This was the main question in the meeting, that brūhi: "Kindly tell us..." Yogeśvare kṛṣṇe. Kṛṣṇa is mentioned here as Yogeśvara. You have heard about yoga in your country. This yoga word is very popular. Yoga means mystic power, generally it is understood. If one actually becomes a yogi, he attains many mystic power. He can become smaller than the smallest. A yogi, actual, who has attained perfection yogi, he can pack up in any small thing, but if there is little hole, he will come out, a little hole. We have seen it. There was one Mr. Chakravarti. He learned this art, and he made money in cooperation with a circus, Bose's circus, in Calcutta. I have seen it in our childhood, that this Mr. Chakravarti first of all was packed in a bag, and the bag was sealed before all audience, and the bag was put in a box. The box was locked up, not only locked up, it was sealed. Then a curtain, mosquito-curtainlike curtain, was covered. And on the box there was a tablā. You know tablā, harmonium.(?) So from outside one of the circus men said, "Mr. Chakravarti, will you kindly play the tablā?" The table was going on nicely within the curtain. Then he said, "Mr. Chakravarti, will you kindly play on the harmonium?" The harmonium he played. Then he said, "Mr. Chakravarti, will you please come out?" So he immediately came out from the curtain, and he began to round the box, and the man, circus man, asked everyone, "Catch him, catch him, catch him." So somebody tried to catch him, but nobody could catch him. He again entered in the curtain, and when the curtain was taken, everyone saw that the table was there, the harmonium was there, and the box was locked and sealed. And then the seal was opened. The box was opened. Then Mr. Chakravarti, within the bag, he was taken out. And the bag was sealed. It was opened. At that time Mr. Chakravarti was perspiring. He was very fatigued. He remained in such a way, but he came out. That we have seen.
Circus
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
The box was locked up, not only locked up, it was sealed. Then a curtain, mosquito-curtainlike curtain, was covered. And on the box there was a tablā. You know tablā, harmonium.(?) So from outside one of the circus men said, "Mr. Chakravarti, will you kindly play the tablā?" The table was going on nicely within the curtain. Then he said, "Mr. Chakravarti, will you kindly play on the harmonium?" The harmonium he played. Then he said, "Mr. Chakravarti, will you please come out?" So he immediately came out from the curtain, and he began to round the box, and the man, circus man, asked everyone, "Catch him, catch him, catch him." So somebody tried to catch him, but nobody could catch him. He again entered in the curtain, and when the curtain was taken, everyone saw that the table was there, the harmonium was there, and the box was locked and sealed. And then the seal was opened. The box was opened. Then Mr. Chakravarti, within the bag, he was taken out. And the bag was sealed. It was opened.
Therefore we find varieties of men. So one has to come to the platform of the modes of goodness. Just like illiterate, uncultured, animal-like man is trained up to come, to become civilized. By training, it is possible. Just like, by training, even cats and dogs and tigers, they are also become obedient. That is our practical experience. The tiger in the circus, they play obediently to the orders of the master. So by training, it can be possible. But there are two kinds of training process. One process is scheduled: tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena ca damena ca (SB 6.1.13). Undergoing tapasya, austerity, brahmacaryeṇa... Brahmacaryeṇa means controlling sex indulgence or sex impulse. Brahmacarya means practically no sex life. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena, damena (SB 6.1.13), by controlling the senses, by controlling the mind. Tyāgena, by giving up in charity. So there are gradual process, but there is another process. Another process means this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Either you practice in this way... Just like if you want to go up, there are two vehicles or process. You go step by step, one step after another.
Even they are instructed, they cannot know it. That is not possible. But the human beings, however fallen he may be, if he is properly guided, if he is properly instructed, he can become God conscious. This is the special privilege of the human life. Animal cannot do. You can train one animal how to dance. That also you can do. So many things. Just like in circus, the animals are trained up to do so many things. But an animal cannot be trained to be God conscious. Sometimes also, by proper guidance, the animal also becomes, but that is very rare case. So it is the king's duty to see that his citizens are becoming God conscious. That is king's duty. First of all father's duty, spiritual master's duty, ultimately, king's duty. King's, king's duty.
Therefore it is said, dharmeṇa, cakāra rājyaṁ dharmeṇa. Dharmeṇa means "by religious principles." What is that religious principle? Religious principle means to guide everyone to become God conscious.
There are eight kinds of siddhi. You are sitting here. If you want such and such thing from London, you can get immediately. This is called siddhi, prāpti. You can become the smaller than the smallest. You can be packed up in a box. We have seen it. And you'll come out. In Bose's circus, Calcutta, in our childhood, we saw this yogic practice. A man was tied up, hands and legs, put into a bag. The bag was sealed up, again put into a box. The box was locked and sealed. And the man again came out. We have seen. So yogic practice is such... Yes. Prāpti siddhi aṇimā. You can become the smaller... There was a saintly person in Benares, Trailanga Baba. So he was practiced to sit naked in the public road. So government objected that "You cannot sit naked here." So he did not speak. So he was arrested and taken to the custody and put into the jail. He again came out. He again came out.
So he was naked yogi, and government will not allow, police will not allow. So he was thrice arrested and put into the custody, and thrice he came out. Then he became very famous man, simply by exhibiting one perfection of yoga. That means a yogi can come out. Not only Trailuṅga Swami, but we have seen one Mr. Chakravarti in our childhood in a circus, he was playing this part. He was packed up. First of all, his hands and legs were tightly knotted with seal. Then he was put into a bag and the bag was also sealed. Then with this bag he was put in a box. The box was locked and sealed. And he came out from that box—in everyone's presence. We have seen it. And again, he was seen that he was packed up in that way.
So yoga siddhi, these wonderful things are there. Similarly, one can walk on the water. He'll not be drowned. He becomes so light he can float in the air. These are... So siddhya. Siddhya means the persons who reside in that planet, they have got automatically, by taking birth in that... Just like taking birth in the Western countries, America or Europe, you are more opulent than other countries materially. Similarly, in Kṛṣṇaloka also, those who are there, they are automatically all lover of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, there are many different planets, different kinds of residents.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: You know the consciousness of the tiger? Actual fact, you know the big, big circus tigers are trained to play. So the training is, I learned it from their men, that when the tiger comes, raw tiger from the (jungle) comes... What is the tiger player, player, what he is called? What is his name?
Śyāmasundara: Ring master? Trainer. Trainer. Animal trainer.
Prabhupāda: Trainer, yes. So the raw tiger is kept in the cage and the trainer comes for several days, he simply whips. Then for several days whips and gives some food, and then he comes with the whip and food. So he does not whip, he gives some food. In this way tiger becomes tamed by him. So he plays before the trainer only. He has got that whip. Because he is animal, he has got that impression, "He will kill me." Therefore he plays. As soon as this man goes away, he will immediately attack, anyone comes. Just like dog, he fears the (master); for others he jumps over. So it is a question of training. So he has got the conscience. My point is that he has got the conscience, "Oh, here is my trainer. He will kill me." He has got this conscience. This is good. "If I attack, oh, he will kill me. But here is an ordinary man, I can kill him."
Prabhupāda: Yes. We don't say that. We just say that sometimes there is strong desire, we have to repress it. Just like my Guru Mahārāja used to say that while you get up from bed, you beat your mind a hundred times with your shoe, and when you go to bed, you beat your mind a hundred times with a broomstick. Then you will be able to control your mind. Sometimes, just like wild tiger, they have got him to control by repression. The circus players, they do that. Because it is wild tiger, repression is required. But when it is under control, there is no question of repression. You can play with the tiger; he becomes your friend. So repression is not always bad.
Śyāmasundara: Another field of investigation for Freud was the idea of projection. He said this is a technique for attributing one's own unconscious attitudes onto other people. In other words, X called Y a name, but actually Y is the object of that. In other words, for instance, X may regard Y as being jealous, but in fact X is jealous and he projects that attitude onto someone else.
Prabhupāda: That is accepted. (indistinct) Everyone thinks others like himself.
Hayagrīva: Skinner believes in what he calls reinforcement, reinforcing people's behavior. He doesn't believe in punishing people when they do wrong, but he believes more in a system of rewards. He writes, "A government may prevent defection by making life more interesting, by providing bread and circuses, and by encouraging sports, gambling, the use of alcohol and other drugs, and various kinds of sexual behavior, where the effect is to keep people within reach of aversive sanctions." So he...
Prabhupāda: He recommends these things?
Hayagrīva: So he believes that through..., by providing the people with sense gratification the government can keep people from acting in an antisocial way.
Prabhupāda: That means he is also of the same category. No, that will not help. Just like, the example is given in this connection, that when there is fire, if you think that putting more and more ghee the fire will extinguish, that is not possible. To keep the society in order they must be educated according to his capacity, and they should be engaged for common benefit. That is required.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Revatīnandana: Convinced? No. Some of them are less hostile, some of them more hostile, naturally. We can chant on one side of Oxford St., but we cannot chant on the other side of the street because there's two different police departments. It's like that. There is no hard and fast way to figure it out. You just have to try it and see.
Devotee: One night at Picadilly Circus we were eight and four were arrested, and four other people, no, they let them go. So I said, "No, I was arrested." (laughter) When they went to the court, Prabhupāda, they got one pound five each... They were altogether eight, and four were arrested. They also doing the same offense. It is same offense. So he said, "All right, let them go."
Guest (2): Can I ask about your rate... about growth? How, can ask how the movement is growing? Can you give me any figures at all? I was speaking to one of your colleagues earlier who mentioned 150, but seventy-five approximately which were in London. Are the figures growing week by week?
Prabhupāda: Yes. I started this movement alone, and now there are eight thousand.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Devotee (3): One man came here, a haṭha-yogī, so-called haṭha-yogī, and he was putting water in his nose and cloth in his stomach and all twisting this way, going under water, and they were all very amazed and many people came to see. Just like the circus.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And then they say "I will make you perfect man, whatever you like you can... You become my disciple, give me some money."
Devotee (3): And enjoy.
Prabhupāda: There is a proverb, that a drowning man catches even a straw. A man is drowning, he's seeing the straw is floating, he wants to catch it. So in western countries, they are so much fed up with this materialistic way of life that any person from India comes, they think he may give something spiritual.
Devotee (3): Hm.
Prabhupāda: Light. Catch it. But what... Why did you not have tilaka, both of you. You have no time for tilaka?
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: No, no. By controlling the senses, gradually the mind will be controlled. You know. In the..., the tiger and the lion trained up to play in the circus, do you know how it is done?
Dhanañjaya: They starve the animals.
Prabhupāda: No.
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: They feed them every time, whenever they do something.
Prabhupāda: No, after catching them from the forest, they kept within the bars, and no eating for at least one week. Then the trainer comes. Only whips. He comes, and open the doors and only: (makes sound) Flosh, flosh, flosh. So already he's hungry, weak, and he's whipped. In this way, he becomes fearful. As soon as the man comes, he becomes fearful. Then he gives him little food. In this way, after all it is animal, he thinks that "This man is my God. He can save me. He can kill me." Then he takes to him. Whatever he says, he takes. Similarly, if you do not give the ingredients for sense enjoyment, the mind will be controlled. That is the beginning.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Otherwise, why we are trying unless there is hope? We are not hopeless. If you train... If you can train a monkey to dance according to your will, why not human being? You can train even a tiger in the circus; he will act as you desire. It is the question of training. If the animal can be trained, why not a human being? You must know how to train. That knowledge is lacking, how to train. That we are giving, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Guest (Indian man): Swamiji, I'll ask one last question. What advice do you give to a man of family? I am taking my case, I have four children, and they are, their ages, between six and thirteen. I have to see that they grow up nice, I have to see that they educate themself so that they are as according to you... I don't know. I don't call myself first-class, second-class, third-class. As you said, there are no first-class men, second-class men. But then how, apart from making them first class that they should follow the religious...?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Anumantā. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, anumantā, upadraṣṭā.
Cyavana: In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta in one of your purports you gave the example of Paramātmā being compared to when there is a circus in a village the government sends one inspector to watch over the activities. Then, when the circus goes, he is no longer there. Could you explain it? (pause)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda, if Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of pleasure, then what does He need us for? If Kṛṣṇa is all blissful, then what... We're so, it seems, incapable of pleasing Kṛṣṇa. He is so magnanimous. What does He need us for?
Prabhupāda: He does not ask for Himself. For you. If you come to Kṛṣṇa and enjoy with Him, that is your good. He is self-sufficient. He doesn't require.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes, Prabhupāda, when they see your Bhagavad-gītā, they say, "Oh, it is too big for me to read." They don't know that the purport.... They've never read.
Prabhupāda: Therefore I say that bring them, let them chant and dance and take prasādam. That, everyone will hear, agree.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Hari-śauri: That used to be a circus trick as well. They used to put their heads in the lion's mouth.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Dhṛṣṭadyumna: As long as the lion is well fed, you can put your head in his mouth, but if you don't feed him, then it is dangerous.
Prabhupāda: Naturally, if he's animal. They can understand that he's giving you food, he's my friend. The love, friendship, everything is there, even in animals.
Devotee: Except God consciousness.
Prabhupāda: That is possible in human life. But animal also can become God conscious by association.
Kīrtanānanda: Sometimes I've heard you say, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that love only exists between similar categories.
Prabhupāda: Similar categories, the love is very conducive. Otherwise, love is possible with any living entity. The central object of love is Kṛṣṇa. That is Vṛndāvana. The animals love Kṛṣṇa, the human beings love Kṛṣṇa, the trees love Kṛṣṇa, the water love Kṛṣṇa, everyone loves Kṛṣṇa-central point. That is the perfection of love. The Deity is kept in the same house?
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: On whole, they like it?
Jayatīrtha: Yes, especially our kīrtana parties on Oxford Street and Picadilly Circus. They like that very much. Sometimes we get a thousand people standing around our kīrtana party, Picadilly Circus and Leicester Square, places like that.
Prabhupāda: So what about that house?
Jayatīrtha: That house? We've purchased now and we're fixing it up.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Jayatīrtha: We're fixing it up just now for using. We should be using it within about two months.
Prabhupāda: What is the name of that place?
Jayatīrtha: Soho Square.
Prabhupāda: The same house which you showed me?
Prabhupāda: Without reading books they'll understand the philosophy. That is the advantage. Mass of people, without education, they will understand the philosophy.
Bhāgavatāśraya: It's like the circus.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "I have sent out an advertisement to all centers to encourage them to order Guru and Gaurāṅga Deities from us. We can deliver these to them in very short time and at a lower cost than the Jaipur craftsmen."
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "I hope that this meets with your approval."
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Very good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're not made of marble.
Prabhupāda: But as good as marble. They... Are they?
Correspondence
1947 to 1965 Correspondence
Without spiritual culture a human society is another polished edition of the animals. There is no value of education in the animal society as the trained up lion in a circus is never to be trusted. The lion is not trusted because it cannot assimilate spiritual knowledge. But a man is able to take up this knowledge and his formation of the brain is meant for it. It is nothing extraordinary for him because he is prepared for this culture and is awaiting proper administration only. The ways and means were envisaged by the liberated souls and especially by the sages of India and I proud to feel that Lord Buddha happened to be an Indian and we worship Him as incarnation of Godhead. His holy name is mentioned in the Vedic literature like Bhagavata. We can take help from the Bhagavata the cream and ripen fruit of the Vedic literature and stop at once the quarrel and turmoil of the present world.
1971 Correspondence
Thank you very much. So give them protection and instruct them so that they may not go away. We recruit devotees with great difficulty. So they must be well-treated. New men may not always behave so nicely but we must be tolerant. To train a new man is like training a wild animal to be a pet. Just like the tiger is trained in the circus and later on they are dancing to the tune of the master. So the point being stressed is training. A preacher should always be tolerant.
I am so glad to hear how nicely Tulsi is growing. That is the sign of substantial devotional service. Every center should be encouraged to grow Tulsi. If there is any impediment in growing Tulsi, that means that devotional service is defective. Yes, Jagannatha Deities may be carved and installed later on. So I will give you instructions how they should be installed. First of all, let them be carved.
1972 Correspondence
I think it will be the best plan to do as we did last year, that is, I shall go to Calcutta first for holding one pandal festival in the last part of October, then I shall come to Delhi for the Delhi pandal program. Is that all right? Better we hold our annual ceremony as near the Connaught Circus as possible, as we did last year. Do not try so much or work for the land which was so-called given to us by the Delhi Government. We have got so many other things to develop. So if you arrange everything very nicely for the pandal festival in November, I shall be very happy to come there as before.
Regarding the visa problem in Vrindaban, if you always remain very careful with the authorities there, then we shall have no problems in the future. But if there is even one incident or scandalous rumor, that may ruin everything. Another thing is, I do not know what is your final plan for the Vrindaban scheme, whether you have chosen Mr. Suri's plan, or whether Saurabha's plan. I understand from Ksirodakasayi that we must submit detailed plans to the municipal authorities in Vrindaban, so kindly arrange for that as quickly as possible so that we may get the permission. But first you should send me one copy of the final plan as selected by you.
I am very glad to hear that we shall be holding another Hare Krishna Festival in Delhi this year, and I am hoping that I shall also be able to attend as before. That LIC grounds is no longer available, but we must find another suitable location within the city center of New Delhi,* as close to Connaught Circus as possible. That will be very nice. So you and your good wife kindly give Gurudasa all assistance for organizing the festival, and I shall also come if I am able.
Your program for preaching in Delhi is very much approved by me, preaching Krsna is the same as remembering Krsna. I can understand if one of my students is making spiritual advancement if he is also making many life members and devotees. So you have not to minimize the preaching program in order to study independently, no, continue as you are doing, preach as much as possible, collect, make life members, and whenever you have time read and study and never neglect to chant your sixteen rounds daily, and this will be the perfect program.
1974 Correspondence
If it is useless then don't bother. For the time being we are paying Rs 2,500 monthly and no sufficient water and the neighborhood is opposing. In consideration of this, I wanted the Kalkaji land, which is developing equal to Connaught Circus.
Kindly send me an exact site plan. The road and access plan may be hand-drawn, it doesn't matter, showing the length and breadth, the surrounding neighborhood etc. The point is, we are not going to make any big scheme anywhere else unless we have sufficient manpower. At present we have to import men from foreign countries and manage in that way. It is not possible to accept any big scheme in New Delhi. Therefore if we could get even small land just to keep our office, for the purpose I thought the land was nice.
| Page Title: | Circus |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 17 of Aug, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=9, Con=8, Let=5 |
| No. of Quotes: | 22 |