Everyone is proud that "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Englishman." So it is boastful, very proud of this body. So knowledge means "I am not this body. I am not this body." That is amānitvam. Adambhitvam. As soon as we become aware that "I am not this body," then my false pride immediately goes. Amānitvam adambhitvam ahiṁśā. Then ahiṁśā, nonviolence. Ārjavam, simplicity. There are eighteen qualifications of the demigods. So one who becomes a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa conscious, these, all these good qualities develop. So here is the proof, that Arjuna, because he is a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he is considering, "Whether I shall kill them or not?" Ahiṁsā. It is consideration, not that it is final settlement.
Awareness (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 2.1-11 -- Johannesburg, October 17, 1975:
"Oh, my father is lost. My brother is lost. My son is lost." Two business. So long there is no spiritual knowledge, we have got on the material conception of body two business—śocati, kāṅkṣati: desiring for things which we do not possess and lamenting for things which we have lost. This is our two business. But if you become self-realized, if you become aware actually what you are, then na śocati na kāṅkṣati.
Lecture on BG 2.7-11 -- New York, March 2, 1966:
It has no knowledge that "My next turn is mine," so it is not going away. So this is animal. This is animal. A human, human being, is not so fool. If there is sign that "Next time my killing is to be taken up," then he... At least he will protest or try to go away, something like that. But there is no such thing. So the distinction between animal and man is that that animal is not aware of the sufferings he is undergoing. There are sufferings both for the animals and for the man, but man is conscious. If a man is not awakened to his suffering, then he is in animal consciousness.
Lecture on BG 2.16 -- London, August 22, 1973:
Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). This word tattvataḥ is very important. Tattvataḥ means the absolute truth. Truth. Tattva—means truth. In the Bhāgavata also, we'll find vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). Tattva-vidaḥ. Those who are aware of the truth, they call this tattva. What is that tattva? Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). That tattva is called sometimes Brahman, sometimes Paramātmā, and sometimes Bhagavān. The Bhagavān is the last word of tattva.
Lecture on BG 2.17 -- (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 17, 1975:
Hṛdayānanda: (translating) When we offer something to you, for example, your picture, he wants to know if the person, if, simply by his act of offering does he become purified, or if the spiritual master is actually aware of the offering.
Prabhupāda: Offering? What is that offering?
Hṛdayānanda: For example, if we offer some food to you or if we just offer, for example, chanting, any activity we try to dedicate to you...
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. The spiritual master is the representative of God. Whatever you offer to the spiritual master, it goes to God. Just like the tax collector.
Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:
He is the representative of Kṛṣṇa, and one should accept such representative of Kṛṣṇa for his guide. Then, actually, as much as Arjuna was guided by Kṛṣṇa, then similarly, that person who takes the shelter of the guidance of a person who is fully, I mean to say, aware, fully conversant with the science of Kṛṣṇa, he can guide you nicely and for your spiritual life as Lord Kṛṣṇa has guided Arjuna for his spiritual life.
Thank you very much. Any questions?
Lecture on BG 4.1-6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1969:
We do not know what is there beyond this wall. Therefore it is full of ignorance. We are proud of our eyes. If the electricity is immediately gone, we cannot see. So we see, we act, under some conditions offered by the material nature. So we are not fully aware of everything; neither our body is eternal; neither we are blissful. This body is the source of so many diseases. The body is subjected to birth, death. The body is forgetful. The body is suffering old age. So this is not blissful body. But Kṛṣṇa's body—just opposite. His body is blissful, full of knowledge, and eternal. So how can you compare with Kṛṣṇa? It is not possible. Go on.
Lecture on BG 4.2 -- Bombay, March 22, 1974:
That is very advanced society. He's peacefully drinking and playing cards with prostitute. He's advanced. And because he's chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, he's creating nuisance. This is the government. Therefore the first teaching of Bhagavad-gītā should be taken by the persons who are going to be elected in the government service. The public should be aware of this. If somebody comes to canvass for votes, you should first inquire, "Whether you have read Bhagavad-gītā? Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi showed Bhagavad-gītā. Why should you not? Do you know what is Bhagavad-gītā? Then I shall give you vote. Otherwise get out." Rājarṣayo viduḥ. This is required now, if you want to be saved from the crisis that is coming very gradually. Crisis means there will be... Now in black market you can get things, means eatables, rice, wheat.
Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Vrndavana, August 2, 1974:
We are unhappy because we are in this material body. And the... What is that unhappiness? It is ending in four principles, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). To take birth and again to die, and so long we live we must suffer from some disease, and we must become old. Plain truth.
Therefore intelligent persons must be aware of the miserable condition of this material existence and try to get out of it. Is there any doubt? Eh? This is the fact. So our only business is how to get out of this material existence. That is our only business, not that how we can adjust things here and become happy. That is called karmī, fools. It is a fact that so long you'll be here in this material world, however you may try to adjust things to become happy, it will be never possible.
Lecture on BG 4.11-18 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1969:
Guest: The transcendental pure being, pure existence, pure consciousness, pure awareness and the other states are (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: And what is impure?
Guest: Not impure. They...
Prabhupāda: Then how you distinguish pure?
Guest: The object of perception is...
Prabhupāda: What is that object of perception that is pure?
Guest: The perceiver and the object perceived would be one.
Lecture on BG 4.15 -- Bombay, April 4, 1974:
One must know what is Kṛṣṇa. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ para... (BG 10.12). Brahma. Brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. One who is aware of Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa, he is above brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa qualification is already there. Because a brāhmaṇa means one who knows Kṛṣṇa, Para-brahman. That is brāhmaṇa. Brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. Veda-pāṭhād bhaved vipro brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ, veda-pāṭhād bhaved vipro brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. This is the process.
Lecture on BG 4.15 -- Bombay, April 4, 1974:
When one is fully aware of this, he is brāhmaṇa Vaiṣṇava. Brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇa. This brahma jānāti means paraṁ brahma is Kṛṣṇa. One who knows what is Kṛṣṇa, "Kṛṣṇa is the origin. He's the original cause of all causes," sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1), so he is brāhmaṇa. He is Vedantist. He knows everything. And if he acts like that, then what to speak...
That is advised here. Evaṁ jñātvā kṛtaṁ karma pūrvair api mumukṣubhiḥ. Evaṁ jñātvā. First of all it is the business of brāhmaṇa to understand.
Lecture on BG 4.23 -- Bombay, April 12, 1974:
Without knowledge, ignorance...
Just like a man in knowledge, he never commits any mistake lawfully. So he is not a member or subjected to be punished in the prisonhouse, because he has got full knowledge of the law. If anyone knows.... Even ordinary dealings, just like "Keep to the right, keep to the left." You are driving your car. If you are fully aware that "If I go to the right, it will be criminal," then you are not subjected to be fined, mukta, if you are in full knowledge. Therefore our first business is to be situated in knowledge. Jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972:
There are many persons who like meditation. Nowadays, it is very popular, especially in your country. But when we ask them what is the subject of meditation, they cannot say. Can you say what is the subject of meditation? Anyone who is little aware of this meditation? What is that meditation?
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 13, 1972:
Because the other yoga systems, they will disagree, that "Simply by thinking of Kṛṣṇa within one's heart, how one becomes perfect?" That is explained from the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, how simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa, you become well aware of everything, this yoga system. In the Vedas also it is stated, yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. If you, if you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, then you know everything. Kṛṣṇa is the root of everything. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, śrī-bhagavān uvāca.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Calcutta, January 27, 1973:
So to practice this yoga, any yoga, you have to take shelter of somebody who knows how to practice this yoga. Mad-āśrayaḥ. Then the result will be asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu (BG 7.1). Then, without any doubt and in complete awareness, you'll understand the process. And in complete awareness of Kṛṣṇa, your life is successful. Simply if you know Kṛṣṇa, if you try to understand Kṛṣṇa, and fortunately if you know Kṛṣṇa, then your life is successful.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Calcutta, January 27, 1973:
Not mental speculation, but on the aeroplane running on the speed of vāyu, or air, or mind, the speed of mind, still, by traversing many crores of years, you cannot reach. Still it, it remains avicintya, inconceivable. But if you take to the process of this kṛṣṇa-yoga, or bhakti-yoga, then you can become aware of Kṛṣṇa very easily. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). To understand Kṛṣṇa superficially, that is not sufficient. That is also good, but you must have tattvataḥ, what is Kṛṣṇa actually. That knowledge can be achieved—bhaktyā, by this kṛṣṇa-yoga.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- London, August 4, 1971:
He's in charge of Indology department of the government. He said... Although I defeated him in argument, he said that "After finishing this body, everything is finished." Just see. No. The spiritual knowledge begins when one is perfectly aware that "After finishing this body, I am not finished." That is perfection. Not that those who are in this concept of life, that with the finishing of this body everything is finished. That is nonsense. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Kṛṣṇa teaches. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācin..., nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). "This ātmā is never born and he never dies." Na jāyate mriyate vā. Nitya, eternal; śāśvata, ever-existing, śāśvata. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Paris, June 13, 1974:
The Absolute Truth is the ultimate truth, tattva. Tattva means Absolute Truth. So those who are aware of the Absolute Truth, they say that Absolute Truth is one, but He's realized in three angle of vision, namely, Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān. Those who are trying to speculate and understand the Absolute Truth, they can realize up to impersonal Brahman. So generally, speculators means big, big philosophers. They can understand that impersonal Brahman. These impersonalists are generally known as jñānīs. Jñānīs means the wise men or persons who are very much aware of everything. So they can understand the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth. But there are other class who are called yogis. The yogis can understand the Paramātmā feature of the Absolute Truth.
Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Paris, June 13, 1974:
The meaning is that "One can understand Me only by this bhakti-yoga process. And when one is fully aware of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then he becomes fit to enter into the Kingdom of God." So the purpose of yoga practice is to promote or to leave this material atmosphere and enter into the spiritual atmosphere. All the yogis, the jñāna-yogī, they remain in the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth. The dhyāna-yogī is practicing the localized aspect, but the bhakti-yogī, he is promoted directly in the planet which is called Goloka Vṛndāvana, and there he associates with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and enjoys life blissfully, eternally.
Lecture on BG 7.2 -- San Francisco, September 11, 1968:
Vijñānam. Jñānaṁ vijñāna sahitam. So without vijñāna sahitam... And the process is to understand this knowledge is to be a surrendered soul. Therefore we disciple... Disciple means one who accepts the discipline. Without accepting discipline, we cannot make any progress. It is not possible. Any field of knowledge, any field of activities, if you want to be aware, scientifically and factually, then you should accept the controlling principle. Samagreṇa vakṣ ya svarūpaṁ sarvokaraṁ yatra dhiyaṁ tad ubhaya-viṣayakaṁ jñānaṁ vyaktum.
Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:
Don't accept these rascals and fools as guru, who denies Kṛṣṇa. He is not guru. He is cheater. Kṛṣṇa is showing, and Arjuna is accepting, śiṣyas te 'ham (BG 2.7), "I become your śiṣya." That means Kṛṣṇa is the original guru. And one who speaks on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, he is guru. That is guru. This is the test: whether he is aware of Kṛṣṇa. Then he is guru. Otherwise he's not guru. First of all you understand that. So that is mahātmā. Kṛṣṇa has said, sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. That is mahātmā. Who mahātmā?
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Nairobi, October 29, 1975:
So long you do not come to this position, the final constitutional position, that "We are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa," the knowledge is lacking; there is no perfection of knowledge.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante: (BG 7.19) "After many, many births," jñānavān, "when one actually self-realized, in awareness, fully in knowledge, then he understands," vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19), "Vāsudeva is the supreme everything. I am simply part and parcel of Vāsudeva, eternal servant of Vāsudeva." Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). That kind of perfect person, mahātmā, is very, very rare, to understand that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. My only business is to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is my constitutional position. I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa." This finger is part and parcel of my body. His business is to serve the whole body.
Lecture on BG 7.5 -- Nairobi, November 1, 1975:
If you don't take Kṛṣṇa's instruction, then in spite of our so-called higher advancement of education, we remain simply mūḍha, rascal. Rascal. Mūḍha means rascal. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). Those who are not aware of the spiritual energy and the material energy, they are called mūḍhas. If you understand what is spiritual energy, then you'll search out that wherefrom these...? Both of... Kṛṣṇa says, "Both of them are coming from Me." But if you understand the superior energy, spiritual energy, then it will be possible to understand what is Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 7.5 -- Nairobi, November 1, 1975:
That is spiritual world. And the material world means "God is great, we are small"—there is disagreement. That is material world. Try to understand the distinction between material world and spiritual world. The living entity is very minute particle of God, but in the spiritual world everyone is aware of his position. The living entities, they know "What is my position? I am a small particle of God." Therefore there is no disagreement. Everything is going on nicely. Here in this material world he is actually the small particle of God, but there is disagreement. He is falsely thinking that "I am as good as God." This is material life. And liberation means... When we are free from this wrong conception of life, that is liberation. Liberation means...
Lecture on BG 7.7 -- Bombay, April 1, 1971:
So Kṛṣṇa is present everywhere because everything is resting on Him, on His energies. Just like in a big factory the proprietor may be out of the factory, but every worker is aware that "This factory belongs to such-and-such person." As this is possible to have always a consciousness of the proprietor of the factory by the worker, similarly, it is possible for everyone to become Kṛṣṇa conscious in every activity. That is the philosophy we are trying to preach all over the world. The Bhagavad-gītā philosophy is like that. Yudhyasva mām anusmara (BG 8.7). You have to... This world is so made that one has to work. Without working, nobody can even maintain his body and soul together. That you cannot avoid. But at the same time, we can remember Kṛṣṇa. That is... That depends only on practice and understanding, pure understanding.
Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 22, 1976:
Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that "If one understands Me," tattvataḥ—tattvataḥ means in fact, in truth—"then he becomes so qualified that after..." We have to give up this body, any circumstances. That's a fact. Then such person who has become fully aware of Kṛṣṇa, such person, tyaktvā deham, giving up this body, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), he does not take any more birth with another material body.
Then what happens? Now, mām eti: "He comes to Me." That means he gets his original spiritual body. So if we simply try to understand. It is not very difficult. Everything is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. You try to understand Kṛṣṇa; then your life is successful. After giving up this body there is no more material body.
Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 23, 1976:
Some millions of years, He met the sun-god and He spoke Bhagavad-gītā. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). So we have to take information from the right source. Then we are awareness of everything. How God is expanded everywhere, you can take this example. The sun is away from us, according to the scientists calculation, 93,000,000 miles away. And immediately, within a second, his sunshine is expanded all over the universe. Immediately. At least 93,000,000's of miles. Within a second.
So if it is possible by ordinary material thing—Kṛṣṇa, God, is full spiritual—how much spiritually powerful He is, that He can expand Himself all over the universes?
Lecture on BG 13.18 -- Bombay, October 12, 1973:
There must be detachment from material activities. Tac chraddadhānā munayo jñāna-vairāgya... (SB 1.2.12), paśyanty ātmani cātmānaṁ bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā. Bhaktyā. There must be bhakti. And what kind of bhakti? Not sentiment but śruta-gṛhītayā, taking, accepting bhakti, the devotional path, after being completely aware of the spiritual science. Bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā.
Śruta. The specific meaning of śruta means this knowledge has to be received through the ear, through the tongue. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). Śruta-gṛhītayā. It is never explained in the Vedic literature that the science of God can be understood by the eyes. No. It has been mentioned, the tongue and the ear.
Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Tokyo, January 27, 1975:
There are similarly Mohammedan scriptures, Christian scriptures. But in each and every scripture there is rules and regulation to follow to become more and more aware of the topmost principle, the original cause of all causes. That is, means, religion. So one who does not care to understand this philosophy, they are called asura. And one who understands this philosophy of life, they are called sura or devatā, god, demigods, they are called.
Dvau bhūta-sargau loke daiva āsura eva ca (BG 16.6). There are two kinds of men throughout the whole universe. There are men in other planets also, they are very highly elevated. They are therefore called devas, or demigods.
Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Sanand, December 26, 1975:
Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapatti (SB 3.31.1). Karmaṇā, by our work, and by the supervision of the supreme power we are getting different types of body. So there are two kinds of living entities. One kind of living entities, they are trying to go back to home, back to Godhead. They are called devatās. And the asuras, they are not aware of the spiritual world; neither they are endeavoring to go back to home, back to Godhead. So Kṛṣṇa has described about the devotees in so many ways. Now He is discriminating who are the demons. So for the asuras there is no knowledge what is the aim of life.
Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hyderabad, December 15, 1976:
No. But a rich man's son, if he goes out of home and voluntarily accepts suffering, loitering in the street... Just like we see amongst the hippies. Unnecessarily they have accepted suffering. Similarly, unnecessarily we have accepted sufferings of this material world. If our real consciousness, means Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is awakened, then we become aware of our position, constitutional position. Then we are saved from this repetition of birth and death and go back home, back to Godhead.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 1.1.5-6 -- London, August 23, 1971:
In the Vedic civilization there are twenty big, big books, dharma-śāstra, for regulating life. Very difficult subject matter, dharma-śāstra. So Sūta Gosvāmī was offered the seat of vyāsāsana because he was aware of these things, itihāsa, history, Purāṇa, still older history, dharma-śāstra, the scriptures, everything. Therefore he's first of all addressing that "You have read... Not only you have read, but you have described." Description means... You read something. Unless you fully assimilate, understand, you cannot describe it. So two things... Simply reading will not help us. When we shall be able to preach the reading matter, doesn't matter whether in the same language or in my own language... It doesn't matter. That is wanted. Ākhyātāny adhītāni. Adhītāni means "You have read."
Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Los Angeles, August 28, 1972:
All of them worship the Personality of Godhead. Bhejire munayo 'thāgre. Agra means in the beginning of creation. Later on they have deviated, or as the ages are going on, people are becoming degraded in their standard of spiritual understanding. In the Satya-yuga, cent percent people were aware of their spiritual necessity of life. Next yuga, seventy-five percent. Next yuga, fifty percent, fifty percent; and this yuga, Kali-yuga, seventy-five percent are rascals, and twenty-five percent, they are little wise. And out of that twenty-five percent, mostly they are fruitive actors. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3).
Lecture on SB 1.7.6 -- Vrndavana, September 5, 1976:
If one is not in awareness of the conclusion of Vedas, conclusion of the smṛti, conclusion of the Purāṇas, and pañcarātra-vidhi. Nārada Pañcarātra, aikāntikī harer bhaktiḥ, without reference to this Vedic literature, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has said utpāta, simply disturbance. Simply a disturbance. Manufacturing. They'll manufacture some ways. There are so many anarthas. If we come to detail it will take long, long time.
Lecture on SB 1.7.18 -- Vrndavana, September 15, 1976:
Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta (SB 11.3.21). You have to go to the guru. Why? Jijñāsuḥ śreya... If you want to know the real life, then you have to go to guru. Jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. Then what is the sign, what is the symptom of such guru where I shall get real information? That is also stated. Jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam, śābde pare ca niṣṇātam. One who is fully aware of the transcendental science or words, śabda, śabda-brahma. Śabda-brahma means Vedic literature. One is completely in awareness of Vedic knowledge. Śābde pare ca niṣṇātam. Niṣṇātam means one has taken a dip in the ocean of this Vedic literature. Niṣṇātam. And what is the result? Śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam. The Supreme Brahman... Brahman, Paramātmā, Bhagavān. Brahmaṇi, either of them.
Lecture on SB 1.7.28-29 -- Vrndavana, September 25, 1976:
Without spiritual energy, this whole universe is useless, anywhere you go. The modern scientists, they are going to—so-called—they are going to this planet, that planet. And they do not find any spiritual energy. They simply see the material energy-sand and rocks. That cannot be. Because... They can bluff because people are not aware of the whole science. They can bluff. In this material world there are two energies working: material and spiritual. There cannot be only material. There must be spiritual energy. So they say that there is no life, that means there is no spiritual energy. It cannot be accepted. It cannot be. It is out of question. Because here we find jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). There must be living entity who is conducting this material energy. This body is very beautiful, very useful.
Lecture on SB 1.7.45-46 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1976:
This is the injunction of the śāstra. And... "May be in the śāstra, but it is not carried." No, it is carried. Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktaḥ **, it is said, tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ. Those who are aware of the śāstras...
Just like we have installed the Deity according to śāstra. There is nothing imaginary. It is not idol worship. Idol worship is different. Just like in the Western countries they put an idol on the street, on the park, as the resting place of the crows and passing stool on the head. That is idol worship. The so-called statues are installed and without any protection... No. Our worship is not idol worship.
Lecture on SB 1.8.32 -- Mayapura, October 12, 1974:
You can understand the Supreme Brahman... Simply understanding Brahman will not give you satisfaction. Simply understanding ahaṁ brahmāsmi, this will not... Suppose if you have got money, and you are aware that you are very rich man. So simply thinking that you are very rich man and you see your money in the treasury, you'll be happy? No. When the money is utilized in so many ways for your gratification, then you are happy. Similarly, simple understanding, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, this realization, will not make you happy. You have to utilize his Brahman's position.
Lecture on SB 1.8.33 -- Mayapura, October 13, 1974:
Tattva means one who knows tattva. They know that ultimately the Absolute Truth is person, not imperson. Therefore Bhāgavata says, vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). What is the Absolute Truth? Absolute Truth means tattvam. So Bhāgavata says, vadanti tat tattva-vidaḥ: "Those who are aware of the Absolute Truth, they say like this." What is that? Brahmeti... Yad, yaj jñānam advayam. Advayam: "He is without any duality, but the Absolute Truth is known as in three features: by somebody as Brahman, by somebody as Paramātmā, and somebody as Bhagavān."
Lecture on SB 1.8.36 -- Mayapura, October 16, 1974:
That's all, enjoy the senses." That is the whole civilization.
So intelligent persons, they should be aware that "Simply for sense gratification if we are working so hard, then this is being done by the animals also. Then what is the difference between us and the animal?" But they are so mad after sense gratification... Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vi... They are prepared to work for something which one should... Just like stealing or black-marketing and... There are so many things. They are working hard. Even a, a thief, he is risking his life not to work hard, but he's risking his life.
Lecture on SB 1.8.46 -- Mayapura, October 26, 1974:
When the politicians cannot control the mass of people being dissatisfied, they make a clique to declare some war so that all their attention may be diverted. This is politics.
But the Battle of Kurukṣetra was not that type of battle. One should be aware of the Battle of Kurukṣetra very nicely. It was dharma-yuddha. Dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ (BG 1.1). Why they settled up that the fighting should take place in the dharma-kṣetra? They are to fight, yuyutsavaḥ. It was settled they will fight, but why they selected the dharma-kṣetra? This is Vedic system.
Lecture on SB 1.10.4 -- Mayapura, June 19, 1973:
So when one becomes budha... Budha means well aware of everything. Then he understands Kṛṣṇa is the source of everything. He's the Supreme. So... And dharma, as it is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in reference with the Ajāmila-mokṣaṇa, that Yamarāja said: dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Nobody can manufacture dharma.
Lecture on SB 1.15.46 -- Los Angeles, December 24, 1973:
"Now the age of Kali is making his progress very nicely." This is progress. Then another symptom is vittam eva kalau nṟṇāṁ janmācāra-guṇodayaḥ. Formerly, according to spiritual understanding, one man's position was calculated. Just like brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa was honored because he knew Brahman. He was aware of the supreme spirit. So now in Kali-yuga, actually there is no brāhmaṇa. That will be also described, how a brāhmaṇa is. So janma ācāra, birthright. Birthright was there, but according to the behavior. If a man is born in a brāhmaṇa family or kṣatriya family or vai..., he must behave like that. That was the king's duty, to see that "This man is not falsely representing himself." Just like in England there is lord family. So to maintain their aristocracy, the family had to deposit some money with the government so that they may not deteriorate in their aristocratic behavior. Still, it is going on. But now things are finished.
Lecture on SB 1.16.23 -- Hawaii, January 19, 1974:
Prabhupāda: He's already liberated. If one understands this fact, that why God comes, if he is fully aware of the fact, he's already liberated, immediately. Go on.
Pradyumna: "... and therefore he returns to the..."
Prabhupāda: Because without being liberated, one cannot understand God as He is. It is not possible. Because he has no perfect vision. Liberated means perfect knowledge, perfect vision. That is liberation. Yes?
Pradyumna: "Therefore he returns to the kingdom of God immediately after quitting this present material body..."
Lecture on SB 2.1.1-2 -- New York, April 19, 1973:
All great personalities who is self-realized, ātmavit. Ātmavit means one who knows ātmā. General people, they do not know ātmā. But ātmavit means one who knows ātmā, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am spirit soul, I am not this body," and one who is well-acquainted about this ātma-tattva. So unless one becomes aware of this ātma-tattva, whatever he is doing, he is being defeated. They are seeing... Generally people, they are thinking that "I am now constructing this big skyscraper building. I am successful. I have become Rothschild, I have become Paul(?)." That is not ātma-vit. Ātma-vit... Because he is materially opulent, that does not mean ātma-vit. That's a subject matter that will be discussed in the next verse, apaśyatām ātma-tattvam (SB 2.1.2).
Lecture on SB 2.1.1-5 -- Boston, December 22, 1969:
You all young boys and girls, you are fortunate. I am not bluffing you. Actually you are fortunate. You have come to the right place, where you can learn Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the greatest boon of life. Tūrṇaṁ yateta. The śāstra says that "Very quickly you should try to finish this business." Because Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was aware that he was going to live for seven days. But we do not know whether our life is still for seven days or seven minutes. Any moment. There is no guarantee. Don't think that "In old age we shall take up this business of Kṛṣṇa consciousness." By the example of Parīkṣit Mahārāja, we can take the lesson that we do not know when we shall die, but before death we have to become competent in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. What is that competency? Always, twenty-four hours, thinking of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. This is competence.
Lecture on SB 2.1.1-5 -- Melbourne, June 26, 1974:
Each verse is a new verse, not repetition of the same subject. And it is deeply thoughtful. And every verse is, as it is stated here, ātmavit-sammataḥ, approved by persons who are self-realized. Ātmavit. Ātmavit. Ātmā means self, and vit means one who knows, well aware of self-realization. They are called ātmavit.
Generally people are ātmavit, bodily conscious, mass of people or class of people also. Hardly you will find a person at the present moment ātmavit, self-realized. Everyone is: "I am this body." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Canadian," "I am Australian," "I am white," "I am black," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am śūdra," this way—"I am this body." Ātmavit means "I am the self; I am the soul."
Lecture on SB 2.8.7 -- Los Angeles, February 10, 1975:
...being completely aware of Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth, not a bogus. If you want to receive knowledge, then you must approach a guru who is brahma-niṣṭham. That is the qualification of guru. Brahman, brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam. These words are there. He is living in Brahman, Absolute Truth. He has no other business. That is guru.
- tad viddhi praṇipātena
- paripraśnena sevayā
- upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
- jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
- (BG 4.34)
Tattva-darśinaḥ, "who has seen the truth," not imagination. He cannot be guru. Who has actually seen, tattva-darśinaḥ... These are the injunction in the śāstras, and Parīkṣit Mahārāja is strictly following the same principles and asking Śukadeva Gosvāmī, bhavanto jānate yathā: "As you have learned from your predecessor." So that is perfect knowledge.
Lecture on SB 3.25.7 -- Bombay, November 7, 1974:
This simple knowledge is instructed in the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā. There are so many big, big scholars, big, big leaders, and still, they cannot understand that "I am not this body." This is the result because they do not study Bhagavad-gītā in the proper way. We have got so many leaders, big, big leaders. They are teaching Bhagavad-gītā. But nobody is fully aware or convinced that "I am not this body." This is called darkness. This is called darkness. And when one becomes disgusted with this darkness, or this position in the darkness, that is human life. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). Such person, who has become disgusted with this material existence, he requires the instruction of a guru.
Lecture on SB 3.25.37 -- Bombay, December 6, 1974:
Temple is called nirguṇa. Temple is called nirguṇa. In the śāstra the forest is sattva-guṇa, and city is rajo-guṇa, and the places like these four sinful activities are going on—illicit sex, intoxication, gambling... There are places. Every one of us aware of it. So they are called tamo-guṇa. So to live in such places where illicit sex or prostitution is going on, the place where drinking is going on, the place where meat-eating, hotels, restaurant is going on, and gambling going on, these places are tamo-guṇa. And ordinary cities and towns, they are called rajo-guṇa. And forest... Therefore formerly those who were aspiring after spiritual under..., they left either city or these things, everything. They went to the forest.
Lecture on SB 3.25.42 -- Bombay, December 10, 1974:
This is going on. This is modern education. This is modern civilization. They are not aware of the tīvraṁ bhayam, the most fierceful situation of birth, death, old age, and disease. This is the opportunity, the human life, how to get out of it. The means are there. But we are so fools. We are so foolishly educated in the name of modern civilization that we neglect all these things and we place ourself in the waves of the material nature. Māyār bośe, jāccho bhese', Khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi. We are being carried away by the waves of this material nature, and we have submitted to the laws of material nature. And therefore we are subjected to birth, death, old age, and disease. And not only birth—there is no guarantee what kind of birth next life.
Lecture on SB 3.26.26 -- Bombay, January 3, 1975:
The learning should be perfect. What is that perfect learning? That vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). If you are actually learned, if you are proud of becoming vedāntī or knowledge in Vedānta, then you must be aware of Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ. Otherwise śrama eva hi kevalam.
- dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ
- viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ
- notpādayed yadi ratiṁ
- śrama eva hi kevalam
- (SB 1.2.8)
Either you become śānta or ghora or mūḍha, three kinds of position in this material world... śānta. Śānta means in the brahminical qualification, and ghora means activities, material activities, fruitive activities, and mūḍha, just like animal, neither śānta nor ghora, simply animal.
Lecture on SB 3.26.28 -- Bombay, January 5, 1975:
Neither there is birth, death, old age, and disease. These things are absent. Everyone is full of transcendental bliss. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). By nature they are ānandamaya, always jolly. And here also, in this material world, when we become free from this material concept of life, bodily concept of life, when we are fully aware of the thing that "I am not this material body; I am spirit soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi," he also becomes jolly because he acquires the spiritual quality. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā. That is the sign. Prasannātmā. Na śoc... Prasannātmā. What does it mean, prasannātmā? Na śocati na kāṅkṣati: (BG 18.54) "There is no hankering, and there is no lamentation." Then it is possible to see everyone on the equal level. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu.
Lecture on SB 3.26.31 -- Bombay, January 8, 1975:
What is their happiness? The happiness is sex. That's all. That has been described as tuccham, most abominable. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham. Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8).
So we are not aware what is the aim of life. So Kṛṣṇa is very kind. He therefore comes. He came just before the beginning of this Kali-yuga, the most fallen age, and left for us the Bhagavad-gītā. And then, after Him, after His departure... It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, "After departure of Kṛṣṇa from this planet to His own abode, the principle of religion and knowledge, where it is kept?" So the answer is: "It is kept in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam." Adhunā udita.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Johannesburg, October 20, 1975:
That is God, omniscient. He has got full knowledge. We may not have because we are very tiny. A child may not have knowledge, but the father knows everything. Similarly, He is the supreme father. He knows everything. He has got full knowledge. Anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu. There are things, indirect and direct. In both ways He is abhijña; He is well aware, everything. Then the next question is svarāṭ. Svarāṭ. Because we are thinking in our own way of life, that "If God has got so much knowledge, wherefrom He got it?" Because we have got experience that whenever we require knowledge we go to a superior person and take knowledge from him—"Then wherefrom God has got so much knowledge?" Therefore the answer is svarāṭ. Svarāṭ means He is fully independent. He is not dependent for knowledge to anyone else. So these things are there. We have to study very nicely.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Delhi, November 28, 1975:
That is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhagavāt. Bhagavān. The word Bhagavāt and... Bhāgavata is also in relationship with Bhagavāt or Bhagavān. So every śloka of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is full of spiritual information. If we take advantage of this great Vedic literature, then we become fully aware of Bhagavān and the devotees of Bhagavān. Therefore it is named Bhāgavatam. But this Bhāgavatam has to be studied from the very beginning and take the lessons from live bhāgavata. There are two kinds of Bhāgavatam—one, this grantha bhāgavatam, and the other is a person bhāgavatam. Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised that if you want to understand Bhāgavatam, then you must approach a person whose life is Bhāgavatam. He said, bhāgavata para-giya bhāgavata sthane, that "If we learn, listen, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the person bhāgavatam, then it is very easy to understand the spiritual knowledge given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam."
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Boston, April 28, 1969:
Prabhupāda: Do you know what is consciousness? What is that?
Student: Yes. (indistinct) an awareness of reality, reality, an awareness...
Prabhupāda: No. What is the general concept? You are conscious of something? Is it not?
Student: An awareness.
Prabhupāda: Oh. It may be different. Similarly, you become conscious of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Is that clear?
Student: No.
Prabhupāda: Not yet?
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 11, 1975:
Tattva-jijñāsā, that is the main business. Now, what is that tattva? That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam: (SB 1.2.11) "Those who are aware of the tattva, they say that tattva means the Supreme Absolute Truth." Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam (SB 1.2.11). Jñānam, that knowledge, is advaya. Advaya means without any duality. But they are expressed in three different ways—Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān—brahmeti paramātmeti, according to the stage of understanding. Those who are in the lower stage—we cannot say lower—in the beginning stage, that is Brahman realization. And one who has made further progress, that is Paramātmā realized. And one who has made further progress, that is Bhagavān realization.
Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:
If there is a brāhmaṇa, if there is a sannyāsī, one should accept, give preference to him, to accept guru. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "That is not the criterion. One must be well expert, experienced, well aware of the science of Kṛṣṇa. He shall be guru." Not that particularly because one is born in a brāhmaṇa family or one has taken sannyāsa, he is immediately by the dress, or by birth, one can become guru. No. That is going on. Now it is diminishing. Formerly, in India it was the practice. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "It doesn't matter." Kibā vipra, kibā śūdra. Vipra means brāhmaṇa, and śūdra means the fourth class, less than the vaiśyas. So kibā vipra, kibā śūdra, nyāsī kene naya. Nyāsī means sannyāsī. Never mind nyāsī, or without nyāsī, because śūdra cannot be sannyāsī.
Lecture on SB 5.5.18 -- Vrndavana, November 6, 1976:
First of all, it is said about guru, anyone who takes care of his subordinate, he is guru. The first charge is that you should not become a guru unless you are completely in awareness how to save your dependent from the path of birth and death. That is the first question. Not that "I am your guru. I can cure some colic pain in your belly." They go to guru also for that purpose. People generally go to guru, rascals go to guru, to another rascal. What is that? "Sir, I have got some pain. Give me some ashirvad so that my pain may be cured." "But why you have come here, rascal, here for curing your pain? In the village you can go to some doctor, or you can take some tablet. Is it the purpose of coming to visit guru?" But generally they come to guru and ask for blessing for some material benefit.
Lecture on SB 5.5.19 -- Vrndavana, November 7, 1976:
So there is no question of self-realization by your gross understanding. You have to understand by hearing. Therefore to get real knowledge is not by the eyes and senses but by the ear. Therefore Vedic knowledge is called śruti. You have to receive knowledge—śruti. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Why? The guru means who is fully aware of the śruti, śrotriyam, one who has perfectly listened to his guru. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. And by hearing only, he has become brahma-niṣṭham, without any doubt: "Yes, there is God. Yes." We have to approach such person who has perfectly listened to his... Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). So by śruti, by hearing oral reception. Just like there is practical example. Suppose you are sleeping, and somebody is coming to do you some harm, to kill you.
Lecture on SB 5.6.5 -- Vrndavana, November 27, 1976:
So budha means one who is aware of everything, jñānī. Budhā bhāva-samanvitaḥ (BG 10.8). Such budha, intelligent person, will not accept these base qualities. Kāma, manyur means greediness, lusty; madaḥ—madness; lobha... Mada, mada? Kāmo manyur mada. What is mada? Madness? Mada—pride, yes. Kāmo manyur mado lobhaḥ—greediness; śoka—lamentation; moha—illusion; bhaya... Bhaya means when we are too much materially absorbed then there is bhaya. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca sāmānyam etat paśubhir narāṇām. So long we are interested in bodily concept of life, these things are manifested.
Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Honolulu, June 8, 1975:
The whole Bhāgavata is talking between the spiritual master and the disciple. Śukadeva Gosvāmī is the spiritual master, and Mahārāja Parīkṣit, king, is the disciple. At the time of his death he had only seven days remaining. He was aware that only seven days remaining. So Mahārāja Parīkṣit left his kingdom and sat down on the bank of the Ganges, and fortunately his spiritual master also came.
So there was discussion on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for seven days. This seven days' discussion is imitated by the professional Bhāgavata reciters in India. But that is not required. We have to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam daily. Parīkṣit Mahārāja had only seven days left in his life; therefore he hurriedly finished the reading of Bhāgavatam. But, of course, he had seven days assured. We haven't got seven minute assured.
Lecture on SB 6.1.14 -- Bombay, November 10, 1970:
"Those who are always engaged in love and affection." Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam, "I say unto Him, I give him intelligence." Not to ordinary persons. Those who are actually engaged in the service of the Lord, he can get instruction from Kṛṣṇa. Tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā. And when he gets instruction fully and he is fully aware of Kṛṣṇa, viśate tad anantaram, then merging question comes. Without understanding... Without clear understanding of Kṛṣṇa where is the question of merging? Simply imagining that I am merge into Kṛṣṇa? No. That is not possible. You should know first of all what is Kṛṣṇa, what is God. Then there is question of merging. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). Therefore this merging process takes place after many, many births. Is it not? So we first of all have to understand Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa. If he has vague idea of Kṛṣṇa, vague idea of... Where is the question of merging?
Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- Los Angeles, June 27, 1975:
This firm conviction and steadiness will save you without any doubt, this conviction. Vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ. Then what is that vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ? That is also not very easy thing. Kṛṣṇa, Vasudeva, says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). Vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ and jñānavān mām..., the same thing. When one is fully in awareness what is what, then That awareness also comes—bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, after many many thousands of births, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñān..., when he is actually jñānavān, that "What I am, what is my duty," that is actually jñānavān māṁ prapadyate. So vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). After many, many births, when he comes to this, understand that "Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is everything. So let me. Kṛṣṇa also asking me to surrender. Let me do it immediately," that is called vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ.
Lecture on SB 6.1.17 -- Denver, June 30, 1975:
And all the Vedas ascertain that one should know what is God. That is wanted. (aside:) Don't make that sound. Vedaiś ca sarvaiḥ. People do not know it. This whole material world, they do not know what is the actual knowledge. They are busy in temporary things for sense gratification, but they are not aware what is actual the goal of knowledge. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum: (SB 7.5.31) the goal of knowledge is to know Viṣṇu, God. That is goal of knowledge. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. This life, the human form of life, is meant for understanding the Absolute Truth. That is life.
Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Indore, December 13, 1970:
Guest (6): The ones who have come here, they are not aware of this morning... (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: But they are not genuine. That is the difficulty. They want... They come, and as soon as they say, "Oh, Swamijī is speaking something against our conviction," they reject that.
Guest (6): But are they aware that...?
Prabhupāda: No, even they are aware, so many came and they are not coming. Because the nonsense was stopped, they are, that "Oh, Swamijī is..." They have not come. They want that whatever nonsense they have learned, I have to confirm: "Yes, it is right." Just like the Ramakrishna Mission says, "Whatever you do, it is all right," I have to say that. Then I am good.
Lecture on SB 6.1.41 -- Los Angeles, June 7, 1976:
Or otherwise they could not work. Every one of them completely aware that "We are all Kṛṣṇa's servants." Similarly, guru is not ordinary human being. Guruṣu nara-matir. Guru is not ordinary human being. Ordinary human being cannot preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is not possible. Kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe kṛṣṇa nāma pracāra. So anyone who is preaching, he cannot be considered as ordinary human being. Even though Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has explained this, that why not ordinary being? His son is calling him "father," or his relatives, they're taking him as ordinary. So Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says still he is not ordinary human being. Why? Because he is preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ, guruṣu nara-matir, and śrī viṣṇu-padatīrthau.
Lecture on SB 6.1.41-42 -- Surat, December 23, 1970:
There is no kṣatriya; there is no brāhmaṇa; there is no vaiśya. Therefore the śāstra says, kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: "In the Kali-yuga there is only śūdras." There is no more brāhmaṇa. Of course, there is, not "no more," but very minor quantity, very... Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3). Brāhmaṇa means one who is aware of the Supreme Absolute Truth. And one who is above brāhmaṇa, when the Absolute Truth is worshiped, that is Vaiṣṇava. A brāhmaṇa may be qualified in so many ways, but if he is not a Vaiṣṇava, then he cannot be a spiritual master. That is also stated in the śāstra: ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipraḥ. A brāhmaṇa is very qualified, ṣaṭ-karma. Ṣaṭ-karma, six kinds of activities. The six kinds of activities are paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana dāna-pratigraha. Paṭhana means he must be very much serious in understanding the Vedic literatures. That is brāhmaṇa's qualification, very much studious, high-class scholar in Vedic literature, paṭhana. And pāṭhana, he must teach the Vedic knowledge.
Lecture on SB 6.1.49 -- Detroit, June 15, 1976:
This is the intelligence, that "I am undergoing constantly some sort of distresses due to this body, due to this mind, due to distresses inflicted by other living entities, and due to natural disturbances. A combination of distresses. But I don't want all these distresses." Everyone is aware. He doesn't want distresses, but it is enforced. This should be the question, to... When one accepts the spiritual master... Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Sanātana Gosvāmī, he is by his practical example, he said that one should go and inquire from the spiritual master that "Why I am in this condition of life, always suffering?" Tri-tāpa yātanā. But we have become so dull, like the animals. The animals, they cannot question. They are suffering.
Lecture on SB 6.1.56-57 -- Bombay, August 14, 1975:
That was education. From five years he is trained up. He goes to... Nowadays also, the children are sent to school at five years age, but the mode of education, different. Formerly, within twenty years a student, a brahmacārī, was trained up with all these qualifications, as it is described. What is that? The first is śruta-sampannaḥ, "expertly aware of Vedic knowledge." Ayaṁ hi śruta-sampannaḥ, śīla, śīla-vṛtta-guṇālayaḥ. Śīla means śuddhacara, cleansing. Because brāhmaṇa's qualification is śamo damo satam. What is that? Śamo damo... Tapo satyam. Cleanliness. So this is also trained up, how to become clean, to rise early in the morning, take bath, wash mouth, feet. Guṇa-sampannaḥ. Then take to maṅgala-āratika. In this he was also trained up. Ayaṁ hi śruta-sampannaḥ śīla-vṛtta-guṇālayaḥ. Guṇa means sad-guṇa, this śamo damo titikṣa ārjava, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyam. These are guṇālayaḥ, reservoir of all good qualities. Dhṛta-vrata.
Lecture on SB 6.1.56-57 -- Bombay, August 14, 1975:
Therefore we have no caste distinction because our process is to elevate the muci to the platform of śuci, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Actually that is the fact. We are unnecessarily becoming tannery expert. That is not the aim of life. The aim of life is to become śuci, to become brāhmaṇa, or the person who is aware of Brahman. Brahma jānātī iti brāhmaṇaḥ. This is the philosophy. But nobody is interested to become a brāhmaṇa. Everyone is interested to remain a muci and tannery expert. That is not the aim of life. So this is training. Muci haya śuci haya. One can be trained up to become a śuci from the platform of muci. And even though one is born of a śuci family, if by practice he is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he automatically becomes a muci. Śuci haya muci haya, yadi kṛṣṇa tyāje.
Lecture on SB 6.3.18 -- Gorakhpur, February 11, 1971:
And I stand again in that line; again fall down. Make a line. Again that line. In this way, round. Tapasya. This is called tapasya, austerity. We should not take very leniently that we are going back to Godhead. Of course, there is so many concession for the... But at the same time, we should be very much aware of the responsibility that we have decided to go back to Godhead after leaving this body, so we have to perform some austerities. The austerity in our Gauḍīya-sampradāya is very simple: following the four principles, restriction, avoiding the offenses, and chanting regular beads. That's all. And hearing. Chanting and hearing, both things. Not only chanting; we have to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way we should engage twenty-four hours' business.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 12, 1968:
And if one is not advanced in knowledge, he is a child. That's all. So child does not mean that a five years old boy. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was only five years old, and just see how nicely he is teaching. So he is older than any other man. At least, he is older than his atheistic father. So you should always remember that any man who is not aware of a particular subject matter, he is a child in that subject matter. And one who is fully aware in his particular subject—it doesn't matter what is his age—he is to be considered as a learned... (end)
Lecture on SB 7.6.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 6, 1973:
"So if they are CIA Department, they are pushing on this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement under the garb, then what is government's information? This is first question. If not, where they are getting so much money spending?" In this way two, three questions were raised. Fortunately the home member was aware of our movement and he replied that "They do not belong to the CIA Department. We do not have any such information and there is no need of any action. And so far their finance is concerned, we understand that they are selling their literatures and public contribution." That is the fact, actually. We are selling our books about, three, more, not less than three thousand dollars daily, and that is giving us our financial help. We have no other means of income. Although we have got expenditure not less than one hundred thousands of dollars per month throughout the whole world.
Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Toronto, June 19, 1976:
They're all born of daitya family. Daitya family means they're simply after sense gratification. That is called daitya family. And human family, or devata family... There are two classes: daitya and devatā. Daitya means they do not know anything, just like animals, simply after sense gratification. They are called daityas. And devatā means they are fully aware of the existence of God, their relationship with God, duty with reference to God, they are called devatās. That is the difference between daityas... So Prahlāda Mahārāja, circumstantially, because he was to deliver the daityas, so he took his birth, by the will of the Supreme Lord, he took birth in a daitya family. Sometimes devotees come in a particular type of family to deliver the community or the society. So here the class friends were all daityas, born of daitya family. They are not born of very enlightened family. So therefore he's addressing, daityā. Sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā deha... (aside:) Sit properly.
Lecture on SB 7.6.4 -- Vrndavana, December 5, 1975:
Everyone is practically aware that how sex life is followed by so many miserable condition of life. Everyone knows it. Either illicit or legal. The world is going on. Because there is no Kṛṣṇa consciousness, now they are creating so many sinful life, killing the child openly. The doctors, the medical men, the scientists, advise, "If you like, you can kill your child." And to kill a child means how much sinful activities, they do not know, but they are inducing. He has to become a child and he will be killed by somebody else. And again as many times he has killed children he will have to live within the womb and be killed. Bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ. It will be followed by so many miserable condition of life.
Lecture on SB 7.6.10 -- Vrndavana, December 12, 1975:
The brāhmaṇa, they were trained up not to earn money, but to learn how to become self-controlled, śama damas satyam, how to speak truth, or how to understand the Absolute Truth. Then cleanliness, śama dama satyaṁ śaucam. Titikṣa, how to become tolerant. Ārjava, simple. Jñānam, fully aware of all kinds of knowledge. Vijñānam, practical application of knowledge. So then āstikyam. Āstikyam means to accept the authority of the śāstra. That is called āstik. That is theism. Theism means just like Veda, one who accepts the authority of Vedas, he is called āstik. And one who does not accept the authority of the Vedas, he is called nāstik. Āstik and nāstik.
According to Vedic civilization, one who does not follow the Vedic principle, he is called nāstik. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has explained about the Buddhist. Buddhists, they do not believe in the Vedic injunction, or the Muslims.
Lecture on SB 7.7.22-26 -- San Francisco, March 10, 1967:
Guest (1): And I am aware of it?
Prabhupāda: Yes. You were aware, but you were a little deep, deep sleep. Just like I remember my chloroform case. So I remember very slightly, but there is remembrance. The consciousness is still there, but for some time it is curbed down. So if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious once, even if at that time you are so-called unconscious, still, Kṛṣṇa is with you. He is not forgetful. He is not forgetful. Therefore He will give you the proper result. Don't think that at the, at the time of your death, because you are so completely out of consciousness, therefore there is frustration. No. There is no frustration. There is no frustration.
Lecture on SB 7.9.12 -- Montreal, August 18, 1968:
Not that you have to become a very learned man, very scholarly man, and you have to present your prayers in a very nicely selected words so that poetry, rhetoric, prosody, everything is there, metaphor. Nothing required. Simply you have to express your feelings.
So what is that real feeling? One must be aware of his position; then one can express his feeling. Feeling should be very sincere and automatic. And what is our position? That has been taught by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches us how to pray. He says in His prayer, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). Jagadīśa: "O My Lord of the universe." Jagat-īśa. Jagat means universe and īśa means Lord. So it does not matter whether you are Hindu or Muslim or Christian or anyone.
Lecture on SB 7.9.13 -- Montreal, August 21, 1968:
Modes of goodness means those who are brāhmaṇas. And who are brāhmaṇas? Brahma jānāti: one who knows what is Brahman or the Absolute Truth, he is called brāhmaṇa. And he is situated in the modes of goodness. The less intelligent, that means those who are less aware of the Absolute Truth, according to the less awareness, the position is different. The first-class position is one who is aware of the Absolute Truth, he is in the goodness. Less awareness is the kṣatriya, or in the modes of passion. Less awareness is the vaiśyas, the mercantile class of people. They are in the third position. And the śūdra, they are in the fourth position, in the darkness, unawareness. And again, the degree of unawareness makes more and more abominable condition of life. Just like animal life.
Lecture on SB 7.9.24 -- Mayapur, March 2, 1976:
So that disease is going on beginning from Brahmā down to the ant. Prahlāda Mahārāja has understood this so-called false prestigious position of becoming a master. He says that "I am quite aware of this false thing. Kindly engage me..." Nija-bhṛtya-pārśvam. Nija-bhṛtya-pārśvam means just like apprentice. Apprentice, one apprentice is engaged to one expert man. By and by, the apprentice learns how to do the things. Therefore he says, nija-bhṛtya-pārśvam. "Not that immediately I become very expert servant, but let me..." Our this institution is for that purpose. If somebody comes here, the free hotel and free sleeping accommodation, then his coming to this association is useless. He must learn how to serve.
Lecture on SB 7.9.43 -- Visakhapatnam, February 22, 1972:
So we are passing through, but we are not aware how to avoid it, how to become free from this life of anxiety. That is being described by Prahlāda Mahārāja. He says that "For me, my Lord, I am not at all anxious. I am completely free from all these calamities." Just see. He was a boy of five years old only, but he is confident that he is not subjected to the calamities. Duratyaya-vaitaraṇyāḥ. Why? Tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ (SB 7.9.43), "Because I have learned to fulfill my heart by glorifying Your wonderful activities." Kīrtanam. Kīrtanam means to describe or to sing the glorious activities of the Lord, that is called kīrtanam.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 23, 1972:
Caitanya Mahāprabhu displayed that mahā-bhāva. That mahā-bhāva is not possible for ordinary man. It is especially prerogative of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and who played the part of Rādhārāṇī, although He's Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So mahā-bhāva, the ecstasies, that is not to be imitated by us, but to be aware of this fact that how mahā-bhāgavata, mahā-bhāva, they treat with Kṛṣṇa. So generally, advancement, especially those who are preachers, they should remain on the second platform. Even a mahā-bhāgavata, when he becomes preacher, he comes down to the second platform. He does not remain on the topmost platform. He plays the part of second platform. And sometimes it is stated in the Bible, I think, that Jesus Christ said, "I had many things to say, but I am not saying." Is it not?
The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 2, 1972:
Pradyumna: "As long as one identifies himself as belonging to a certain family, a certain society, or a certain person, he is said to covered with designations. When one is fully aware that he does not belong to any family, society, or country, but is eternally related to Kṛṣṇa, he then realizes that his energy should be employed not in the interests of so-called family, society or country, but in the interests of Kṛṣṇa. This, this is purity of purpose and the platform of pure devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
Prabhupāda: So our purpose... The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is started with this summary idea, that nobody should think himself as belonging to certain family or sect or religion or country or nation. All these designations have created havoc in the world, these false designations. When I think that "This country is mine," it is a false designation. Country is not mine. I am a guest here.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.4 -- Mayapur, March 28, 1975:
How to become guru? Now, yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Simply that qualification is sufficient. Don't adulterate the 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa. You simply present what Kṛṣṇa says as it is. Then every one of you will become a guru. Don't adulterate—"I think," "In my opinion." These nonsense things should be given up. We should always be aware that we are insignificant creature. Our opinion and thinking has no value. This should be the first principle. Why should you give opinion on the words of Kṛṣṇa? Are you more authoritative person than Kṛṣṇa? This is foolishness, to try to become more than Kṛṣṇa. There are so many rascals. They present that "Now we have advanced. We know more than Kṛṣṇa." So be saved from these rascals. Then you will understand Kṛṣṇa, and through Caitanya Mahāprabhu you will understand what is the position of Kṛṣṇa, what is your relationship with Kṛṣṇa, what is the ultimate goal of life. These things will be clearly exhibited.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.100-108 -- New York, November 22, 1966:
When a sane man comes to this understanding, he is eligible for spiritual evolution. And one is dull, who cannot understand what are these miseries, then he has no need of approaching a spiritual master or inquiring about transcendental subject. Just like a man who is not, I mean to say, aware of his disease, he does not go to a physician. He thinks, "I'm all right." Just like the drunkards in the Bowery Street. They think that "We...," they're all right. There, there is nothing miserable condition for them. But what do they know about miserable...? They are so much accustomed to this miserable condition that they cannot understand what is meaning of his miserable condition. Yes.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.110 -- New York, July 17, 1976:
That is not possible. Now see the illumination of God. Just like, practical, we can experience the sunshine. Everyone knows what is sunshine, but everyone is not aware of the temperature of the sun or the person within the sun. But that's a fact. Otherwise, Kṛṣṇa is liar. Kṛṣṇa said, "I spoke this philosophy to the sun-god." So sun-god is there, that's a fact. And then if the sun-god is there, his devotees or his associates are also there.
So far we get information, all the planets, they are full of living entities. Janakīrṇa. It is stated in the Vedic literatures, janakīrṇa. Janakīrṇa means congested with living entities.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.111 -- New York, July 19, 1976:
This thing can be understood by the budhā. Budhā means one who is very intelligent, one who is in awareness of everything. He is called budhā. Bhāva-samanvitāḥ: "Oh, it is coming from Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Then they become more and more a devotee. That is stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta:
- siddhānta baliyā citte nā kara alasa
- ihā ha-ite kṛṣṇe lāge sudṛḍha mānasa
Sentiment is no... Sentiment is bhāva, but that is after full knowledge. When you can understand Kṛṣṇa is so great, so powerful, then your devotion increases immediately. Therefore we have to study śāstras for understanding His position, and if we understand Kṛṣṇa, then we become liberated person immediately.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Arrival -- Philadelphia, July 11, 1975:
Woman Reporter: I know you are very much aware of all the other gurus, especially that have been coming to the United States in the recent years, and I wondered if you could explain why it is that you believe that you have the truth rather than someone else.
Prabhupāda: Explain?
Brahmānanda: She wants to know that there are many other gurus, and why do you feel that you have the truth?
Prabhupāda: Because we speak the truth. We don't give bluff that "I am God. I am this. I am that." We don't give. We are... Actual position: God is great, and we are all servants. This is our actual position. How can I say, "I am God"? So we do not give bluff. We say the real truth; therefore it appeals. And if I say something humbug, it will not appeal. It may act for some time, but it will not endure.
Brahmānanda: Is there any other question?
Arrival Address -- Paris, August 11, 1975:
The first dirty thing is to accept this body as self. This conception, bodily concept of life, is existing amongst the animals. It is existing amongst the animals that "I am this body." So actually, I am not this body, I am spirit soul. I am embodied within this body, material body. This is the fact. If we simply become aware of this fact that "I am not this body, I am spirit soul. I am living within this body," then immediately we become liberated from this material world simply by this understanding. And this can be understood by any sane man without any study of philosophy, simply by common sense. The simple philosophy is that the child is now possessing a small body, then he will possess a big body, then another big body. In this way the child is there, the body is changing, that's a fact. And the body changes so long the soul is there. Therefore, the conclusion should be the body and the soul, they are different.
Initiation Lectures
Lecture at Initiation Fire Sacrifice -- Los Angeles, July 16, 1969:
The animal is being taken to the slaughterhouse, but still he's happy. This is animal life. So when one cannot understand his sufferings of this material contamination, his life is animal life. He knows that he's suffering, but he's trying to cover the suffering by some nonsense means: by forgetfulness, by drinking, by intoxication, by this, by that. He's aware of his suffering, but he wants to cover his suffering in a nonsense way. Just like the rabbit. The rabbit, when he's in face to face of some ferocious animal, the rabbit closes the eyes. He thinks he is safe. Similarly, simply by trying to cover our sufferings by artificial means, that is not solution. That is ignorance. The suffering can be solved by enlightenment of spiritual life, spiritual bliss. That is the way. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. Ānanda means bliss, transcendental bliss. And there is ocean of transcendental bliss. If you want to dip into this ocean, there is chance for you.
Initiation Lecture Excerpt -- London, September 7, 1971:
Bell metal means mixture of copper and tin. That makes bell metal. Eighty percent copper, eighty percent tin. And along with it, if some suitable percentage of mercury is mixed, it becomes immediately gold. This chemical suggestion is there in the Vedic śāstras. So it is clear that they were quite aware of all these chemical method. So the example is given, as the base metal or bell metal can be transferred into gold by mixture of mercury under certain process, yathā kāñcanatāṁ yāti kāṁsyaṁ rasa-vidhānataḥ... Rasa, rasa means mercury. Tathā dīkṣā-vidhānena. Similarly, any lowborn, it doesn't matter what he is, if proper initiation is conducted, then tathā dīkṣā-vidhānena dvijatvaṁ jāyate nṛṇām, he becomes a brāhmaṇa. He becomes a brāhmaṇa. Dvijatvam. Dvija means twice-born. Any man. In India there are many rascals who think that without being born in a brāhmaṇa family nobody can become brāhmaṇa.
General Lectures
Lecture Excerpt -- Montreal, July 20, 1968:
Guest: Is Kṛṣṇa consciousness the knowing or the awareness of the Absolute?
Prabhupāda: Certainly. Otherwise, why you are laboring so hard? To know yourself, know the Absolute. Three, five things. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to know perfectly well five things. What are those? God, living entity, and this material nature, the time factor, and the activities. God, the supreme controller. However you may declare there is no God, there is a supreme controller. That we have to admit. There are so many things that which does not depend on our so-called scientific advancement of knowledge. It depends completely something else.
Lecture -- Seattle, September 30, 1968:
Jāhnavā: How and why did we lose our awareness of our true love for Kṛṣṇa in the beginning?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How and why... How and why did we lose our love for Kṛṣṇa in the beginning?
Jāhnavā: No, not the love. Just the awareness of the love, of our true love for Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Our awareness is there. You love somebody. But you are meant to love Kṛṣṇa, that you have forgotten. So forgetfulness is also our nature. Sometimes we forget. And especially because we are very small, minute, therefore even I cannot remember exactly what I was doing last night at this time. So forgetfulness is not unnatural for us. And again, if somebody revives our memory, to accept that, that is also not unnatural. So our loving object is Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture Engagement and Prasada Distribution -- Boston, April 26, 1969:
Prabhupāda: Before?
Guest (4): Wakefulness, awareness.
Guest (2): Does devotion come before wakefulness, or does wakefulness come before devotion?
Prabhupāda: What do you mean by wakefulness?
Guest (4): Awareness. Feeling the present, being aware of yourself.
Prabhupāda: No. First you have to execute devotion; then awareness comes. If you do not read or labor for passing your examination, how you can pass examination? So therefore devotion is the prescribed rules and regulation.
Lecture at Krsna Niketan -- Gorakhpur, February 16, 1971:
Prabhupāda: So many things happening in your body; are you aware of all these things?
Devotee (1): No.
Prabhupāda: Then, similarly, it is happening. Why do you ask such question? So many things are happening in your body. You do not know how it is happening. Therefore it is called prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). The nature is doing. You are completely in the hands of the nature. How, after shaving, how your hairs are growing, do you know?
Lecture at Krsna Niketan -- Gorakhpur, February 16, 1971:
No. It is not. It is taking very perfectly, and we are so ignorant that we cannot understand. We should always know our position, how much we are ignorant. I am claiming I am the... "It is my body." How your nails are growing, can you explain? Why there is no sensation in the nail? So many things you are unaware, even of your body. So how you can be aware that how your body is changing? You have to learn, therefore, from authorities, "It is being done." Just like Kṛṣṇa says, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāra... (BG 2.13). That is the process of knowledge. You have to know from the authorities how things are there. The person who is actually enacting, you have to know from Him. Otherwise, there is no possibility of knowledge.
Lecture -- Jakarta, March 2, 1973:
And if you are serious, we can preview some plan how we can cooperate. So you have got nice place, combinedly we can develop it into very nice center for spiritual culture. And that cultural movement will be interested by everyone in the world. Even those who were not aware of the Vedic culture, they're also joining and taking part in this movement. So my earnest request is that you should seriously think over the matter and join with this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Thank you very much.
Lecture -- London, August 23, 1973:
Therefore we have to understand dharma from scriptures. Veda, veda means the book of knowledge. Veda means knowledge. Vetti veda vido jñānam. Jñāna. So we have to take knowledge from authorized scriptures, authorized lawbook. A big lawyer means who is quite aware of the laws of the state. Similarly, a religious person means who knows completely, at least partially also, the laws of God. That is dharmic. That is dharma. So what is God? You have to understand. Then what does He say? You have to understand, then you can execute actually what is religion. If you do not know what is government, what is the laws of the government, how you can become a good citizen? That is not possible. A good citizen, good citizen means who abide by the laws of the state. Similarly, a religious person means who abides by the order of God. This is dharma.
Lecture -- London, August 26, 1973:
People are increasing their needs artificially; therefore they are in trouble. And as soon as there is accumulation of more things... If you accumulate more than your need, I also imitate to accumulate more than my need, there is competition. That competition is going on. And that is the cause of war. Those who are aware of the history, the two big wars in your Europe was started by German people because they are very much envious of the English people. The Germans, they could not do business throughout the whole British Empire. We know, Indians. So they are very much envious of these British people, and therefore they started two big wars, world war.
Lecture Engagement at Birla House -- Bombay, December 17, 1975:
So this attempt has been done by us individually, with teeny effort, but it is becoming successful. But if we take up seriously this movement, every one of us become completely aware of this movement and take this mission as Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa: (CC Madhya 7.128) "Every one of you, you become a guru," by the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So "I shall become guru? What shall I do? I do not know anything." No! You haven't got to know anything. You simply, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa upadeśa. You simply repeat the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā. Whomever you meet, you try to convince him; then you are guru. So our mission is this, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's.
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on David Hume:
Hayagrīva: He maintains that man cannot know ultimate reality or possess knowledge of anything beyond a mere awareness of phenomenal sensory images.
Prabhupāda: That is sufficient. But if man cannot have any knowledge, so who is going to take your knowledge? Better you stop, don't talk. Is it not?
Hayagrīva: So much for Hume. (laughs) That's the end of Hume.
Prabhupāda: No, no, I mean is not that the conclusion? If he is skeptic, he does not take other's statement why he expects that his statement will be taken? Why does he propose any statement? Does he think that he is the greatest of all? Then everyone can think like that. That skeptic has no ground. He cannot say. If he is skeptic he should stop, he should not stand.
Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:
Śyāmasundara: He says the mind is aware that there is an ultimate reality, or a thing in itself, a noumenon, which produces each phenomenon, but the mind is not equipped to sense this ultimate reality. So the mind must remain forever content to be agnostic.
Prabhupāda: No. He should go to higher authorities. Why should he remain agnostic? If there is possibility, mind cannot go beyond this, but if the same thing, we say upon the roof there is some sound, now we speculate, but we cannot ascertain what is the sound. But if somebody is actually there, he says, "This sound is due to this." So why I shall remain satisfied with agnostic position, that I could not ascertain what is the sound, and therefore I shall remain satisfied? I shall say, "Is there anybody on the roof?" If somebody says, "Yes. I am here," "Will you kindly say what is the sound?" "Yes: this, that, this, that." Therefore Vedic injunction is tad vijñānārtham: that which is beyond your senses, you must approach a spiritual master. He will give you information.
Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:
Prabhupāda: Yes. If one is actually aware of God and His instructions, then the kingdom of God is within himself.
Hayagrīva: The Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone—that is one of his last books—he condemns prayer as an inner formal service to God, because God does not need information regarding the inner disposition of the person offering prayers. In other words, God does not need formal prayer to know what man needs. Such a prayer would be, "Give us this day our daily bread." However, Kant believes that it is good to teach children to pray so that in their early years they may accustom themselves to a life pleasing to God. So that prayer might add their...
Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:
Śyāmasundara: And if I am aware what is that duty...
Prabhupāda: You will be aware as soon as you approach the higher authority. He'll give you order, "Do this," "Do not do this."
Śyāmasundara: Then my conscience tells me if I am doing it right or wrong, my inner conscience, it tells me...
Prabhupāda: Yes. That anyone can understand. Even a dog can understand. You see, if the dog is trying to enter the room, I say "Hut!" he can also, he has got conscience, "Oh, the master does not want me to enter."
Philosophy Discussion on William James:
Śyāmasundara: One's consciousness, as it develops more and more conscious, then he becomes more and more aware of reality.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. But what is the guarantee that he'll develop consciousness fully?
Śyāmasundara: Yes. What if a man develops into a madman? Does that make him more aware of reality?
Prabhupāda: That definition we can give him. When a man becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he is contacted with reality.
Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:
Prabhupāda: Humanity is not worship. Every, every... According to God conscious person, everything is worshipable, even an ant, but supreme worshipable is God. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). So that is wanted. Nature, these persons, they are taking as nature as the Supreme. But those who are actually in awareness of God, they know that God is the controller of nature also. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, māyadhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Nature is matter. Matter cannot act independently. In the Bhagavad-gītā, as (indistinct), the difference, what is the difference between matter and the living being. The difference is the matter is being handled, controlled by the living being. Therefore living being is the superior nature, and matter is inferior nature. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca (BG 7.4).
Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:
Śyāmasundara: He says that to find our authentic selfhood then the next step, beginning with the stage of not being committed to anything, is to be aware that life is an "either/or" decision; that we must begin to commit ourselves to certain patterns of action and make conscious commitments—either this or that—and make decisions and become concerned, ethically(?) concerned with life. This he says is the second stage toward self-realization.
Prabhupāda: Self-realization, as I said, that enquiring to the Absolute Truth. It is not that?
Śyāmasundara: Yes.
Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:
Śyāmasundara: This may be likened to the people who do pious works, or the people who do good to others, who are morally committed to life, on that level. To feed others, clothe others, like that. They say that that is a step higher than simply sense gratification and speculation. He says that "This is a move in the right direction toward authentic selfhood, and eventually this way we will understand what I am. And because we are at last doing something, we are involved with life, then we are no more abstract. We are existing." Then we are existing. That someone who is doing all sense gratification and mental speculation, they are living abstract life, abstract life, external life. Simply waiting for the enjoyment of life and speculating what is the meaning of things, that is abstract life, and this being committed to action or decision-making is called existence. This is the first step toward real existence. So in this ethical stage he says that by the very act of making decisions that we become aware, that we become more and more aware, and that decision-making means awareness. And if we make choices about anything, that means that we are becoming aware.
Prabhupāda: What is the decision? Why people become moral—to feed the poor, like that, humanitarian? What is the decision, ultimate decision?
Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:
Śyāmasundara: Well, perhaps his ethical man would not make that decision. Perhaps his ethical man would make the decision to protect the cow also. Because the idea is that through a passionate, feeling, awareness inside that one will come to the right decisions, that, that...
Prabhupāda: But he has no standard of right decision. What is the standard of right decision?
Śyāmasundara: His... It's... It's not so much... His motto is not so much "Know thyself" as to "Choose thyself." He's not so much saying that what you...
Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:
Śyāmasundara: He says that you will know yourself when you begin choosing yourself. And when you begin making choices and examining them, you find the right choice for you, and you will begin to know yourself. That this passionate, inner awareness when one becomes engaged in life, in doing things actively, and making decisions...
Prabhupāda: So this choice, when you know yourself, so how you can know yourself unless you go to somebody who knows things as they are? Just like people know that "I am this body." But this kind of knowing is animal knowing. This kind of knowing, that "I am this body," yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). If one understands that "I am this body," then he is no better than an ass. The animals, the ass, the ass also thinks, "I am this body," and you also think that you are body, then what is the difference between you and the ass?
Philosophy Discussion on Martin Heidegger:
Śyāmasundara: By this existence or (indistinct) that a man can choose himself or win himself by his own improvement, that he can realize himself. If I exist then I can realize myself, what I am, what is my essence. And there are two types of existence, he says: authentic existence and inauthentic existence. Authentic existence is what one feels when that existence is something of his own. (break) So he says there are two kinds of existence: authentic existence and inauthentic existence. So a man who is leading an authentic existence, then he is something of his own. But he is leading an inauthentic existence, then he is busy, excited, or preoccupied, what they say, when he has lost himself, when he loses himself. That is inauthentic existence. Thus authentic existence is when a man is always aware, self-aware, of his existence: "What I am doing now, what I am doing now, what am I doing now." So he says that an inauthentic existence is fallen existence, that a man falls into averageness or everydayness or what he calls publicness, where he lacks individuality and becomes the group self, and his personal decisions are not based upon a individual...
Prabhupāda: Everyone is living an inauthentic existence because... That is animal existence. He knows only the span of life from birth to death. That's all. That is inauthentic existence. When he knows that this is temporary... Just like suppose we are preacher, living in this apartment, say for a month.
Philosophy Discussion on Martin Heidegger:
Śyāmasundara: Yes. Because whatever you're doing, you are always aware of why I am doing it, what is it for, like that.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So therefore the conclusion is that a human being should know, should distinguish what is authentic existence and what is inauthentic existence. That is human life. At least we should know it. That is the order of the Upaniṣads, that anyone who knows this, he is brāhmaṇa. Etad viditvā yaḥ prayāti. The dog does not know it, but a man can know this. If he knows it, then he's a brāhmaṇa.
Śyāmasundara: He says that men have the tendency to fall into this not making their own decisions. Their decisions are not based upon a personal basis but upon group decisions, and just because someone else does something, I do it.
Philosophy Discussion on Jacques Maritain:
Śyāmasundara: He says that sense activity occurs on an immediate level of experience, without any conscious awareness of itself, but that true knowledge of reality comes through intuition, and that this reality is called being.
Prabhupāda: Intuity, also past experience. What you call intuition is past experience. Just like when a child is born, by intuition it seeks mother's breast. Because the child does not know where is food, but by intuition, as soon as the mother's breast is given, pushed in its mouth, he is satisfied immediately. So by..., this is called by intuition. But actually it is its past experience. The same child, as the soul, may have taken something else in a different body. So the fact is that the soul is wandering in different types of bodies, and when he comes to a particular type of body, he remembers everything from his past experience. Just like fifty years ago, when I was a businessman, so at that Gauḍīya Math, as soon as I go there, I remember all those things; I am again fifty years back. That is actual... So this, suppose if I say I am going, I do not require to be directed that "Here is this thing, here is that thing." Immediately I enter that town I will understand that if I have to go to the toilet, "Here it is." If I go to the kitchen, "Here it is."
Philosophy Discussion on Jacques Maritain:
Prabhupāda: No. The existence is there. The essential, essence also is there, but it is a question of awareness and not awareness. One who knows, he is brāhmaṇa; one who does not know, he is kṛpaṇa. Just like human beings, one who knows what is Brahman, he is called brāhmaṇa, and one who does not know what is Brahman, he is called a kṛpaṇa. Kṛpaṇa. Kṛpaṇa means miser. He got the opportunity to understand Brahman but he did not care for it, just like a man has got money but he could not utilize it. Similarly, the opposite word of brāhmaṇa is kṛpaṇa. Those who are trying to understand the essence, they are brāhmaṇa, brāhmaṇa. Veda pathād bhaved vipra brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ: by studying Vedas, trying to understand the essence. And Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15).
Philosophy Discussion on Edmund Husserl:
Śyāmasundara: Yes. But he's still dealing on the lowest level now, just to really understand things (?). He says that this ego as truer subjectivity—that is the understanding that "I am"—is the wonder of wonders, and he considers that it is a mystery that the world should contain a being which is aware of its own existence. The phenomenological ego becomes a fundamental fact of the universe in which all truth is found. In other words, beginning with this understanding that "I am existing," that "I am this," becoming aware of myself, this is the springboard or launching pad to know the truth. And an animal, he does not have that knowledge, subjective...
Prabhupāda: So how you developed that knowledge, better knowledge than...?
Śyāmasundara: That is the mystery.
Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:
Prabhupāda: That, that means he has no clear conception of God, because God has to take power from some parliament. God does not take power from anyone. He is God. That is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataḥ ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ (SB 1.1.1), that the Supreme, God, or Supreme Truth, Brahman, He knows everything. He knows everything in details. And wherefrom? Abhijñaḥ. He is, abhijñaḥ means completely in awareness. Then the question may be raised that "How He got this complete knowledge? From whom He received?" The answer is immediate, svarāṭ. Svarāṭ means independent. That is God. If one has to take knowledge from Mr. Freud, then he is not God. Anyone, if you come to that person that He is independent, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport), naturally He is all-perfect. He hasn't got to become perfect by some process or from some authority.
Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:
Prabhupāda: So when you have got this knowledge, that this knowledge, jñāna, that how this knowledge comes? By researching for many, many life. Then, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19), in this way researching, researching, researching, after many, many births, when he actually becomes in full awareness that "Here is the source," then He says, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ: (BG 7.19) "Oh, here is..., Vasudeva is everything." Sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ. Then he begins his bhajana. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ bhajanty ananya-manaso (BG 9.13). That is life. Simply speculation, coming to know definite knowledge, "perhaps," "maybe," and this and that—what is the value of this knowledge? That is childish. That is childish. He is, he is saying others, for giving him God, that is childish, but he is himself a child. He cannot give us any definite knowledge. "By chance," "by accident," "perhaps." What is the value of that knowledge?
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Prabhupāda: What do you mean by unconscious life?
Śyāmasundara: Subconscious, that which we are not consciously aware of...
Prabhupāda: That means it is consciousness but it is covered.
Śyāmasundara: Yes. He says that unconscious part of our mind is dangerous, infantile, animalistic. But Jung says that the unconscious can also be positive and helpful to the growth of our personality, that it can be an asset to understand this unconscious life.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Devotee (3): And so our consciousness can be modified by our subconsciousness without our being consciously aware of it.
Prabhupāda: Not necessarily.
Devotee (3): That is the idea.
Prabhupāda: Not necessarily.
Devotee (3): We're unconscious of the activities of...
Prabhupāda: Or sometimes subconscious state manifests which has no connection with my present consciousness.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Śyāmasundara: But he would, for instance, say that our means..., aware of understanding Kṛṣṇa as a supreme father, as our cause and so on, is an archetypal tendency that is shared by all human entities, that they have the same tendency to react in that way, to understand someone as their father or as their cause. And they will represent Him in different ways but always..., always similar.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We see that. Exactly similar. Rather, this father is (indistinct). Kṛṣṇa, or God, is the supreme father. It is similar. As father has many sons, similarly Kṛṣṇa has many sons. You can say it is similar. As sons are born, children are born of father, similarly, we are born of Kṛṣṇa. It is similar.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Śyāmasundara: In other words, he says that there are many factors which are unconscious which determine our personality that we may not be aware of-many hopes, many fears, many contents of our own consciousness that clarify our personality and which we are not aware of...
Prabhupāda: Yes, (indistinct). Just like when we are in the womb of our mother. Up to seven months we are unconscious. That means to remain unconscious for seven months, that is death. Living entity does not die; he remains unconscious for seven months.
Devotee (5): That's actually suṣupti?
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Śyāmasundara: Not really... But because there are so many unconscious factors that govern our personality, our behavior, that unless a person becomes aware of these unconscious factors, then he is more or less a slave to them, to his unconscious life. So the whole point of psychology is to point out to a person all his unconscious contents, that he becomes aware of them and faces them face to face.
Prabhupāda: That we are teaching. That we have shown. But he remains unconscious state. That is (indistinct). That we are teaching. We are simply, loudly stating, "Please wake up. Please wake up. We are not this body. We are not this body." So these are the (indistinct) dream. You cannot raise him to the consciousness. He is fully packed up in matter. That is not possible. But he is also conscious. That is proved by (indistinct). He applied machine: in the remote part he is feeling the pain when you cut. But it is not very manifest. Just like children, they are not so conscious, you operate.
Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:
Śyāmasundara: For instance, I may think that I am like this, I am like that, but I don't realize that I am also like this. There's some other part of me which I'm not aware of which is guiding my behavior, which I repress.
Prabhupāda: Unless one comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he thinks (indistinct), that "I am like this," "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am this," "I am that." But when he's fully conscious, he knows that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa." That is the final (indistinct). Otherwise he (indistinct), "I am this," "I am that," "I am this," "I am that."
Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:
Śyāmasundara: And then the second function of the mind is enjoyment, where there is a mental awareness of an inner, physiological activity as a result of the contemplation.
Prabhupāda: Yes. There are so many examples. Just like one man dreams some woman and there is nocturnal discharges. Mind creates like that and there is physical action actually. Mind creates a dream, a tiger, and there is physical action. He is crying loudly, "Here is a tiger. Here is a tiger." Actually, there is no tiger.
Śyāmasundara: His idea is that even these mental images in dreams are real, that they have an objective reality.
Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:
Śyāmasundara: He says that there is freedom of the will in two different senses. One, activity that is surely not subject to compulsion by extraneous forces, and... Activity that is merely not subject to compulsion by extraneous forces, and expression of integrated, self-directing persons acting in a purposeful, coherent way in order to serve the best interest of all. In other words there is the freedom of the will, which is merely not subject to extraneous forces, and there is also the self-directing free will, who is aware of ethical values, and he is...
Prabhupāda: That two cooperation, two kinds of cooperation is going on. Just like in a state a citizen is cooperating as a free citizen. The same citizen is cooperating in the prison by force. The jail superintendent says, "Now you break these bricks." He has to do; otherwise he'll be punished. He is cooperating by force. But this cooperation is inferior cooperation. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). By constitutional position, a living entity is eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa.
Philosophy Discussion on Johann Gottlieb Fichte:
Śyāmasundara: Much before him, about 150 years ago. He takes as the absolute first principle the self-consciousness or the evil(?), "I am", the awareness that I exist as an absolute a priori first principle.
Prabhupāda: That is Vedānta. We are studying what I am. That is Vedānta philosophy, to study what I am. And the answer is given by us, Vaiṣṇava philosophers, that you are eternal servant of God. This is Vedānta. Everyone is searching what I am, we are giving the answer: "You are eternal servant of God." Now let them refute this that he's not servant, he's absolute(?). Our answer is there. Athāto brahma jijñāsā, to inquire about Brahman, the spirit soul. What is this spirit soul, what I am. What is the supreme.
Philosophy Discussion on Aristotle:
Prabhupāda: If God has created the material world and material variety, so means He is in full awareness how to do things nicely. That is perfectness of God. He knows everything how to do it perfectly, naturally. Just like even a child, we get daily experience, when we offer some cake in the Deity room, the child immediately takes it and puts in the mouth. Although she is very small baby, (s)he doesn't require any education about taking the cake and what to do with it. Immediately puts in the mouth. So this natural, what is called, knowledge, that is God's knowledge. He knows everything perfectly well, and when He produces a rose flower, it is all-perfect. That is God's... God is not..., He has to get the knowledge through some source. He is already in awareness of everything. That is God. So He hasn't got to know His capacity through matter.
Philosophy Discussion on Benedict Spinoza:
Prabhupāda: No. God has body, but not this material body. The material body is limited. That does not mean... This is imperfect knowledge of the spiritual quality. God has got body. That is confirmed in Vedic literature, sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Vigraha means body, a form. But His form is eternal. He is all-aware, sat-cit, and He is always blissful. So this body is neither eternal nor blissful nor all-awareness. Therefore this body is different from God's body. But God has got a body which is different in quality. That is spiritual body.
Hayagrīva: He writes, "God is free from passions, nor is He affected with any emotion of joy or sorrow. Properly speaking, God loves no one and hates no one, for God is not affected with any emotion of joy or sorrow, and consequently he neither loves nor hates anyone."
Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner and Henry David Thoreau:
Prabhupāda: No. Art is there, and singing is there, dancing is there, but that is based on spiritual conception. That is the difficulty in the Western countries, that they are not fully aware of the conception of religion. Therefore Bhāgavata says that cheating religion, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ. There is no purpose, simply a recreation of different nature in material life. That is, means, they do not know, except sense gratification, any other engagement. They think religion is also another kind of, type of sense gratification, "So we can perform it." And actually that is going on. Whenever there is some festival they change the daily way of life into some more eating, drinking, and dancing, like that. But religion means to understand God and our relationship with God and live in God practically. That is real religion. That is the aim of life.
| Page Title: | Awareness (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | SunitaS, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 02 of Aug, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=132, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 132 |