Bones (Conversations and Letters)

Expressions researched:
"bone" |"bones"

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 12, 1969, New York:

Prabhupāda: Tulasī das had very good, beautiful wife, and he was very much attached to her. So the system is that after the girl is staying with her husband... Because young girls, very minor age, they were married, say, ten years, nine years, twelve years. But they're allowed to live with husband, say, after thirteen years or fourteen years, when she has attained puberty. So the system is six months father house and six months husband. In this way, going and coming. But when she is elderly she can remain continually with her ...but in the beginning... Because after all, she is girl, so she cannot tolerate the separation from father and mother. So six months here, six months... So Tulasī das, as soon as the, his father-in-law will come to take his daughter, he won't allow. He won't allow.

Brahmānanda: Oh, he's so attached.

Prabhupāda: Yes. "She'll go later on. She'll go." So he went back. The father used to..., went back. In this way, several times. Then it was agreed that the girl would go there, father's house, and the father took the girl in the morning, and in the evening Tulasī dāsa went there. (laughs) His wife chastised, "You are so rascal fool that I have come this morning and you have, evening you are here? You have so much attachment for the skin?" Just like husband and wife talking. That struck him very badly, and he immediately left that place and went to... Left home for good. Yes. And that was the initiation that he took up writing about Rāma. That is Tulasī dāsa's life. Just being, I mean to say, hurt by the words of wife, that "I love her,"... Later on he understood, "Yes, she is right. So why should I be so much attached?" She uttered this (indistinct), "If you have got so much attachment for this skin and bone; if you had so much attachment for Rāma then your life would have been different." So he took it seriously. "Why not attachment for Rāma?" So he became a great devotee of Rāma, Tulasī das.

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: In that way again one has to... That brings the question of previous life. One was advanced so much; it was checked by some reason; he again begins from that point. Just like Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura. Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura was advanced in his previous life up to bhava-bhakti. Somehow or other, it was checked. But as soon as he heard the words from the prostitute, "Oh, you are so much after the flesh and similar, and bones and skin. If you had been so much eager for Kṛṣṇa, how you would have been disposed," immediately he came to that point and immediately left.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: Similarly, another, another instance is there. Just like conchshell. Conchshell is the bone of an animal. So according to Vedic instruction, if you touch the bone of an animal, you become impure. You have to take bath. You become impure. But this conchshell is kept in the deity room because it's accepted as pure by the Vedas. So my point is that we accept Vedic laws in such a way, without argument, accept because it is stated in the Vedas, and that is the principle followed by scholars. If you can substantiate your statement by quoting from the Vedas, then it is accepted. You do not require to substantiate in other ways if you prove by Vedic quotation. Śruti-pramāṇa. It is called śruti-pramāṇa. There are different kinds of pramāṇa, evidences. Just like in the legal court if you can give quotation from the law books, your statement is accepted, similarly, all statements which you give, if they are supported by śruti-pramāṇa... I think you know. The Vedas are known as Śrutis.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with John Griesser (later initiated as Yadubara Dasa) -- March 10, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They eat man also. Yes. There was a case in Calcutta, they were eating man. They will call a hawker, "Come in, I shall purchase." And as soon as he enters, he never comes back. There were two hawkers. So one entered the house and other was waiting. But when he saw that he is not coming, he went to the police, that "My friend, he went but he is not coming." The police inquired and made a search, whole house, there were so many human bones, they're eating. Man-eater. Man-eater, in Africa there are many.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, everything. Mountains have been described in the Bhāgavata as the bones of God. These grasses are described as hairs on the body of God. These holes, there are holes, we saw that. They have been described as oceans. So in this way, this virāṭ, the biggest body. As the smallest body is producing chemical, similarly the biggest body also, producing chemical. A small tree, lemon tree, how many pounds of the citric acid it is produced?

Paramahaṁsa: I do not know.

Room Conversation with Indian Guests -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: ...bones, skeletons was found. In Africa there are still cannibals.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 22, 1974, Hawaii:

Prabhupāda: No, no, you cannot find because according to Vedic culture, the body's burned into ashes. Where you'll get the bones and fossils?

Bali Mardana: You only come up with the primitive ones who are not civilized.

Prabhupāda: We understand from the writings, not from the fossils and bones. The bones and fossils are already finished, but they kept their writing.

Bali Mardana: Only the uncivilized people were buried.

Prabhupāda: Suppose I am writing books. In future if you could not find my bones and fossils, but the books will prove what I was. So we have got the books. That is the real bones and fossils.

Bali Mardana: They try to disprove...

Prabhupāda: They cannot find out bones and fossils of Kṛṣṇa. Now, why they accept?

Satsvarūpa: Nobody agreed... (tape garbled)

Prabhupāda: You have to accept authority... (break) ...authority of yourself, we have got authority also. We have got authority. We have got our books... (break) ...that Kali-yuga has begun five thousand years but you say they do not believe in... (break) ...these rascals.

Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: That is rational. One who has got reason. "So this man wants to check me." So he stops. For eating, he has rational, what is his eatable. Dog does not like preparation made with too much ghee. They will like meat, rotten meat, and dried bones. That is rational. "This is my food."

Morning Walk -- May 28, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: So what is the use of going to see another woman naked? You are seeing every day, every night, your wife naked. Why you are... Because they have no other engagement. The animals. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). That a dog, it does not know what is the taste. He is simply chewing the, one bone, this way, that way, this way, that way. Because he is animal. He has no other engagement. So this whole society is animal.

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Then it is māyā. Otherwise, it is reality. If they would have installed Deity worship in these buildings, how much nice it would have been. People chanting, dancing, and taking prasādam, twenty-four hours. Then it is no more māyā. It is reality. Such big, big, nice houses, they should have been places of worshiping Kṛṣṇa. But they're worshiping bones, keeping some dead bones, and...

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: People must be educated that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: That is a fact. Why they do not understand?

Room Conversation with Professor Durckheim German Spiritual Writer -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: That's it. So this we can experience, that as soon as the spirit is entered into the womb of the mother, they develops skin and the child develops body. So this is very practical, that first of all, not that simply by sexual intercourse a child is born. Then every the time sexual intercourse would have caused pregnancy. No. Unless the spirit soul is there, there is no question of developing body. Therefore it is natural that the spirit soul creates this flesh and bone and other things and develops into body. There is no difficulty to understand.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Professors -- February 19, 1975, Caracas:

Prabhupāda: The medical science knows the construction of the body, anatomy, physiology, the bone, this muscle, the blood and everything, but he does not know what is the active principle. When the active principle gone, they cannot repair it. So there may be vast advancement of medical science, but if the medical science cannot check birth, death, old age and disease, then what is the use of it? It may have some temporary use, but actually it is not science. Nobody wants to die. Is there medical science which can stop death? So that knowledge may be temporary, beneficial, but ultimately, it is not the knowledge. I am anxious for not dying. Nobody wants to die. This is my anxiety. And where is that science, medical science? So we are satisfied with some temporary knowledge. We have no ultimate knowledge. And because it is very difficult subject matter, we have avoided it very carefully.

Room Conversation with Bernard Manischewitz -- March 5, 1975, New York:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because the higher class, they keep cows, they maintain, but after all, the animal will die. So when the animal dies, they call for this cobbler class, and he takes away the dead cows. So he gets out the skin, hooves, bones and flesh, they eat, and this skin is tanned by them, and they prepare shoes. So they get their raw material without any price.

Bernard Manischewitz: I see, yes. (laughs)

Prabhupāda: They are poor class. So our program, "When he will die," so they wait for the death of the animal and get the skin, hoof, bones, they make trade. (to devotee:) So what is this key, the elmira?

Devotee: No, that is a little spoon for your tilaka.

Morning Walk -- March 11, 1975, London:

Prabhupāda: Ivory, yes. There is a current proverb, "Dead elephant, one lakh rupees." Mara hati lakṣa na:(?) "Elephant, alive or dead, one lakh of rupees." On account of ivory. When the elephant is dead, it is put into a hole and covered. And after sometimes you find all the ivory. The bones and the teeth are very, very valuable. Formerly big, big kings, they used to manufacture their furniture of ivory and gold and silk pad. This is luxury. And the rooms bedecked with jewel. No electricity, no lamp. This is description of Kṛṣṇa's sixteen thousand palace. Who has got now? Sixteen thousand wives and sixteen thousand palace of marble and furniture ivory and gold. Where is there now? Therefore Kṛṣṇa is the richest. Aiśvaryasya samāgrasya.

Conversation with Devotees -- April 14, 1975, Hyderabad:

Devotee: We have the bones, the bones of animals.

Prabhupāda: But that's all right. There was a big animal, that's all. Just like you are a foolish animal, so there was a big animal. What is the difference? They are animals.

Conversation with Devotees -- April 14, 1975, Hyderabad:

Devotee: But if we have bones from so many yugas ago...

Prabhupāda: That's all right. There are 8,400,000 species of life. You have seen some of them. That's all.

Room Conversation with Justin Murphy (Geographer) -- May 14, 1975, Perth:

Justin Murphy: But they're the same bones, it's the same skin.

Prabhupāda: But you are the same man. That's a fact. You understand that you were a child or you were a boy, youthful boy, jumping. You remember that body, but that body is not existing. That's a fact.

Room Conversation with Justin Murphy (Geographer) -- May 14, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: No, no. First of all think that you have changed your body. The other man says, "Oh, you have grown up?" Or... Generally they take it as grown up. But the actual position is the body has changed.

Justin Murphy: But they're the same bones. It's the same skin. My face looks just about the same.

Prabhupāda: Not it is same. Medically, it is not the same.

Room Conversation with Director of Research of the Dept. of Social Welfare -- May 21, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: So we have got food grains, we have got fruits, we have got milk. By combination of milk and food grains we can prepare so many nice palatable, full of vitamins. Why we should kill the animal? Let the animal live and take it's milk and prepare nice food, full of vitamins. Milk is nothing conversion of blood. So why do you take the blood by killing? Take the blood in a different form, milk. This is our program. Let the animal live peacefully, and if you are meat-eaters, let the animal die and you eat. There will be no charge for it. The meat-eaters, let us keep some animal, take milk, and when it dies naturally, you call the meat-eater, "Please take this." You take the skin free, you take the bones free, you eat meat. Just wait for the death. It will die after all. That much concession I want. But let the animal live without any fear of being killed so it will supply more milk. Suppose if you know that I am keeping you here for killing. Will you be very happy?

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1975, Honolulu:

Bali-mardana: The whole theory of the scientists about the evolution of man—it rests on about four bones. The whole theory is based on a few bones they have found, about four different bones from the... One tooth and a jawbone and one more bone that they say are so many millions of years old. And this is the whole basis for their theories.

Prabhupāda: So there are so many bones. Why don't you create living entity from the bones?

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Light is light so long the sun is not there. Similarly, all these scientists are scientists so long God is not there. And as soon as God is there... Just like our men. They do not care for all this shining, shining light of scientists. The glowworm, they are light so long it is darkness. When it is sunshine, there is no use of these glowworms. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavanti. This is the Vedic instruction. If you understand God, then you understand everything. Then you will not be allured by the so-called rascal scientist. Accident and this, that, bone. We are not interested. This side is better than the other side. When I was coming to America by ship, at night I was seeing, about hundred miles away there is one ship, a little light. There is a difference, so many miles. Vast ocean. Somebody live there always? No. Somebody is there.

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Harikeśa: Darwin's whole theory rests on the fact, the speculation, that he can show bones. They take these bones and these evidences, archeological...

Prabhupāda: Anyway, it is not possible that he has seen all the bones. That is not possible. So taking it that he has studied by seeing the bones, but I can say very easily that it is not possible for a person like you to see all the bones. That is my challenge. How you can say that you have seen all the bones? You say, "Millions and millions of years ago..." You live for fifty years. How you have seen all the bones? That is imperfect. You are a limited person. How it is possible that you have seen all the bones? What is the answer?

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Satsvarūpa: They say they haven't found all the bones, but what they've found is conclusive evidence.

Prabhupāda: But then you cannot do that. If you have seen all the bones, then you can conclude. You say, "Some of the missing." So how it is fact? You did not see it.

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Harikeśa: So the only bones they find are the bones of the fifth, sixth, seventh-class men.

Prabhupāda: Yes, of the monkey-class men. (laughter) That's all. Therefore you conclude that the man comes from monkey. That is the conclu... Human being, Vedic culture, they burn it. So they have no opportunity to see the human being skull. The monkeys, they do not burn. So he has seen only the monkey skull, and his conclusion is, "Man is from monkey."

Brahmānanda: Actually they are simply interested in bones, but this is the activity of the dog. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes, he finds, (laughter) like that. So it is dog's philosophy. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...history in the I.A., intermediate. So a big professor, Dr. Kalidasa Nath, he began to speak, "There was stone age, simply stone there was," in this way. And I immediately..., that "What nonsense you are speaking, stone? There was nothing?" According to the anthropology of Darwin... From the very beginning, when I was a student, I did not believe this Darwin's theory. (break) ...study one after another, chronologically, as Darwin says, skull, it is not possible at all. For any single man it is not possible.

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa: Prabhupāda, in the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says that in the beginning of creation He sent forth generations of men among the demigods. So the bones that they have found of those...

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa: I said the bones that they have found so far...

Prabhupāda: Who?

Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa: Of the men that were living so many thousands of years ago.

Prabhupāda: But they are not demigods.

Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa: No. But who are the bones... Where are those living entities now? Where they have gone?

Prabhupāda: You can go to the higher planetary system and try to see there, bones of the demigods. Besides that, according to our śāstra, when Brahmā dies, then everything is finished. So you have no chance to see. Where is your chance? Because everything will be finished, you will be finished, everything finished, with the death of Brahma, so you cannot study Brahma's bones. Just like taste of potassium cyanide. As soon as you taste, you are finished. (laughter) So you cannot say what is the taste.

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa: But the bones of those people that they've found, where are their bodies now? Have they gone to some other...?

Prabhupāda: No, no, you might have found in your country. But that is not final that you have seen all the bones. (break) Darwin has... He is now dead. Now, even nowadays they are finding new bones. So how he studies perfect? He is now dead and gone.

Brahmānanda: Actually they are finding bones now, they claim, that challenge his theory. They are much older than what he ever thought. So they have to change all the calculations.

Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa: Even their method for dating the bones is defective also.

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa: They have a scientific, not scientific, but they have a process how they date the bones. It's called the carbon 14 dating process, and it's been proved defective. (break)

Jayatīrtha: ...so many bones, they should draw the conclusion that the big problem is death.

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) That is impossible, sir. You lick up your bones, but you have to die. You have to lay down your bone now.

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: Not dormant. It is coming. It is coming. We have not lost it. It may be that a few people know it, but it is not lost. It is not that missing bone; it is not like that.

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: Bone theory, studying the bone.

Harikeśa: I think you've broken the bone theory. (laughter) (break)

Prabhupāda: (in car:) ...so where is your chance to study these colors?

Jayatīrtha: That is a perfect explanation.

Room Conversation with Devotees -- August 1, 1975, New Orleans:

Prabhupāda: Cobbler is less than śūdra. Yes. Cobbler means when the cows die, the cobbler may take it. If he wants, he can eat the flesh, and he can utilize the bone, hoofs. He can prepare... He gets the skin without any price. So he can make shoes and he'll make some profit. And because he is cobbler, he can be allowed to eat meat, fifth-class... Not that "Professor such-and-such," and eating meat. This is the degradation of society. He is doing the work of a brāhmaṇa—teacher means brāhmaṇa—and eating meat-Oh, horrible! Śyāmasundara? So make, organize. I can give you the idea, but I'll not live very long. If you can carry out, you can change the whole... Especially if you can change America, then whole world will change.

Morning Walk -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: ...bones or what?

Cyavana: Yes. It's coral. It's from coral.

Prabhupāda: An animal.

Morning Walk -- October 26, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: Yes. For so many years everything was eaten. Only on the bones were there.

Brahmānanda: So he appeared to be dead, but he wasn't.

Prabhupāda: No, he was not dead. He was living on bones. Bones were there. Mean, life is not dependent on this material body. One can practice this by yoga. Without this body he can live. Just like ghost. That is possible.

Morning Walk -- November 4, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yasyātmā-buddhiḥ-kunape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). This body is just like a bag made of three dhātus: kaptha, pitta, vāyu. Actually it is so. They are thinking that this body is made of blood, muscle, bone, and urine, and stool. This is the constitution of the body. And these foolish people thinking that the living condition is coming from combination of these things.

Morning Walk -- November 4, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Not only material. Such abominable things as stool, urine, blood, bone, muscle—all rejected things. And they are so foolish that they are accepting that combination of the stool, urine, blood and bones can create a body..., a life. Body is already there. So if you are so big scientist why don't you take this material and create a life?

Dr. Patel: That is what the Russians say.

Morning Walk -- November 4, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: We are talking of this verse, that if this is the composition of the body, these things are available anywhere. Why don't you create life? Therefore he is no better than the dogs. He has no intelligence that "How this combination of blood, urine, stool, and bone, and muscle can create life?" They are thinking that a combination of matter can bring life force. That is the so-called scientists' theory. So these things are available in large quantity, so why don't you create life? Therefore go-kharaḥ. Their intelligence is not better than the cows and the asses from the very beginning. If they are not cows and asses, how they can think of that combination of these material things can bring in life? When a man dies, find out if there is scarcity of stool or scarcity of urine or scarcity of blood.

Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Sarvaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu (BG 13.28), that I have explained so many times. If you see materially either dog or a big brāhmaṇa, the body is the same material. Body, when you dissect the body you find the same blood, same muscle, same bone. That's all. That is material. And spiritually they are atmān. Therefore sama-darśinaḥ. From that point of view, from basic point of view. Not that he is seeing a brāhmaṇa and dog equal. No. Not that. He is seeing the outward and inward. Inward is spirit. That is one. And outward, matter, that is one.

Morning Walk -- December 12, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: They say. They are rascals. (laughter) So much bones and flesh and so many things, others. And ninety percent water.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 16, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Anyway, you analyze. Just like you take breathing. Breathing is taken as the life, breathing. When the breathing is stopped, then there is no life. So analyze this breathing. What is this breathing? It is air. So when breathing is stopped, then you can take air. There are so many persons here. And by some machine you can put within the heart or somewhere. Let the air go on passing. But that is not possible. Therefore immediately the air is rejected. Then take the bone, the muscle. Everything will be rejected. There is no life. So this is analytical study. And then what remains? That soul. Very common thing.

Morning Walk -- April 16, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (break) And Kṛṣṇa is saying, and they still will not believe. Therefore rascal. It is clearly said. After analyzing all this material of the kuṇape tri-dhātuke... This body is a bag of this transformation of kapha pitta vāyu, tri-dhātuke. So this is not life. That is different. Kṛṣṇa says, apareyam itas tu viddhi me. But these rascals will not believe it. Therefore rascals. Very minutely analyze with this material in the body. What is there? The air is there, the blood is there, the muscle is there, the veins are there, the bone is there, the stool is there, the urine is there—a combination of all these, is that life?

Room Conversation -- April 20, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Nothing. Artificial blood.... Superficially it is red water. So if red water is the life, then why you are spoiling so much blood? Keep it scientifically and push it into the dead body. I say it is, that way, it is the red water, nothing but red water. Urine is white water. I am coming to the five elements, air, water.... Then what is this bone? Earth. You can manufacture bone, hard bone, with earth or wood or something plastic. So we are analyzing the combination of the body, so everything you can manufacture. But where is the life you can manufacture? Why do you say? That is our challenge.

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Guest (4): We just see it differently. We believe that after this life we'll be resurrected into a glorified, perfect body of flesh and bones and...

Prabhupāda: That's nice. That we say. We say twice, that.... Just last night I was discussing that this human form of life is to make our choice, whether we are going to get a body back to home, back to Godhead, or again we are going in the cycle of birth and death. This is our choice. If we act according to the orders of God, then we go to Him, back to home, back to Godhead. And if we still whimsically act, then I go again in the cycle of birth and death. That's a fact.

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes. But, then next question will be "What is the form?"

Guest (2): We believe in a man, form of a man, flesh and bone, glorified and perfected.

Prabhupāda: So you believe that man is God?

Guest (2): Not man is God.

Prabhupāda: Then? God is like man. You mean to say the form of God is like man?

Guru-kṛpā: No, flesh and bone.

Guest (2): Flesh and bone, glorified and perfected.

Guru-kṛpā: Matter. God has a material body.

Guest (2): Of glory and perfection.

Prabhupāda: No, no, how do you glorify the flesh and bone? It is very hard? It is very nice to eat? Is that glorification?

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: You don't bring your feeling. I mean to say, you must bring scriptural order. How do you glorify flesh and bone?

Guest (2): Well, Christ brought that about in the resurrection, when he was resurrected.

Prabhupāda: How do you say? Practically say that how you glorify a lump of flesh and piece of bone? That is my question. What is the glorification of a lump of flesh and a piece of bone?

Guest (2): God can do it. That's all I can say.

Prabhupāda: You cannot do it. Can?

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: No, no, we don't say. I am simply asking that how do you glorify flesh and bone? I do not know. I am asking you.

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: I am asking—I am a layman—that you say "glorified flesh and bone," but you say, "I don't know."

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: No, the Deity is the form of the Lord, but when you say, "the bone and flesh," so how we can accept as Deity?

Guest (4): Now, you say that the Deity is the form of God.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, we are studying the bones. That's what they say.

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We are digging up bones.

Prabhupāda: That also they cannot say, because we Hindus, we burn the bones. Where you get the bones?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, but there's some groups that did not do that.

Morning Walk -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But I mean, there are other people in other parts of the world, like in Africa, they found bones from five million years ago, and they say that it's the missing link bones.

Prabhupāda: Missing, why missing?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well they couldn't figure it out until they found these bones.

Prabhupāda: That means they couldn't. Still, he says. Just see, he has brought as if he was dog, the rascal. The dog is prohibited.

Morning Walk -- June 5, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: (looking at bones?) Chicken?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, some animal, bigger animal.

Rāmeśvara: Ribs? Lamb, sheep.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...kill. Simply kill. Paśu-ghna. As soon as you become animal killer, Kṛṣṇa consciousness finished. Parīkṣit Mahārāja, vinā paśu-ghnāt. Except the persons who are killers of animals, everyone will be interested.

Morning Walk -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: They have got so many bones in the museums showing these gigantic animals.

Prabhupāda: Not gigantic. There are bones. But that animal is still there, whalefish.

Morning Walk -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Another imagination. These are actual facts.(?)

Hari-śauri: They just made up different compositions of bones and then drew some outlines on them.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are imagination.

Hari-śauri: But you said in Hawaii though that there are some animals that are as big as skyscrapers?

Prabhupāda: Yes, these are birds. It is far from this earth though. They travel from one planet to another.

Rāmeśvara: So these bones that they have found of these gigantic animals, they were all living underneath the water.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Interview with Jackie Vaughn (Black Congressman) -- July 12, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: A man bound by the hands and feet cannot free himself. He must be helped by a person who is unbound, because the bound cannot help the bound. The rescuer must be liberated. Therefore only Lord Kṛṣṇa or His bone fide representative the spiritual master can release the conditioned soul. Without such superior help, one cannot be freed from the bondage of material nature. Devotional service, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, can help one gain such release. Kṛṣṇa, being the Lord of the illusory energy, can order this insurmountable energy to release the conditioned soul. He orders this release out of His causeless mercy on the surrendered soul, and out of His paternal affection for the living entity, who is originally a beloved son of the Lord.

Interview with Mike Darby -- June 30, 1976, Wheeling, W. Virginia:

Prabhupāda: Not only that: if you are a sane man, you analyze your body. Now find out where is life. Beginning analysis is the breathing. You take... Now a man is dead. Somebody says, "Now, because his breathing is stopped, therefore he is dead." So what is this breathing? It is simply a little air. So put some machine, and the air may come and go and give him life. Take anything, breathing, then you take blood, then you take skin, then you take muscle, then you take bone, then take your stool, urine, find out life. Is it possible? Then why do you say that life is combination of chemicals? You take this blood, urine and stool, what is called, bone and muscle and air, what is combination, and produce another man. So they are talking this nonsense, and nonsense people are accepting. And they are being paid for, high salary, for talking this nonsense at the cost of the taxpayer.

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

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa:

māsena tu śiro dvābhyāṁ

bāhv-aṅghry-ādy-aṅga-vigrahaḥ

nakha-lomāsthi-carmāṇi

liṅga-cchidrodbhavas tribhiḥ

(SB 3.31.3)

Translation. "In the course of a month, a head is formed, and at the end of two months, hands, feet and other limbs take shape. By the end of three months, the nails, fingers, toes, body hair, bone and skin appear, as do the organ of generation and the other apertures in the body, namely the eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth and anus."

Prabhupāda: The same thing. Fermentation is going on, and the living entity takes a form. Then flies. And they say, from the water it is coming, flies, mosquito. The same process for development. That's all. Everything is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

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

Prabhupāda: That is imagination, where is dinosaur finding.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They say they have all the bones.

Prabhupāda: No, they are describing maybe another animal. That is existing. That is Timiṅgila, they can swallow up big, big whale fishes. That big, bones, they are living still. Nothing is extinct. They are already there.

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

Prabhupāda: No difference. That is described in the śāstra. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). This body is made of... Everyone knows what is the composition: the bones, the flesh, the blood, the urine, the stool and so on, so on. The body, what is the composition? This is the composition. So if I identify with these bones, flesh, blood, muscle, veins, and stool, urine, so I am a living entity, I am all these bones and flesh and blood?

Morning Walk -- July 20, 1976, New York:

Rāmeśvara: They have this one display trying to prove that..., the Darwin theory of evolution. They have these bones, and they say this proves how man was formerly like an ape or a monkey. Now he has become more civilized.

Prabhupāda: So where is Darwin's bones?

Rāmeśvara: Then they have one display showing...

Prabhupāda: No, no, Darwin got all this knowledge. His bones should be studied first, how he got so much knowledge. And from which monkey he came. By studying the bones, discover it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Complete concoction.

Prabhupāda: Ask them to find out from which monkey the Darwin's bone has come. They may decide. Study the bones of Darwin. And spoiling public money in this way.

Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Jyotirmāyī: You were saying that the children should learn these three, geography and these things, and I wanted to know if they should also learn what they call biology, that is how the body is working, what are the bones and blood and...

Prabhupāda: What is the use?

Jyotirmāyī: Just to have some general knowledge...

Prabhupāda: Simply waste of time, simply waste of time.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: The water, sea, as it becomes solidified, the outer surface, by sunshine, they become, it is called sodium silicate. Salt is sodium chloride. So from sodium chloride, the sodium silicate. So cover(?) of the sea they can solidify by the sodium silicate. But underneath there is water. Just like our, this skin, bone, coming from where? We are eating liquid and or some vegetables or some whatever, they are becoming liquidified. And first transformation is blood. Blood is liquid, and from blood everything is coming. The muscle is coming, the bone is coming.

Room Conversation -- September 11, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: "The Baba personifies heaven." (?) (Him?)

Hari-śauri: Yes. He said, "Baba personifies this philosophy, that God in man and man in God is the basis of religion. As he told me, "God is man and man is God. All of us have something of God, the divine spark, within us. All men are divine like myself, with the spirit embodied in human flesh and bone. The only difference is that they are unaware of this Godhood."

Prabhupāda: Unaware. So God, how he's unaware? Just see.

Letter to Sai Baba -- September 13, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: What he says?

Pradyumna: Now here's the quote. "Baba personifies this philosophy. As he told me, 'God is man and man is God. All of us have something of God, the divine spark, within us. All men are divine, like myself, with the spirit embodied in human flesh and bone. The only difference is that they are unaware of this Godhood.' " I'll get it for you.

Prabhupāda: So?

Pradyumna: Here he says, "The mission of the present avatāra is to make everybody realize that since the same God or divinity resides in everyone, people should respect, love, and..."

Prabhupāda: No, no. If he resides in everyone, then why he has special claim?

Room Conversation -- November 24, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Wherefrom this Christo came. The Greek word. And the Greek got from India, Kṛṣṇa. This is the history. Christian means Krishnian, godly. And Christo, so far I know, the Greek meaning is "decorated," "love." That indicates to Kṛṣṇa. If there is some scholar he can find out that Christian means Krishnian originally. (reads:) "How the soul transmigrates? The process is very subtle. The spirit soul is invisible to our material eye. It is atomic in size. After the destruction of the gross body, which is made up of the senses, blood, bone, fat, and so forth, the subtle body of mind, intelligence, and ego goes on working. So at the time of death this subtle body carries the small spirit soul to another gross body.

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Can you see? So soul is within the heart. When the soul goes away you cannot explain what happened. You say, "heart failure." So why the heart failure? The nerves and the bones and the muscle and the blood, everything is there, and still, you say that "It stopped. Heart failure." So just like machine is running but somehow or other stopped, but you do not know what is the cause of stopping. The cause is that the heart, when it goes away, then the machine stops.

Press Conference -- December 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Then they can eat, those who are eating cows. Just like in our country the cāmāras, they take away and take the skin for preparing shoes and eat the flesh and use the bone. So we request those who are flesh eaters, that "Wait up to the natural death. Why you are killing?"

Guest (9): So you support actually government ban of slaughter.

Prabhupāda: Certainly.

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Mr. Malhotra: But Kṛṣṇa had been on this earth in flesh and bones.

Prabhupāda: That is history, Mahābhārata. And all the ācāryas, they have accepted, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka. Svayaṁ caiva bravīṣi me. Arjuna accepts Him, Paraṁbrahman. You are Paraṁbrahman. Not that "Because I am your friend and I am accepting You as Paraṁbrahman, but all the ācāryas they have accepted." (break) ...mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam. Because I am talking with you as a human being, only rascals, they think I am human being." If you think Kṛṣṇa as having flesh and bone, then you become a rascal, immediately. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam, paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ (BG 9.11), "I am not made of this bone and flesh. I am cinmaya, I am fully spirit soul." So one who does not know it, he is a rascal. So as soon as you will say that He is made of bone and flesh, that means you are rascal.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Devotee (1): I have just come from America, and at the universities, lots of times there are many questions concerning evolution and I was curious about what our position is in terms of artifacts. Bones like dinosaur bones and things like that that the scientists say they found.

Prabhupāda: Scientists are rascals. Those who are following Darwin. What is their theory?

Devotee (1): They maintain that from the oceans came one-celled animals. Then from these one-celled animals, they developed into fish and then reptiles. And then these reptiles became very big dinosaurs, and they have put together many big museums. For instance, in Washington the Smithsonian Museum has many, many big bones put together and they date these millions of years ago.

Prabhupāda: So we have got also the same theory. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. (break) ...within water. So where is the difference? We also admit the forms of life begins from the ocean. Then plants. As soon as the water is dried, there are plants, trees. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvara means "the life which cannot move." So the trees, plants, grass, they cannot move. Then insects, then reptiles, then birds, then beast, then human being. In this way the living entity is changing body. So what is the difficulty?

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

That may be, but every one of us ghostly haunted. And śāstra says this is treatment. Tapasya. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā, yasmād sattvaṁ śuddhyed (SB 5.5.1). Sattva, our existence, is polluted. (break) ...the skin and bone. The skin and bone will continue so long I am in the material condition of life. Either bird's skin... Just like who was talking of evolution, who was? This disease of skin and bone will continue. Because the spirit soul is not the bone and skin. The Darwin's theory, he is putting that the bone is changing. The bone is not changing. You get different bones in different life. I am changing my position. I am going from one apartment to another apartment. The apartment not changing. I am changing apartment.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Darsana and Room Conversation Ramkrishna Bajaj and friends -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is... The significance is sādhu-saṅga, purification. Our Vedic principle is: whatever is enjoined in the Vedas, we should accept it without any argument. That is Vedic injunction. This example we give generally: just like śaṅkha. Śaṅkha is the bone of an animal. So according to Vedic system, if you touch the bone of an animal, dead body animal, then you have to take bath immediately. But the śaṅkha is pure. Now, you cannot argue that "It is the bone of an animal. You say one place that 'Bone of animal is impure. You have to take bath; you have touched it,' and this śaṅkha is in their Deity worship? It is contradictory." But because it is stated in the Vedas, you have to accept. This is Vedic injunction. You cannot argue. There is no question of arguing. Just like cow dung is the stool of an animal.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- January 30, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We plan to have our book about five hundred pages. And we should finish it by fall. We feel it's major work. The difficult part is that establish from science, comparative study... And we have finished that. Next stage is... It's not very difficult. It's about, they call, fossil, these bones... We're going to say something about it, but that's not much. Then conclusion...

Prabhupāda: So you are scientist, devotee, and kṣatriya. As kṣatriya you'll force: (laughing) "You must believe this, or I will kill you." (laughter) And as scientist, the convincing argument... And as devotee, Kṛṣṇa will help you. That's all Yuddhyasva mām anusmara (BG 8.7). That is Kṛṣṇa's word, "Fight! And remember Me." That's all. Combination kṣatriya, devotee, and scientist. Very good combination. Kṣatriya does not know beyond two things—victory or death. No third thing. That is kṣatriya. In a fighting, if I do not gain victory, then I must die. Two things. That is kṣatriya spirit. Whenever there is fight between the two kṣatriya, one must die. That is last word. No compromise. Jarāsandha and Bhīma, fighting for twenty-eight days, in the evening they were friends, but the fighting went on until one is dead. That is kṣatriya's fighting. Where is that spirit now? I think in Europe also there was the knights.

Room Conversation -- February 3, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...in Manipur. So they wanted to construct some sort of memorial building but, somehow, India government is not granting them. So instead of doing that, they were just collecting the bones. They found out some bones by some... (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Bhūtejyā. This is called bhūtejyā.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: And they carried those bones along with them. Just in the village where I lived many Japanese bones were found. And they were coming very frequently to collect the bones.

Prabhupāda: Just see.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Striking on the bone, so for an old man striking on the bone is very harmful.

Evening Darsana -- May 13, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: So ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12) means to become free from the bodily designation. And śāstra says, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). This body is composition of three dhātu, kapha, pitta, vāyu, according to Āyur Veda; and according to medical science, it is skin and then muscle, blood, bone, and marrow, stool, urine, those, combination. So I am not this combination of stool, bone, skin, blood. But people are taking that. When they are diseased, they take care of the body. Of course, it is not that we should not take care.

Room Conversations -- July 7, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He has a question to ask. He says, "Is it permitted to use shells for making jewelry, crowns, etc., for Deities? Or is it to be considered as the bone of an animal?"

Prabhupāda: No, you can do it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: 'Cause they're very beautiful.

Prabhupāda: The bone of animal is the conchshell, and that is used in Deity room. It is... The conchshell is nothing but bone of an animal.

Room Conversation -- October 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: I must thank you that you took me to London and again brought me without any difficulties. That's a great credit for you. That I am thanking you, that in this condition, a bundle of bones, you did it. Kṛṣṇa will... Yesterday I saw that Central Station, Bombay, so much crowded. Unexpectedly. Is it not remarkable?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Room Conversation -- October 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: And now you have to take a bundle of bones. That is the difficulty. There is nothing... Bundle of bone.

Bhakti-caru: Bone or flesh, your body is divine, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Bone is being separated from life. Here, by example, the matter is different from life. Matter is inferior; life is superior. From my life you can... Why the Persian people love me?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: They respect your philosophy, Śrīla Prabhupāda. They understand the philosophy. They respect the philosophy.

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: This is life. This material world and the bones... The bones are not our... This is life. We are not concerned with bones and stones. Our real concern is the living force. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). The living force which is sustaining the bones... Bone is not important. It may remain; it may go. It doesn't matter. Real life, what is sustaining the bone, is steady. We have got history that there was a ṛṣi, he had only bones. So there is a science by which you can sustain life—only bones. Hiraṇyakaśipu did it, practically.

Room Conversation -- October 12, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So take care of the bones as long as possible. Real life is here. Always remember that. And material world means there are simply all protecting bones and flesh together. They have no idea what they are.(?) Bones and flesh... Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). Apareyam. It is useless. Not useless-inferior. Real? That jīva-bhūta, which is sustaining. Thank you very much. Print books, and as I have given in my will, half, again print, and half spent for propaganda as you like. In this way go on. Jayapatākā, you are doing that?

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Anyway, do things very carefully. I am already dead. But still, I am giving you instruction as far as I can. And this is not life, a bundle of bones.

Room Conversation -- October 21, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Nitāi-Gaura. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38), (Tamāla Kṛṣṇa chants with Prabhupāda) yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. Śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpam. Still the śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpam is going on; otherwise, simply some bones, nothing else. Everything is finished. Nitāi-Gaura and rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan (Tamāla Kṛṣṇa chants with Prabhupāda) nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu, kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ sama... (Bs. 5.39). You can give massage. Hm. So what is the next drinking?

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: This material body—only bones. So go on and this is life. We are not concerned with bones and stones. Our concern is the living force. The living force is actually sustaining these bones. Bones are not life. Print books as I have shown the way: half again for printing and half spent for propaganda as you like. In this way go on.' Then he turned to Jayapatākā Mahārāja and asked him if he was doing that. He told him, 'Whatever propaganda is needed, you go out and spend, but print books and distribute. Whatever English books we have got, if we translate into Bengali, you have got enough stock.' Jayapatākā Swami replied 'Yes, we have got a treasure house,' and Prabhupāda said, 'In this way, in all languages, distribute. Thank you very much.

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Sri Padampat Singhania -- Kanpur 7 May, 1957:

The Vedas say that bone is untouchable but the conchshell which is also a bone is perfectly pure. For the common man the statements of the Vedas appear to be contradictory. But in spite of such contradiction, because we Hindus accept the Vedas as authority we accept cow dung as pure and allow it to be used even in the kitchen. So also we accept the conchshell. The conchshell is after all a bone of an animal but because it is accepted by the Vedas we allow conchshell to be used in the sanctified room of our family deity. If we examine in the physical laboratory or analyse it by chemical test we won't find any difference between the stool of a man and that of a cow or the bone of an ox and that of a conch. And yet the whole Hindu Muslim conflict, the whole struggle of Gandhi and Jinnah and the whole question of Kashmir problem in the UNSCO have arisen from this petty difference of bones only. In the Hindu temple the bone conchshell is already there but as soon as a Muhammadan throws a piece of bone of the ox in the temple—the whole trouble began, resulting in the partition of India and Pakistan. So an impartial mundane student who will enter into the research work of such bone affairs in the annals of Indian History—surely he will come to the conclusion of unrestricted obedience to the words of the Vedas or that of the Koran or that of the Bible that lead to all sorts of Jehad and crusade. As a matter of fact the so called intelligent persons of the modern age have taken the shelter of secularism on the strength of past unfortunate religious feuds. This is another type of nonsense.

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Rayarama -- Calcutta 23 November, 1967:

Our San Francisco friends may be very anxious because I sent them two telegrams, one informing of my arrival and the other cancelling it. You can inform them of the real position as you understand by this letter. The booklets which you have sent are very much appreciated. Printing and painting are our life back bone. Our nice Guru who have been sent to us by Krishna are trying their best and I am sure we shall be successful. More when we meet. Hope you are well. Convey my blessings to all prabhus.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- Los Angeles 21 January, 1968:

Subala is here __ have told him that Krishna is helping him in the matter of __ complete freedom from blood and bone. He is with me here and he is happy. If Krishna devi comes and joins him again it is better, otherwise, he will forget Krishna devi and be fully engaged in Krishna's service during the rest of his life. He is very sincere servitor and I am confident Krishna is attracting him more and more by His causeless mercy. Do not be worried about him.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Ekayani -- Los Angeles 3 May, 1970:

Regarding the color of Balaramaji, He is colored like milk white with little bluish tint and rosy luster. Our idea of whiteness is of the milk foam. Regarding whether ivory is offerable to Krsna, yes, ivory is pure. Although it is a bone of an animal, still it is as pure as the conchshell which is also the bone of an animal.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Govinda -- Calcutta 28 May, 1971:

The jewelry offered to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda should be very carefully set and kept in a secure place. There is no question of animal bone. As I have already told you, Ivory Jewels, conchshell and cow dung are all pure. Everything is pure when employed in the service of the Lord. Just like the mrdanga kohl is made of skin and still it is held as pure. If you want more karatalas and mrdangas, you can contact Jayapataka Swami here in Calcutta (3, Albert Road; Calcutta-17, INDIA). So coral and mother of pearl are all right. Many Deities are made of coral.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Acyutananda, Yasodanandana -- Bombay 18 December, 1975:

It is for this reason only that this Hare Krishna movement has spread so quickly all over the world. The people of this age are so fallen they are like cats and dogs. What cats and dogs will understand about philosophy? If a dog is barking and you speak with him very nicely "my dear dog, please try to control your barking, it is very disturbing" will he be able to understand? therefore we simply throw him a bone, and he is satisfied. So distribute prasadam, and chant Hare Krishna. For the mass of people this is the only medicine. Lord Caitanya never spoke philosophy in public, he held kirtana and distributed prasadam. When he meet Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya he talked high philosophy, otherwise, Chanting and prasadam distribution.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Radhavallabha -- Mayapur 3 February, 1976:

5. Yes, you can show dead bones, skulls, and snakes in the dungeon. Prahlada was not actually attacked with the tridents, just threatened.

Please also inform Ramesvara that in future any transfers to Bank of America, Bombay, he should send me a photocopy of the bank advice to wherever I am.