and thousands of men, kaścid yatati siddhaye (aside:) Thank you. The difficulty is that they do not know what is siddhi. At the present moment, people are so ignorant that they do not know what is siddhi. The major problem of life, that is unsolved. Everyone is trying to make a solution of some temporary difficulties, politically, socially, economically.
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Bombay, February 18, 1974:
At the present moment, being conditioned by the material nature, every man is working under the impression that "I am this body." "I am Indian because I got this body from India." "I'm American; I got this body from America." All bodily concept of life.
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- London, March 11, 1975:
We do not know that there is another business beyond this. This is, especially at the present moment this is human civilization. They are always busy in sense gratification and getting money for that purpose. That's all.
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- London, March 11, 1975:
This is the position of human society at the present moment, that they do not know how to make life perfect.
Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Nairobi, October 31, 1975:
This is false ego, ahaṅkāra. So at the present moment... Not at the present, always, we are surrounded by all these things. That is our beginning of philosophy: wherefrom this land came? Wherefrom this water came? Wherefrom the fire came? That is natural inquiry. Wherefrom the sky came? How the stars are situated, so many millions and millions? So these are the inquiries of the intelligent person. That is the beginning of philosophical life.
Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Nairobi, October 31, 1975:
No, Eastern are more at the present moment. This is the world. Material world is andha, all blind. There is no question of Eastern or Western. This is our manufacture, that Eastern is better than the Western. Just like stool. Stool, upside, little dry, and the downside, it is moist.
Lecture on BG 7.6 -- Hyderabad, December 11, 1976:
The spirit soul is individual, Kṛṣṇa is individual, and it continues. Every one of us, we were individual in the past, we are individual at the present moment, and we shall continue to be individual in future.
Lecture on BG 7.8 -- Bombay, February 23, 1974:
The, at the present moment, our senses are covered by māyā, and this māyā can be moved away simply by remembering in every step Kṛṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. That, that sevonmukha, that is the devotional service. Jihvādau. You simply engage your jihvā. Jihvā means tongue.
Lecture on BG 7.9 -- Vrndavana, August 15, 1974:
At the present moment our existence is not purified, impure. Therefore we are suffering. Just like when one's physiological condition becomes infected, he suffers from fever and other symptoms of disease, similarly, we are suffering in this material world on account of this material body.
Lecture on BG 7.11-13 -- Bombay, April 5, 1971:
Just like we are seeing at the present moment innocent people of East Pakistan are being killed. Simply for political reasons, some innocent people, lakhs of innocent people, are being killed.
Lecture on BG 7.11-13 -- Bombay, April 5, 1971:
When you go out on the street, there is no surety whether you will come back home at the present moment. Perhaps you all know. So there is no proper defense even, which is not refused to the animals.
Lecture on BG 7.11-13 -- Bombay, April 5, 1971:
So it is very difficult to say at the present moment whether garbhādhāna-saṁskāra is observed. At least, in garbhādhāna-saṁskāra we understand that "This child is born of a real brāhmaṇa," but without garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, who knows how the child is born? Nobody knows except the mother.
Lecture on BG 7.11-13 -- Bombay, April 5, 1971:
So at the present moment this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is meant for creating nice brāhmaṇas with qualification. Satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjavaṁ jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). So Kṛṣṇa says that "Regular principle, sex life, is all right. That is I am." That is Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 7.14 -- Hamburg, September 8, 1969:
One problem is presented, and they try to solve it. Just like at the present moment they have manufactured atomic bomb, and all the nations are anxious to keep peace, and they have started that United Nations organization to solve the problem.
Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966:
Therefore sometimes it is said in the Vedic literature: formless. Formless means the form which you can conceive at the present moment, God hasn't got that form.
Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966:
Viṣṇu, Lord Śiva, and Sun, and Gaṇeśa, and Devī, Durgā. He limited, that "Any of these five forms you can meditate upon, you worship. And ultimately, it is formless." But at the present moment, unauthorized person has degraded in such a way that "You can imagine any form. You can imagine even stool." They say like that.
Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966:
We cannot perform real meditation. We cannot perform the preliminary activities. Yama niyama āsana prāṇāyāma. It is not possible at the present moment. So those principles are not rejected, but it is not possible at the present moment.
Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966:
As we are, even at the present moment, we are particle Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is vibhu, the whole. We are aṇu, we are small. Similarly, as now we have got this material body, if we pass our life in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we get our spiritual body, which is not different from the soul. A clear example: just like a man put into the water is raised from the water and placed in the land. So in the land he is happy.
Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966:
Only difference is, at the present moment the soul and the matter, they qualitatively different. And when you get spiritual body, the quality of the body and the soul is the same. But individuality must continue.
Lecture on BG 8.12-13 -- New York, November 15, 1966:
So that linking process is called yoga. Yoga, the actual translation of the word yoga means plus, plus, just the opposite of minus. Now, at the present moment, we are minus God, or minus Supreme. So when we make ourself plus, connected, then our human form of life is perfect. So at the time of death we have to finish that perfection.
Lecture on BG 8.21-22 -- New York, November 19, 1966:
This is called in Sanskrit word ṣaḍ-vikāra, six kinds of changes. But the spiritual world, avyakta, which is not manifested at the present moment before us, that is akṣara. Akṣara means it is eternal. It does not annihilate.
Lecture on BG 8.21-22 -- New York, November 19, 1966:
Now, this spiritual vision at the present moment, because we are covered by the material dress, or material senses, therefore the spiritual world or anything spiritual is not conceivable due to our material senses. But we can feel that there is something spiritual. That is possible.
Lecture on BG 8.21-22 -- New York, November 19, 1966:
Now, because Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is complete spirit and He's absolute, therefore His name is also spirit; His name, His form, His quality, His, I mean to say, opulence, His paraphernalia—everything is spiritual. But at the present moment, due to our material bondage or condition, we cannot understand what is spiritual. But this ignorance can be moved by this process, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Vrndavana, April 17, 1975:
Just like Kaṁsa. In this tract of land, Mathurā, there was Kaṁsa. He was so envious that he ordered to his servant that "As soon as Kṛṣṇa is born, please bring the child. I shall kill Him." This is asūya. So at the present moment, practically the whole world, they want to be godless. The scientists and the..., everyone is trying to prove that "There is no God.
Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:
The more one become materialistic scientist, he, he defies God: "That is not. We, we believe in science, believe in science." But what is your science perfection? That is a different subject matter. But the difficulty is, at the present moment especially, the more one becomes advanced in this material knowledge, he becomes atheist.
Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 8, 1972:
Why at the present moment people have become so godless? Even big, big swamis and yogis, all godless. Why? Because they are engaged in sinful activities.
Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 8, 1972:
Therefore gradually, because this class of men are developed at the present moment, they have become... In Vṛndāvana there are so many temples, they have become, made a business by showing temple, collecting money. This is not good.
Lecture on BG 9.3 -- Melbourne, April 21, 1976:
So long you do not understand that you are not this body, you are different from this body, you are Brahman, you are part and parcel of God, then your activities become different. Because at the present moment we are acting on the bodily concept of life. "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Australian," "I am white," "I am black," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am śūdra," "I am this, that"—only this bodily concept of life. And the Kṛṣṇa consciousness begins when you are free from this bodily conception of life.
Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Calcutta, March 9, 1972:
So one who knows the art, by worshiping stone also, he can worship Kṛṣṇa. By worshiping stone also. It is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Because at the present moment, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). By your blunt senses, you can not understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa's name, what is Kṛṣṇa's form, what is Kṛṣṇa's activity.
Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 23, 1976:
Marginal energy means we can live either in this external energy or in the internal energy, in between. So at the present moment we are living in the external energy. But this external energy is also Kṛṣṇa's energies, God's energy. It is not different from Him. But the external energy means we are captivated by the external energy. But the external energy is not permanent.
Lecture on BG 9.5 -- Melbourne, April 24, 1976:
Especially at the present moment they are killing the child in the womb. So just imagine how much suffering it is. And if he is killed, if the child is killed, then his term of imprisonment in that body is not finished.
Lecture on BG 9.10 -- Calcutta, June 29, 1973:
It is a great question at the present moment, that the scientists says that from matter life begins. We are challenging: "No. From life, matter comes." Just the opposite.
Lecture on BG 9.11-14 -- New York, November 27, 1966:
So many speculators at the present moment or in the past, speculating, speculating, speculating. They never reach the point, never reach the point. There is not a single instance that they have reached the point.
Lecture on BG 9.20-22 -- New York, December 6, 1966:
That soma-pāḥ is recommended here also. So either they try to go to other planets, or they manufacture here soma-pāḥ, soma-rasa. Of course, at the present moment we have no such facility. But from Bhagavad-gītā it is understood that there was a method.
Lecture on BG 9.23-24 -- New York, December 10, 1966:
Actually, we are, at the present moment, we are servants of the senses. My senses dictate something. I am obliged to do it. I cannot avoid it.
Lecture on BG 9.27-29 -- New York, December 19, 1966:
So we have forgotten our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore there is no question of love at the present moment. But we can develop this love by this process, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Bhajanti. Bhajanti means bhakti. Bhakti.
Lecture on BG 10.1 -- New York, December 30, 1966:
Similarly, at the present moment, there are so many commentaries and people have taken that anybody can interpret in his own way. This is the modern view. Everyone is perfect and he can interpret any scripture in his own way.
Lecture on BG 10.8 -- New York, January 6, 1967:
So you have to know the techniques. Simply by theoretical knowledge you cannot make any improvement. And these are practical examples. Because there is no love for God at the present moment, all this nonsense universal love, fraternity, are going to hell. Therefore we are interested in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:
So whole world at the present moment is going on under this animalistic concept of life, animal civilization. Everyone is busy to take care of the body, but nobody knows how to take care of the proprietor of the body. That he does not know.
Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Bombay, December 29, 1972:
At the present moment, we are satisfying the senses. For the sense only. We have no other higher objective. Sense wants to eat something palatable. Although it is not good for me, either from health point of view, or spiritual point of view...
Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Bombay, September 25, 1973:
At the present moment, throughout the whole world, everyone is identifying himself with this body and the land in which the body is born is taken as worshipable, bhauma ijya-dhīḥ, and persons who are in relationship with this body, "They are our own men or kinsmen." This is going on.
Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Bombay, September 25, 1973:
There is no peace. There is always struggle for existence, fight between one animal. Still, they are peaceful. But at the present moment, throughout the whole world, we have become less than the animals because we do not know what is the basic principle of civilization, what is the ultimate goal of life, what is our perfection. These things we are lacking in knowledge.
Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Bombay, September 25, 1973:
Just like at the present moment Kṛṣṇa is offered a dish. How Kṛṣṇa is eating? That we cannot see, but He is eating. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa becomes a liar. He says, tad aham aśnāmi bhakty-upahṛtam: "Anyone who is offering Me in devotion," tad aham aśnāmi, "I eat." But how He is eating... It is not that He is not eating, but how He is eating, that you do not know.
Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Miami, February 25, 1975:
The English is "craftsmanship." He knows the art, how to do it. So at the present moment the technical education is there.
Formerly this technical education was entrusted to the demons.
Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Miami, February 25, 1975:
So actually, at the present moment, although we are manufacturing so many nice things for the comforts of the body, but that does not mean it is education.
Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Miami, February 25, 1975:
That is called brahma-jijñāsā, to enquire about the spirit. That is education. So that education is lacking. Therefore there are so many problems at the present moment.
Lecture on BG 13.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:
The fan may be comfortable at the present moment, but if there is cold, severe cold, it will be uncomfortable. So whether the fan is comfortable or uncomfortable? The fan is neither comfortable or uncomfortable. It is the situation of my body that makes me comfortable and uncomfortable.
Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Bombay, December 30, 1972:
Otherwise there be chaos and that is the position at the present moment. People are not happy. Although there is enough money in Western countries. Enough enjoyable things. And we see in other countries like Australia and Africa, there is enough potency of producing food and grains and milk.
Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Hyderabad, April 19, 1974:
At the present moment, so many philosophers, scientists, they are trying to advance in knowledge by speculation.
Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Hyderabad, April 19, 1974:
Knowledge means anyone can think in any way, and at the present moment that is being accepted as knowledge.
Just like at the present moment, amongst the scientists the knowledge is going on that life is made of matter, from matter, chemical evolution theory. And such person also being awarded with Nobel prize.
Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Hyderabad, April 19, 1974:
So government at the present moment... Everywhere we see defective government. Therefore there is agitation against government. There are parties.
Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Hyderabad, April 19, 1974:
Just like at the present moment we see that Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, they are talking. Arjuna is direct disciple of Kṛṣṇa. So if you take Bhagavad-gītā as it was understood by Arjuna, then you get the right knowledge. And if you take the knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā explained by some so-called scholar and politician, then it is rascaldom only. It has no meaning. It has no meaning.
Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Paris, August 12, 1973:
This is jñānam. But ask anybody at the present moment who is the owner, who is the occupier and what is the field of activities. If you ask three things, nobody will be able to answer. That means everyone is rascal at the present. Or they do not know.
Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Paris, August 12, 1973:
They do not believe in God, they do not believe in the soul, and still they are passing on as educationists, learned scholars, professor. This is the pity. Therefore one should learn from Kṛṣṇa, this education system at the present moment, you cannot learn anything positively. They are all vague.
Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Bombay, September 27, 1973:
At the present moment we are now jīva-bhūta. Because we are in this material world, because we have got this material body, our present position is jīva-bhūta. But when we surpass, when we transcend this material concept of life, the bodily concept of life... And that can be done very easily if you engage in the service of Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Hyderabad, April 20, 1974:
But at the present moment everyone is thinking this body as the most important thing. So according to Bhagavad-gītā, not Bhagavad..., on the Vedic understanding, anyone who is stressing too much on the body, they are go-khara, asses and cows and animals, what to speak of becoming paṇḍita. But at the present moment, the whole educational system is concentrated on this body, how to keep this body comfortable. Spiritual knowledge does not mean that you neglect your body. No. That is not the idea.
Lecture on BG 13.5 -- Bombay, September 28, 1973:
Unfortunately, people are so foolish at the present moment that they do not believe even in the next life. Mūḍha. What to speak of understanding God and Kṛṣṇa, they have no even the basic principle of spiritual knowledge.
Lecture on BG 13.5 -- Bombay, September 28, 1973:
At the present moment, those who are in this material world, we are under the influence of material energy.
Lecture on BG 13.6-7 -- Montreal, October 25, 1968:
Why Caitanya Mahāprabhu denied these social orders? Because He was to give immediately benefit to the fallen souls of this age. So He denied this system, not that He decried this system, but He knew that this system cannot be introduced strictly at the present moment in this age.
Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 2, 1973:
Our propaganda is not for the East and the West, but our fight is with the ignorance of the people because at the present moment people are kept in ignorance, in foolishness, that he is this body, bodily identification. But still, there is difference between East and West. In the West, I have talked with big, big professors, learned scholars. They have no idea of next life.
Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 2, 1973:
Rāvaṇa also wanted to make a staircase to go directly to the heavenly planet. Just like we are. At the present moment, we are trying to go directly to the moon planet by sputnik. But it has failed. It is not possible. In that way we cannot go.
Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 3, 1973:
Without being gentle, humble, how one can be a man of knowledge? But at the present moment the humility is forgotten. Everyone is proud unnecessarily. Although he's nothing, he's proud.
Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 3, 1973:
So at the present moment a person may be a great technologist, highly educated, but he does not get, if he does not get a good master, good employer, he's nothing. He has no value. He has no independence, he has to accept some service.
Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 5, 1973:
I am encaged in this body. I am not this body. Unfortunately at the present moment, this is accepted knowledge, bodily concept. "I am." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya." This is going on. Actually the knowledge begins when one understands I am not American, "I am not Indian," I am not brāhmaṇa," "I am not kṣatriya."
Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 5, 1973:
Because the Muslims were very unclean and the Hindus are supposed... now Hindus are less than Muslim, less than Muslim. And still, they are claiming... Śaucam. They are most unclean at the present moment, so deteriorated. Publicly it is being advertised, "Here is beef shop. Come on. Equality. Equality by eating beef, drinking wine." Now this is coming. Śaucam. Śaucam. Cleanliness. Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 5, 1973:
After your fiftieth year, you must give up your family life. Vanaṁ vrajet. Go to the forest for tapasya. That was the system. Here at the present moment, everywhere, all over the world, when he is going to die, still he is attached to his political life, social life, family life. That is not knowledge. That is ignorance. You must be detached.
Lecture on BG 13.14 -- Bombay, October 7, 1973:
Purified means at the present moment we have got this false knowledge, "This is my hand, this is my leg." When we become purified, we understand that "This is Kṛṣṇa's leg, Kṛṣṇa's hand, Kṛṣṇa's eyes." That is wanted.
Lecture on BG 13.19 -- Bombay, October 13, 1973:
Just like at the present moment at night we are not in touch with the sun because it is darkness. So when... We are not in touch with God when we forget Him.
Lecture on BG 13.19 -- Bombay, October 13, 1973:
We are also sac-cid-ānanda, but at the present moment our vigrahaḥ, our body is different. This is, subjected to birth, death, old age, and disease. This we have to conquer; this is the problem. I don't want to die, why death is enforced upon me? That these rascals they have no brain. That I don't want to die.
Lecture on BG 13.21 -- Bombay, October 15, 1973:
That is Vedic civilization. They were not very much anxious to improve material position. Even at the present moment, you go to the village. The innocent villagers, they are satisfied with the position Kṛṣṇa has given, but they are anxious to improve their spiritual life. That is, still you'll find. Of course, it is not that you'll not try to earn your livelihood.
Lecture on BG 13.26 -- Bombay, October 25, 1973:
So people at the present moment, they are also being slaughtered by the laws of nature. But they do not know. As the animals do not know how to protect. They do not know. The animal thinks that "What can be done? I must be slaughtered." So the present civilization, also given to the laws of nature, being carried away by the waves of nature, and subjected to the repetition of birth, death, old age and disease.
Lecture on BG 16.2-7 -- Bombay, April 8, 1971:
At the present moment we are encumbered with different types of designations. "I am Indian," "I am Christian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am this," "I am that." They are all upādhis. But when one comes to the understanding that "I am eternally servant of Kṛṣṇa," that is liberation.
Lecture on BG 16.5 -- Calcutta, February 23, 1972:
At the present moment, in the human society, without these they are not civilized. They must have a club. What is this club? I have seen in Germany. Just like we have got, after few steps, a (Sanskrit?), similarly, in Hamburg I have seen, a few steps after there is a small club.
Lecture on BG 16.6 -- South Africa, October 18, 1975:
The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to purify intelligence, not that intelligence is external, pushed in, within him, no, intelligence there, but at the present moment he is polluted. His intelligence is covered with so many dirty things. That has to be cleansed. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hyderabad, December 15, 1976:
So they do not know. Nāpi cācāraḥ. All so low grade persons at the present moment, civilization, that... Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Oh, this is a civilization of all bad men, manda, manda, with ideas, nonsense ideas, sumanda-matayaḥ, and all unfortunate, unfortunate in this sense, that this human body was given by nature in due course of time, but he remained an animal without becoming a human being. Therefore unfortunate. And still disturbed. This is the position.
Lecture on BG 16.8 -- Tokyo, January 28, 1975:
Therefore, at the present moment, all the government men, their first qualification is whether he went to jail during this movement. Yes. The more one suffered imprisonment, he is given more exalted post. Not only jail, in the jail they were beaten very severely.
Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:
It does not change. Millions of years ago, the past and present and future as they were, at the present moment also, the same past present and future are there. So there is no question of modern age or past age, the nature's law is the same.
Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:
So anyāyenārtha-sañcayān, the practice was there also at that time. It may be small scale, but the same thing is going on at the present moment which is known as black market. Black market means anyāyenārtha-sañcayān, getting money by unfair means. That is called anyāyena artha-sañcayān. Anyāya means illegal; nyāya means legal.
Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:
Cintām aparimeyāṁ ca. Unlimited means they have no idea of future life, they do not believe, mostly, at the present moment. Formerly they used to believe, even these asuras.
Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:
Kaṁsa was a great asura, but still, he was thinking of future life. When he was informed that his sister's son, eighth son, will kill him, so he was trying to kill his sister. "Because sister is the source of the nephew coming, so better finish the sister." So still he was thinking, "What people will say? I shall kill my sister." So they were also thinking of future. But at the present moment the asuras are so advanced that they don't think of future life also. Don't think.
Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:
Just imagine the value. What is the price of gold coin now? I think there is no gold coin at the present moment. It is all finished. Now it is paper coins. (chuckles) This is going on. But even five hundred years ago or four hundred years ago there were gol... Not four hundred years ago, in our childhood, we have seen gold mohor, guinea. They were used in practical use.
Lecture on BG 16.13-15 -- Hawaii, February 8, 1975:
When all our desires are for serving Kṛṣṇa... Desires you cannot give up. That is not possible. Desires will remain there, but at the present moment, in the conditional stage, the desires are being misused. That is the defect.
Lecture on BG 18.41 -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
But at the present moment, there are so many countries, they can produce profuse quantity of food grain. Sometimes they do it and throw it in the ocean for what is called, economic balance.
Lecture on BG 18.45 -- Durban, October 11, 1975:
Let me try to imitate or follow them." But there is no ideal men now, at the present moment. Everyone is śūdra. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. Then how the society will be happy? It is not possible because there is no ideal men.
Lecture on BG 18.45 -- Durban, October 11, 1975:
My tongue is dried up, asking for a cigarette. Now, if I am brāhmaṇa, then I shall say, "No, you cannot smoke." That is damaḥ. That is damaḥ. A senses may dictate me... We are... Now, at the present moment, we are all servants of senses.
Lecture on BG 18.45 -- Durban, October 11, 1975:
This is our life." But at the present moment these boys, hundreds and thousands of boys, they are giving up this practice. This is called tapasya. Hundreds and thousands, they have agreed. I have not bribed them. I am poor Indian.
Lecture on BG 18.67-69 -- Ahmedabad, December 9, 1972:
So generally, people are contaminated with tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa. Hardly, at the present moment, hardly we shall find out one is qualified with the sattva-guṇa, brahminical qualification. Śāstra says, kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: "In this age, Kali-yuga, mostly all of them are śūdras." No brāhmaṇa, no kṣatriya, no vaiśya, according to qualification.
Lecture on BG Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972:
At the present moment, the predominating Deity in the sun planet is called Vivasvān. So he spoke this Bhagavad-gītā philosophy to his son, vivasvān manave prā..., Manu. Manu is the original person of the human society. Manuṣya. Man.
| Page Title: | At the present moment (Lectures on BG) |
| Compiler: | Archana, Gopinath |
| Created: | 15 of Dec, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=318, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 318 |