Atharva Veda (Conv. & Letters)

Expressions researched:
"Atharva veda" |"Atharva vedas" |"Atharva"

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Sir Alistair Hardy -- July 21, 1973, London:

Sir Alistair Hardy: I certainly believe that. Oh, I think we're very close really, in our views of God, except that I'm concentrating on studying the working of God in the people of today. You are studying the message of God given by Kṛṣṇa in the... And I'm trying to show they are the same, the same view as that revealed by Jesus and by other great...

Prabhupāda: No... When we speak of Veda, Veda means knowledge. So knowledge means knowledge of God. Any scripture that gives knowledge of God, that is Vedas. Don't think that Vedas means that only the Sāma, Yajuḥ, Atharva. Those who are following the principles to give knowledge about God, that is Veda. Veda means knowledge. Vetti veda vido jñāne. Vid-dhātu is called veda, vetti. Jñāne when there is question of knowledge, these three forms are used: vetti, veda, vido, jñāne. Vinte vid vicaraṇe vidyate vid saptāyāṁ labhe vindati vindate. (?) This is the vid-dhātu description. So vid-dhātu means to know. So ultimate knowledge is to know God. That is real knowledge.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Richard Webster, chairman, Societa Filosofica Italiana -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Richard Webster: Oh, yes. I agree.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And śrutayo vibhinnaḥ. Literatures are also, authentic literatures... Śrutayaḥ means authentic literature, which is acceptable. They are also various type. Just like Vedas. There are four Vedas: Sāma-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Atharva-Veda, Ṛg-Veda. Then the Upaniṣads are there. Then the Vedānta-sūtra is there. So if we study all this Vedic literature or any other similar literature, it is very difficult to find out the Absolute Truth. Śrutayo vibhinnaḥ. And if we take the philosophers, so one philosopher differs from another philosopher. Na cāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam. Therefore, to approach the Absolute Truth, God, is very difficult subject matter. Therefore our principle is mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Mahājana means the recognized persons, recognized by the Supreme Lord, such persons we follow. We have got a list of recognized persons, just like Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, the Manu.

Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Prof. Regamay: Now, one question still. Why in the Ṛg Veda there is not even the name of Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: Oh yes, Viṣṇu, there is. Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa, I have already. There is no difference.

Prof. Regamay: Viṣṇu, yes, but not the name of Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: No, in Atharva Veda there is name of Kṛṣṇa.

Prof. Regamay: Viṣṇu, yes, I know that the...

Prabhupāda: So it doesn't require that in every Veda there should be, because the Upaniṣads, they are impersonal study, negation of the material existence. That is negation. There is no positivity. So when you come to the positivity, then you can understand Kṛṣṇa.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya, jaya. This is the difference: he is living here nine years, he does not. And here, cultivator, he knows how to offer obeisances. Where he is living?

Jayadvaita: I'm not sure exactly. I met him on Gopīnath Bazaar. He's living with some gentleman. He said that he came to Vṛndāvana nine years ago and he met this gentleman and took up studying with him. And he's reading all Vedic books, Atharva Veda, Yajur Veda, like that, but he doesn't know...

Prabhupāda: What is God.

Madhudviṣa: Has he seen our books?

Prabhupāda: How he is wasting his time.

Jayadvaita: Yes.

Lokanātha: Vedeṣu durlābhaṁ.

Prabhupāda: Adurlabham ātma-bhaktau. If he would have approached a devotee, he'd have known this long ago. That man must be Māyāvādī, with whom he is associating.

Room Conversation -- April 20, 1976, Melbourne:

Mike Barron: Where do you.... You might think this unusual. Where does it come from, though?

Prabhupāda: The Vedas, Vedic literature.

Mike Barron: What goes into this?

Prabhupāda: Vedas. Vedic literature, Sāma, Yajur, Ṛk, Atharva, Upaniṣad, then Bhāgavata, Bhagavad-gītā, so many. There is no cultivation of this knowledge.

Devotee (3): If we could.... If we put the stool up here, and then you can sit on facing that way, Mike?

Mike Barron: Hmm.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I'll do it.

Prabhupāda: How people are advanced? They should take very seriously.

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Guest: Also this, another aspect was answered, the Vedic literature, all that we have today, is not a complete literature. We assume that perhaps some part of the literature has never been copied and was probably lost. So if His name doesn't occur in certain portion of Vedas, it doesn't mean that the name didn't occur in the Vedas. This is something that people have...

Prabhupāda: No, Kṛṣṇa's name is very confidential. In the Atharva Veda, there is name, there is.... Jīva Gosvāmī has quoted from Atharva Veda. There is Kṛṣṇa's name. And this, the best scholar of Vedas, (indistinct) he says, sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇa, Śaṅkarācārya. Then other ācāryas they have supported Kṛṣṇa's teachings, just like Rāmānujācārya, and (indistinct) he has quoted Vedic quotation, every śloka. So one has to learn the real Vedas, then he'll find, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is mentioned," (Sanskrit). Everywhere is Kṛṣṇa's name. But one must be actually scholar in Vedas, then he'll find, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is mentioned in the beginning, in the middle, and at the end."

Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Everything is glorification of Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee (3): Whenever Kṛṣṇa is mentioned in the Vedas, He's mentioned as the Supreme. Some people, some scholars say, "Well, so many other demigods are mentioned far more often than Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa's mentioned to be the supermost. From the Atharva Veda, (Sanskrit). "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme."

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). Either you accept this Kṛṣṇa's statement, or you reject Kṛṣṇa. But He says mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). What do you want more?

Guest: Well, Prabhupādajī, if anyone has gone to Gītā and if he is still bothered by the historical evidence, I don't think he has read Gītā.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest: So we should never really be bothered by this question of historical...

Prabhupāda: Therefore we have concentrated on Gītā. This movement—when I registered this association, so when I wrote "Kṛṣṇa consciousness," some friend said, "Why don't you write 'God consciousness'?" But no, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are particularly preaching Kṛṣṇa's teaching. Kṛṣṇa is God, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). But if you think that there is another God then you may do your business. We are concerned with Kṛṣṇa. That's all. We cannot allow any interpretation of Kṛṣṇa. That is our (indistinct).

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Including the earlier Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Prabhupāda's earlier volumes from India; it's available there.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) You like our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement? You know how we have got New Vrindaban here in America? We are giving protection to the cows. In New Orleans, and what other places?

Vipina: Virginia, Rūpānuga's farm.

Hari-śauri: Tennessee, Bridesville.

Indian man (1): Śrīla Prabhupāda, some of Indian people, they quote Veda and say that beef-eating was recommended in Vedas, and I don't know whether it's true or not, but they quote Vedas, Atharva-veda and...

Prabhupāda: Do they give any quotation?

Indian man (1): No, they don't give any quotation, but...

Prabhupāda: Rascals. (laughter)

Room Conversation -- October 31, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: He says, "Important Hindu sect." How they can say whether it is a genuine? Important, not only genuine but important, Vaisnavism.

Hari-śauri: Hm. (continues reading) "...whose worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu, in one of His many forms is one of the most important religions of India. The American devotees of ISKCON worship Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Being, the highest Personality of Godhead, whose worship according to the archaeological and epigraphic evidence, is pre-Christian in origin, as found in India's early sacred texts, the Ṛg Veda, Atharva Veda, etc. The detailed history of Kṛṣṇa's incarnation is found in the religious text of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, and the philosophical basis of the Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement is found in India's most sacred book the Bhagavad-gītā. These sacred texts and others have been translated and commented upon by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda and are being studied today in many major universities across the United States. The particular form of Vaisnavism of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement dates from Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, one of India's saints born in 1486 A.D. in Nadia, India. His immediate followers organized this philosophy in a number of Sanskrit texts, and His religious practices such as chanting and dancing are most authentically represented in America by the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees according to this tradition. Lord Caitanya, worshiped as the last incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, initiated a disciplic succession. In the mid-19th century, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura appeared in this spiritual lineage. Soon afterwards, his son Bhaktisiddhānta, Sarasvatī became the spiritual master of India's Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, and his most prominent student was Śrīla Prabhupāda. It was at Bhaktisiddhānta's command that Śrīla Prabhupāda later came to America to bring the teachings and practices of Caitanya to the West. My study of these American devotees, which I have pursued since 1968, was published in my book, Hare Krishna and the Counter-culture, published by John Wiley and Sons in 1974, New York. The sociological data revealed through a detailed questionnaire and many hours of taped interviews, indicates that many of the devotees had been influenced by the hippie culture of the 1960's. However, after they joined the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, their lives became completely changed from a life of drugs, illicit sex, and violence to one of dedication to a spiritual discipline and morality and to helping others in their search for happiness. In this period of rapid social and cultural change..."

Prabhupāda: This is the fact, in many cases. So many drunkards, so many violence... This is... (name witheld)?

Haṁsadūta: (name witheld).

Prabhupāda: Big drunkard.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 5, 1977, Bombay:

Guest (2): Atharva, Ṛg, Sāmaveda, Ṛg Sāma Yajur Atharva.

Prabhupāda: All the Veda, all the students for four Vedas.

Guest (1): No, if it is a school, I can give it here in the library for research, because this will be a useful thing. They are not easily available, because published in '64. Originally it was published in 1906. After sixty years they are brought up the cheaper copy for edition by American collaboration. America has given the money. Therefore it is only costing forty rupees.

Girirāja: Are those printed here?

Guest (1): Printed here. Banarsidass, Lucknow or Kanpur. These are the Motilal Banarsidass-Delhi, Varanasi and Patna. And money was given by America(?).

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We read in the papers today that there is talk that Sanjay Gandhi and his mother may run from the country, because the government has launched many investigations into the malpractices of Sanjay Gandhi. So the government has ordered the security on all the borders to be very tight.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: All the airports now they are making special security, especially to check any politicians who might try to escape the country, due to being investigated.

Guest (1): Their passports are also taken away. That's what I have heard.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They were, in themselves, the most exalted, and now they are treated as criminals.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: In the Times of India you saw that starlight or side light or something, about Indira Gandhi. In today's paper, Indira Gandhi had gone to a ten-day function at one of the African embassies. She went with her daughter-in-law, and nobody even noticed her. Only fifteen minutes after she left the function did the host realize that Indira Gandhi had come. She went to a party, she stayed there, and she left and the host did not know that "Indira Gandhi is here." That shows how material nature changes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It also shows that actually she had no value, because one who is actually great doesn't lose his value simply by losing an election.

Prabhupāda: Vidvān sarvatra pūjyate. Vidvatāṁ ca nṛpatyāṁ ca naiva tulyaṁ kadācana.(?) She is not a learned man. She occupied the royal seat. That honor was so long there, the royal seat. And who will be honor her?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Her rule was "Might makes right."

Evening Darsana -- May 11, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: Here is the one from whom everything emanates. So why don't you worship Him? Is there any purport?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. "Purport. A learned scholar who has studied the Vedas perfectly and has information from authorities like Lord Caitanya and who knows how to apply these teachings can understand that Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everything in both the material and spiritual worlds. And because he knows this perfectly, he becomes firmly fixed in the devotional service of the Supreme Lord. He can never be deviated by any amount of nonsensical commentaries or by fools. All Vedic literature agrees that Kṛṣṇa is the source of Brahmā, Śiva and all other demigods. In the Atharva Veda it is said, yo brahmāṇaṁ vidadhāti pūrvaṁ yo vai vedāṁś ca gāpayati sma kṛṣṇaḥ. 'It was Kṛṣṇa who in the beginning instructed Brahmā in Vedic knowledge and who disseminated Vedic knowledge in the past.' Then again it is said, atha puruṣo ha vai nārāyaṇo 'kāmayata prajāḥ sṛjeyety upakramya. 'Then the Supreme Personality Nārāyaṇa desired to create living entities.' Again it is said, nārāyaṇād brahmā jāyate, nārāyaṇād prajāpatiḥ prajāyate, nārāyaṇād indro jāyate, nārāyaṇād aṣṭau vasavo jāyante, nārāyaṇād ekādaśa rudrā jāyante, nārāyaṇād dvādaśādityāḥ. 'From Nārāyaṇa, Brahmā is born, and from Nārāyaṇa, the patriarchs are also born. From Nārāyaṇa, Indra is born, from Nārāyaṇa the eight Vasus are born, from Nārāyaṇa the eleven Rudras are born, from Nārāyaṇa the twelve Ādityas are born.' It is said in the same Vedas, brahmaṇyo devakī-putraḥ: 'The son of Devakī, Kṛṣṇa, is the Supreme Personality.' Then it is said, eko vai nārāyaṇa āsīn na brahmā na īśāno nāpo nāgni-samau... (break) ...dyāv-āpṛthivī na nakṣatrāṇi na sūryaḥ sa ekākī na ramate tasya dhyānāntaḥ sthasya yatra chāndogaiḥ kriyamāṇāṣṭakādi-saṁjñakā stuti-stomaḥ stomam ucyate. 'In the beginning of the creation there was only the Supreme Personality Nārāyaṇa. There was no Brahmā, no Śiva, no fire, no moon, no stars in the sky, no sun. There was only Kṛṣṇa, who creates all and enjoys all.' In the many Purāṇas it is said that Lord Śiva was born from the highest, the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, and the Vedas say that it is the Supreme Lord, the creator of Brahmā and Śiva, who is to be worshiped. In the Mokṣa-dharma Kṛṣṇa also says,

prajāpatiṁ ca rudraṁ cāpy

aham eva sṛjāmi vai

tau hi māṁ na vijānīto

mama māyā-vimohitau

'The patriarchs, Śiva and others are created by Me, though they do not know that they are created by Me because they are deluded by My illusory energy.' In the Varāha Purāṇa it is also said,

nārāyaṇaḥ paro devas

tasmāj jātaś caturmukhaḥ

tasmād rudro 'bhavad devaḥ

sa ca sarva-jñatāṁ gataḥ

'Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and from Him Brahmā was born, from whom Śiva was born.' Lord Kṛṣṇa is the source of all generations, and He is called the most efficient cause of everything. He says that 'Because everything is born of Me, I am the original source of it all. Everything is under Me. No one is above Me.' There is no supreme controller other than Kṛṣṇa. One who understands Kṛṣṇa in such a way from a bona fide spiritual master and from Vedic literature, who engages all his energy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, becomes a truly learned man. In comparison to him, all others, who do not know Kṛṣṇa properly, are but fools. Only a fool would consider Kṛṣṇa to be an ordinary man. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person should not be bewildered by fools. He should avoid all unauthorized commentaries and interpretations on Bhagavad-gītā and proceed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness with determination and firmness."

Prabhupāda: So here is the one. You don't accept? You are finding out the one. So where is? So here is the one. Aham ādir hi devānāṁ (Bg 10.2), mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva... Hm? You have got objection to accept Kṛṣṇa the supreme one?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "What is your answer?" Prabhupāda asks.

Prabhupāda: Why don't you accept Him? In Vedic evidences He is the Supreme. Why?

Indian man (4): Swamiji, Christ says that he's the goal.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Professor J. F. Staal -- Los Angeles 30 January, 1970:

So I do not know how you can say "indisputable." And, if you want reference from the Vedas, I can give you many. In the Vedas the chief transcendental vibration Omkara is also Krishna. Pranaba Omkara is the divine substance of the Vedas. Following the Vedas means chanting the Vedic Mantras, and no Vedic Mantra is complete without Omkara. In the Mandukya Upanisad, Omkara is stated to be the most auspicious sound representation of the Supreme Lord. This is also confirmed again in the Atharva Veda. Omkara is the sound representation of the Supreme Lord and is therefore the principal word in the Vedas. In this connection, the Supreme Lord Krishna says, "Pranaba Sarva Vedesu" (B.G. 7:8)—"I am the syllable Om in all the Vedic Mantras."

Letter to Unknown -- Los Angeles 12 April, 1970:

This Vedic knowledge was stated in the Atharva Veda. Later on, just on the beginning of this millenium, the Kali yuga, Vyasadeva, who is the supreme authority of Vedic knowledge, considering the degraded condition of men in this age, divided the whole Veda into departmental knowledge and some of his disciples were entrusted with a particular type of departmental knowledge. In this way the whole Vedic knowledge developed into four Vedas, 108 Upanisads, 18 Puranas, then summarized in Vedanta Sutra, and then again to benefit the less intelligent class of men like women, workers, and the degraded descendants of the higher class he made another fifth Veda known as Mahabharata or the great history of India.