Cause and effect (Conv and Letters)

Expressions researched:
"cause and effect" |"cause as effect" |"life is the cause, matter is the effect" |"spiritual energy is the cause, and material energy effect"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase research query: "cause effect"@5

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discussion with Guests -- December 23, 1969, Boston:

Guest (3): No wait. Wait. Just one moment. Cause and effect are all the same thing.

Prabhupāda: No, no, no, no.

Guest (3): Yes. Sure.

Devotee: What do you mean they're the same thing?

Prabhupāda: This is cotton. The cause is cotton. Will you like to take cotton instead of the shirt?

Guest (3): This is illusion.

Prabhupāda: Not illusion.

Guest (3): Sure.

Prabhupāda: What do you mean by illusion? Don't talk nonsense. (laughter) If I gave you lump of cotton instead of this shirt, will you accept it?

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: Budhā means those who are conversant, thoroughly in knowledge. Iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva samanvitāḥ, in ecstasy, "Oh, here is the original cause of all causes." So in this way those who are advanced in knowledge, budhā, they engage themselves in the service of the original cause of all causes. He's the cause of all causes, but He has no cause. That is God. Anādir ādir govindam. He has no cause, but He's the cause of all life. That is God. Just like I am the effect, my father is the cause. Similarly, my grandfather is the cause of my father. My grandfather is the effect of the cause of great-grandfather. You go on searching out, searching out. So when you find out the original cause, that is God. That is the definition of God.

Room Conversation -- December 10, 1971, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Bhakti line is so nice that there is no cause and effect. Cause and effect is for this body. Karmaṇā, by my previous activity, I get a certain type, particular type of body, cause and effect. That is not applicable in devotional service. Ahaituky apratihatā. "Because I am high-born, I will have Kṛṣṇa consciousness." No. Or "Because I am low-born, I cannot have Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That is not. Ahaituky. There is no such cause and effect. Apratihatā. Apratihatā, without any barrier. Everyone. The body is not barrier, we should always remember. Bodily concept of life is the consciousness of the animals, and spiritual concept of life is the consciousness of the perfect being. I am servant, eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. This we should know. We should not cry for bodily problem. We should simply try to improve our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, how we can better serve Kṛṣṇa.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 27, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The original substance that I started with, changed to some other form.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is just like you take cotton. You make thread. Another form. Then from thread, you make cotton cloth.

Brahmānanda: It's not lost.

Prabhupāda: It is not lost.

Brahmānanda: It just changes it's form.

Prabhupāda: The original cotton is there. Simply form is changing. This is the process.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Is it the same from pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya... (Iso Invocation)?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything is preserved. Kārya kāraṇam, cause and effect. In the effect, the cause is there. Therefore, Veda says: sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma, everything is Brahman. Because the cosmic manifestation is the effect of the cause, energy of God. Therefore, in the effect there is God. mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā. "In impersonal form, I am existing everywhere." God says, Kṛṣṇa says. Mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni (BG 9.4). "Everything is existing on Me." Na cāhaṁ teṣu ava... "But I am not there." This is the personal and impersonal features of the Lord.

Morning Walk -- May 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: This body grows because the life is there. Life is there. If there is no life, the body will not grow. So it's natural conclusion, that matter grows upon life. And because life is the cause and matter is the effect, therefore as in the effect the cause is there... Just like cotton. Cotton is the cause and the thread is the effect. In the thread there is cotton. That is understood. Similarly, because life is the cause, matter is the effect, therefore in the effect there is life. In another form.

Morning Walk -- December 4, 1973, Los Angeles:

Hṛdayānanda: They would say, "If everything has a cause..."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hṛdayānanda: "...then God also must have a cause."

Prabhupāda: No, that is God, which has no cause. That is our definition. Everything has cause, but when it comes to a point where there is no more cause, He is cause and effect Himself, then that is God.

Devotee (1): So then sometimes they say, "Well, what's to say there will ever be original cause?"

Prabhupāda: Ah? (break) ...that is original cause. We... (break) ...anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ. Satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1). That is actual element, Kṛṣṇa.

Morning Walk -- December 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Our point is that because a thing is decomposed, so many chemicals come out, not that on account of these chemicals it has given... A dead body. A dead body—not that because the chemicals have come, therefore he is dead, no. Because the body is dead, therefore so many chemicals have been produced. Try to convince this rascal like that, that "You are seeing the extra chemicals. They are not cause, they are effect." Sometimes when a rascal cannot understand two things, which is cause and which is effect, they misunderstand effect as cause or cause and effect. That is imperfect knowledge, illusion, taking the effect as cause. That is their mistake. Whole basic principle of their knowledge is mistake, illusion, on account of imperfect senses, and they are cheating. On account of imperfect senses, they cannot understand what is cause and what is effect.

Morning Walk -- December 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But when the cells, my cells in the body, they are not working, my soul goes away. As so long as I am here...

Prabhupāda: That is your theory that because the cells were working, the man was living. That is your theory. But our theory is that because he was there, the cells were working. That is our theory. Because the soul was there, therefore the cells were working. But you take... That I have already explained. You take the cause as effect, and effect as... Because you have no sufficient knowledge. Therefore in illusion, you take the cause as effect or effect as cause. You do not know what is the cause and what is the effect.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 30, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sat and asat. Asat... Cause and effect of this material world.

Dr. Patel: Cause and effect. Not existence and nonexistence.

Prabhupāda: No.

Dr. Patel: Cause and effect.

Prabhupāda: Cause and effect. The mahat-tattva... Mahat-tattva is cause, and this cosmic manifestation is the effect. So beyond that, beyond that. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is said: mahat-pādam. The mahat-tattva is lying at His lotus feet. Samāśritā ye pada-pallavaṁ plavaṁ mahat-pādam. Mahat-tattva is lying on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.

Dr. Patel: Mahat-tattva is nothing but the beginning of the...

Prabhupāda: It is the total, sum total of material energy.

Dr. Patel: Of cosmic energy, yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is mahat-tattva.

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel:

tapāmy aham ahaṁ varṣaṁ

nigṛhṇāmy utsṛjāmi ca

amṛtaṁ caiva mṛtyuś ca

sad asac cāham arjuna

(BG 9.19)

He is sat and asat both.

Prabhupāda: Cause and effect.

Room Conversation with Robert Gouiran, Nuclear Physicist from European Center for Nuclear Research -- June 5, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: That I have already explained. That pure energy is spiritual energy, and from that spiritual energy the material energy comes out. That I have already said: From the soul the matter grows. So that is spiritual energy. The basic energy is spiritual. And because the spiritual energy is the cause and the material energy is the effect, therefore in one sense we can say there is no difference between material energy and spiritual energy. Because spiritual energy is the cause, and material energy effect. Effect may be presented in different forms. Just like cotton is the cause of thread. And the thread is transformed into cloth. But you cannot take cotton for cloth. The cotton is there in the cloth in a different, transformed, transform, but you cannot accept, when you require a cloth, you cannot take cotton. This is a crude example. So the cause of physical elements is spiritual energy, and the spiritual energy is... Both spiritual... Spiritual energy is coming from God.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Gaṇeśa: Just like the child, Śrīla Prabhupāda, who was trying to find the sound within the drum, the material scientists are trying to find out the cause and effect of the material world. Is that not intelligence?

Prabhupāda: Yes, but they have not reached the ultimate goal.

Paramahaṁsa: But they are trying.

Prabhupāda: They are trying. That is admitted. But, they are concluding that there is no operator. That is their foolishness, because they have failed to find out. They have to go further, further, and see, "Yes, there is operator."

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: Then same comes..., that "Wherefrom the matter comes?"

Harikeśa: They say it's an accident.

Prabhupāda: That is another nonsense, another rascaldom. Where is the accident? Nothing is accident, everything is cause and effect. We say that in the beginning there was God or word of God. In Bible they say?

Devotee: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So God was there and God's word was there. That is the beginning, our beginning.

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Harikeśa: When people die, though, there is usually some cause. Like they have a heart attack or they get hit by a car or some disease. So that death is caused by the disease...

Prabhupāda: That is not the cause. That is the effect. You foolish, do not know. You are taking it, cause.

Harikeśa: Well, when you get hit by a car, that's a cause.

Prabhupāda: Just like one man becomes insolvent, loses everything. So he said that "I had no money. Therefore I become insolvent." But that is not the fact. He could not manage; therefore there was scarcity of money and he became failure. So that is effect. On account of his bad management, he came to a position that he could not pay to his creditor, and his business is failure. So that insolvency is not the cause. It is the effect.

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Harikeśa: So that is the cause, the body breaking down.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So you say heart failure is the cause. No. The body is breaking; therefore heart failure.

Harikeśa: So death means the body breaks.

Prabhupāda: No, no. First of all your answer... You say the heart failure is the cause. The man is dying. I say that because the man is dying, the heart is failure. So heart failure is not the cause. It is the effect.

Room Conversation -- October 4, 1975, Mauritius:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: These bodies are a reaction, effect, isn't it? These bodies are an effect.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So then death also must be some effect.

Prabhupāda: So who has made this law, cause and effect? Some way or other, you have to accept that you are not independent.

Harikeśa: Their arguments are so foolish, it's hard to think of them.

Room Conversation -- October 29, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: So the material world, the so-called material world, has come from Kṛṣṇa. So if it has come from Kṛṣṇa how it is material? The cause and effect is the same, maybe differently manifested. Just like cotton, cotton made into thread, the shape has changed, but it is cotton. And from the cotton thread, you make cloth. The cloth is cotton. But if I say, "Cotton. Bring cotton," then you'll bring cotton, not this cloth. But the cloth is also cotton. Now understand? Cloth is nothing but cotton. But when I say "Bring cotton," you'll not bring a cloth. You'll bring cotton. So the Kṛṣṇa is the sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1), cause of all effects. So all the effects are Kṛṣṇa.

Morning Walk -- November 1, 1975, Nairobi:

Brahmānanda: He's asking that in The Nectar of Devotion it is stated that for one to engage in devotional service means that in his previous life he had some connection with devotional service. So he's...

Prabhupāda: So where is the chance? It is the cause and effect. If previous life you had some activities and the result is there. So where is chance?

Harikeśa: So that's survival of the fittest. Because he could take to devotional service, he is surviving on in devotional service.

Prabhupāda: Surviving... So he is surviving, but the cause and effect is going on.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: It's also said in this state, pradhāna state, the cause and effect are not clearly manifested.

Prabhupāda: Caitanya caritāmṛta, did you refer Nityānanda-tattva?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, I'm still...

Prabhupāda: Read it, you'll get clue there. Maybe in the Third Chapter. Bring up here.

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

Prabhupāda: "By chance," just see. Is that explanation? Hmm? If one head is bald-headed, why by chance it does not come again, hair? And these plants and creepers are coming by chance, just see. We have to accept this explanation? (aside:) You sit down. That is for the outsider. So this is explanation by the scientist, "By chance." Just see. How fools they are.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Chance is their instrument of explanation.

Prabhupāda: Just see how they are befooling persons. The law is cause and effect. Nothing is chance. There is cause, and there is effect. It is saying the same thing, that "This girl has produced a child by chance." It is not possible. Any sane man knows that she had connection with man, either legally or illegally. It is not chance. So there can... Nothing can happen as chance. That is imperfect knowledge.

Conversation at House of Ksirodakasayi dasa -- July 25, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: Kāraṇam is the beginning. So just like my father is the cause of my personality; father, his father is the cause of his personality. In this way you try to find out the cause of the cause. You'll find Kṛṣṇa as the cause of all causes. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). Everything must be caused by something. Cause and effect. So the śāstra gives the verdict that Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Jayapataka -- Los Angeles 21 January, 1970:

In the Caitanya Caritamrta it is said that one is successful in Krishna consciousness by the combined Mercy of the Spiritual Master and Krishna. By the Mercy of Krishna we come in contact with a bona fide Spiritual Master and by the Mercy of a bona fide Spiritual Master we can approach Krishna.

So, both of Them are cause and effect of either of Them. Krishna is the original Spiritual Master known as Caitya Guru and He manifests Himself as the Instructor Spiritual Master. So this principle of following Krishna and Guru simultaneously is the secret of success, and if you follow this policy in the chain of disciplic succession than there is no doubt about your final achievement.