Prabhupāda: Several thousand. And they were loudly chanting and meeting Lord... So when the chanting was going on the Chand Kazi appeared and there was discussion between... Chand Kazi was also very great scholar, and Lord Caitanya was also scholar. So Chand Kazi, just to pacify them, he addressed Caitanya, "My dear boy, You happen to be my nephew. You are my sister's son. Why You are so angry upon Your maternal uncle?" Caitanya Mahāprabhu got the clue that he was prepared to make compromise. So He also mildly replied, "Yes, you are My uncle, I know. So because you are My uncle, therefore I have come to your house. How is that when the nephew comes that you do not receive Him? In an angry mood you go upstairs?" So in this way, the situation was pacified. Then they sat together and there was a very learned discussion between the two. Because Hindus are always against cow killing. So he was Muhammadan. They were killing cow.
Compromise (Conversations)
Expressions researched:
" compromised"
|" compromiser"
|" compromises"
|" compromising"
|"compromise"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1967 Conversations and Morning Walks
Hayagrīva: All right. Now I don't have any questions there. I probably wouldn't deal quite at such length about the meat. I don't see how that... The main thing was about the saṅkīrtana, the chanting.
Prabhupāda: Chanting, and it was mitigated, and he allowed. First of all, there was objection, then there was civil disobedience, then when they compromised, the Chand Kazi allowed the movement. This is the whole idea.
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: And because at the present moment the brāhmaṇas are not so qualified that they can give new life, therefore that sacrifice is now forbidden. He cited some verses from Vedic literature that cow sacrifice and horse sacrifice and to beget children by the younger brother of husband and sannyāsa, and offering oblations with meat, these things are forbidden. So that is past. This is... Now it has no significance. In this way, both of them were scholars. Then they compromised. Agreement was the Kazi gave order everyone of his descendants, that "Nobody will check this saṅkīrtana movement." So that order is being carried by their descendants still there in Nabadwip. The Kazi has got his tomb. He was a very big man.
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Dr. Weir: Oh, I agree that to be satisfied with life is to cut down your desire for omniscience to be satisfied that you can only hope to do quite not, not, not all of the things you'd like to do, to comprehend quite not, not all of the things that are possible. If you are content with that you may be content to play. Otherwise you'll be one of these dreadful people that become paranoics. Because the world only pressures you (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: Contentment... The death is there. If I, somehow or other, make a compromise, that is different thing. But I don't like to die. There is old age. I don't want to be old, but if I make a compromise that is a different thing. But my desire is not to become old, not to become attacked by disease, not to die. These are my desires. So I can make some compromise if unable to solve the problem. That is a different thing. But these are the problems.
Dr. Weir: It was once rather well put by some woman who said to Mr. Carlyle, who's was in a way of being a philosopher. "You know, Mr. Carlyle, I accept the universe." He said, "Madam, you better." This is the beginning of, you might say, reason.
Prabhupāda: There are sentiments, like Cowper said, "England, I love you with all thy fault." That is another thing. That is a compromise.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: This place is the abode of miseries. Everyone knows, but he has become fooled, befooled by so-called leaders. This is miserable life, material life. So duḥkhālayam... Kṛṣṇa says, God says, that this place is duḥkhālayam, it is a place of miseries. And that also aśāśvatam. You cannot make a compromise, "All right, let it be miserable. I shall remain as American or Indian." No. That you also cannot do. You cannot remain as American. You may think that you are born in America, you are very happy. But you cannot remain as American for long. You'll have to be kicked out of the place, and next life you do not know. Therefore it is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). That is our philosophy.
Yadubara: I think a lot of other societies make compromises.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Yadubara: Many other societies make compromises. Many other religious groups make compromises in their doctrine.
Prabhupāda: Yes, because they have no clear idea. They cannot push forward their concept. Just like the other day (indistinct) lady, she asked if Kṛṣṇa was a naughty boy. Yes, because He is God He must be naughty boy. Otherwise, wherefrom this idea of naughty boy comes if that quality is not in God? God is the origin of everything, creator of everything. So if He hasn't got this naughtiness in His person, then how this thing comes to be? That is the Vedānta version, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1).
Prabhupāda: "He is ordinary man. A little better than me, that's all." That Dr. Frog's philosophy. Atlantic was "That's all right, may be little one feet more than this well, that's all." He cannot imagine that millions of wells will be not compared. That he cannot begin. He says, "Yes, it may be bigger, say one foot bigger, two feet bigger. All right, ten feet bigger, make compromise." That's all. He will never think that beyond his estimation. Never think. He'll simply calculate, "All right, if not one, two feet, three feet. All right, ten feet." And the friend will say, "No, no, it is very, very great."
Prabhupāda: If you don't accept this kīrtana, then it will prove that you don't accept the philosophy.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes. That's the difference between Your Divine Grace and all these other bhogis. They make it according to the taste of the people. They change. That's why this movement is so solid: no compromise.
Prabhupāda: No. Why compromise? My Guru Mahārāja never made any compromise.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Compromise means you have some material attachment.
Prabhupāda: Yes, compromise means you don't want real business but you want some money by cheating and by bluffing. That's all. That is compromise. If I aim... Just like this Mahesh Yogi is doing: Yes, God has given you senses, why should you not enjoy? You simply enjoy. You simply give me thirty-five dollars, I'll give you a special mantra. And here, Allen Ginsberg told me, Swamiji, you are very conservative. I said that I am the most lenient. I'm not conservative. You are conservative. You cannot give up your bad habits. I am very liberal and accepting everyone. But you are... Because you are conservative, you cannot give up your bad habits; therefore you deny to come to my camp. I am very liberal.
Prabhupāda: So this cheating process is going on. But you cannot cheat Kṛṣṇa or māyā, that is not possible. It is gosvāmī, that is (indistinct) Don't make compromise that somehow or other just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, everything will be done. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Duratyayā. It is very difficult to surmount the laws of nature. So how is that achieved? Just like laws of nature are so strict, if you eat more, immediately you get indigestion. So how you can cheat? You can experience. Nature's law is working. Therefore, to become brāhmaṇa means satyam. You know the meaning of satyam? Satyam means truth. The first quality is he is truthful. Satyaṁ śaucam ārjavam āstikyaṁ jñānaṁ vijñānam. The beginning is satyam.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: In Bhagavad-gītā it is said: duḥkhālayam. This is a place for suffering only. This material world is a place for suffering. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: duḥkhālayam... And that suffering, that also you, you cannot make any, what is called, compromise. "All right, it is suffering. I shall remain here." But that also you cannot. Some day nature will kick you out. "Get out." Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Even if you accept this place of misery to be your permanent residence, that also you cannot have. You have to go out. Today or tomorrow or fifty years after, you have to go. That is the mistake. I am thinking: "Now I have got this American body, or this body, that body. I am very happy." But how long you'll remain in this condition? Any moment, you will be kicked out. This is laws of nature. Therefore my intelligence will, will be shown when we are trying for the real eternal life.
Devotee: He's talking nonsense.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa... While preaching our movement we should take this attitude. We cannot make compromise with anyone. Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya... Lord Caitanya's cult is to preach the instruction or talks about Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Yāre dekha, tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128).
Pradyumna: Seventh Chapter?
Prabhupāda: Yes, it may be. Come on. (Hindi) Nāpnuvanti? Means "By coming to Me, one does not again get this place, which is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15)." Nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam... This place is duḥkhālayam. Duḥkha ālayam. Here we create miseries. Or it is a miserable place. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, who has created this cosmic manifestation as duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15), "It is a place of miserable conditions. And that is also aśāśvatam, not permanent, non-permanent." You cannot make any compromise that "All right, let it be duḥkhālayam. I shall stay here." You cannot stay. You'll be kicked out. You cannot stay. Therefore it is called aśāśvatam, non-permanent. This is our... But we are seeking after permanent bliss, permanent eternal life. That is our searching out. That is real jijñāsā, "Where I can get eternal life of bliss and knowledge?" That is brahma-jijñāsā.
Prabhupāda: Śaṅkara's cheating is also like that, because he was taking, he was accepting from the Buddhists. If he immediately says that "Lord Buddha was, cheated you," they'll not accept. Therefore he made some compromise. The Buddhist theory is "void," and he said, "No form." So it is almost the same. But he said, "There is Brahman." Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. That much improvement. The same process. Just like one wants to eat meat. He is given some regulation, "Yes, you can eat meat. There is no harm. But you do like this: Go to a mosque. On Eid day you can kill one animal." Or "You go to the synagogue under the protection of..." And our Hindu śāstra says, "Go to the Goddess Kālī's temple, and get a goat, black goat." That means under condition. If it is good thing, it would have been sanctioned, "Yes, you can do whatever you like." But it is not good. But if you say, "It is not good," he'll not accept. Therefore under some condition.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So much fighting was there. Immediately I went and purchase and everything stopped. (devotees laugh) They are surprised. This man, they... You know there are two very stubborn parties who have cheated. Chaganlal, he advanced fifty-one thousand as advance, and when there was question of settlement, so he came, he wanted that "If you give me three lakhs, then I'll compromise." So I was prepared to pay him three lakhs. So that Mr. Ganotra, Mayor, I induced him just to make settlement. Then down he came-two lakhs twenty-five thousand. Then asked Mrs. Nair, "Now you'll pay this..." Where I have got... If he takes all money, then what shall I get? Then I had to settle with her how much he will pay. So she came from one lakh to one lakh, forty thousand.
Prabhupāda: No, we must be harder and harder.
Dr. Patel: Hard and harsh! Doesn't matter...
Prabhupāda: I don't make any compromise with these rascals. No words. No, no. I never made that. Even if I don't get any disciples, I'll be satisfied. But I can't make any compromise like these rascals. I cannot make. Ekaś candras tamo hanti na ca tārā sahasrasaḥ. If I create one moon, that is sufficient. I don't want many stars. That was my Guru Mahārāja's principle, and that is my principle. What is the use of having number of fools and rascals? If one man understands rightly, he can deliver the whole world.
Dr. Patel: But you say your own interpretation also. That is also ahaṅkāra, sir.
Prabhupāda: No, no. I am taking the interpretation of Kṛṣṇa.
Dr. Patel: He must be also taking in that way.
Prabhupāda: No, no.
Dr. Patel: With all my due respect, sir, well, we must have some sort of forbearance for others' views.
Prabhupāda: No, no. Because if we have got to preach, we cannot make any compromise.
Bhagavān: Would you like to walk down by the lake or is this...?
Prabhupāda: No, no. It is all right. In India, also, although they are vegetarian, they cannot give up smoking even beedie. They cannot give up chewing pan. You see? This is very difficult task. I was thinking when I first came that as soon as I propose these things, because I have got experience that Lord Zetland said, "It is impossible," what they, they'll accept? And I'll have to go back again. But I did not make any compromise. Just like other rascal yogis and swamis, they say, "Yes, yes. You can eat whatever you like. You can do whatever... You practice nose pressing. That's all. And give me my fees. Then you'll (indistinct)." This is not possible.
Prabhupāda: No, no. He's a rascal. How we can...? We know everything, and he denies. Then what is the use of talking with him? And waste your time. Let him know everything. We have nothing, no business.
Satsvarūpa: We can't compromise and just say that we don't know.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Satsvarūpa: What does he...
Prabhupāda: No, no. How you can...? You know everything. How you can say, "I don't know."
Paramahaṁsa: Our position in preaching should be to encourage people in all respects to associate with us.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Paramahaṁsa: That means sometimes we might have to compromise in certain ways.
Prabhupāda: Why compromise? You don't compromise. Then you associate with him. If you make compromise, then you associate with him. Then gradually you'll also go down. When we, when we see some person, we do not associate with him, but we give him chance to associate with me. Why you should make compromise? What is the reason? If you know something positively, why should you make compromise? When people come to talk with me, see me, I don't make any compromise. Do I make any compromise?
Prabhupāda: Then why shall we make compromise? That gentleman, Mr. Herbert, Gene Herbert, he said that "It has taken eighteen years to write these books." I said, "Still, there are so many mistakes." Immediately I said. And he could not say anything. Do you remember that?
Devotees: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Immediately I said, "Yes, you have labored eighteen years. Still, there are so many mistakes."
Nitāi: Anyone else would have said, "Oh! Very nice."
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Eh? I did not say.
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: He said that morning "What can we do, Prabhupāda?" He said, "What can we do? If we do not compromise, we will make enemies."
Prabhupāda: No, you'll not compromise; at the same time, you'll not make enemies. That is tactics. If you make enemies, then what is your tactics? You must speak the truth; at the same time he'll not be displeased. That is tactics. If you can defeat him by your argument, then he'll not be displeased. After all, everyone is human being. If you can find out his defect, why he shall be enemy? Therefore, it is said, "You better make a reasonable man an enemy, but don't make a friend fool." You don't make friendship with a fool, but if a man is intelligent, better make him an enemy. Because, because he's intelligent, although he's an enemy, he'll not do any harm. Because intelligent. But a fool, he may pose himself as friend, and he can do anything which is very harmful.
Prabhupāda: Thousands. So we take advantage of this meeting. We do our business and go away. And they have no books. They have simply that pressing of nose, that's all, nothing else. They have no philosophy, nothing of the sort. What they will write? They have no philosophy. Simply cheat that "Press your nose; you get Bhagavān." That's all. And people think, "It is so easy. Why shall I go to Bhaktivedanta Swami? Let me go to this Guru Mahārāja." They think like that. And some of our men, feeling too much pressure, they go away. But here there is nothing cheap, that simply by pressing nose and eyes and you become God. Don't make compromise. This principle must be observed. Then you'll remain strong. As soon as you make compromise, then it is finished.
Prabhupāda: Dṛḍha-vratāḥ. Find out this verse. Dṛḍha-vratāḥ. What is that? Bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ. Namasyantaś ca māṁ...
Cāru: Bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ.
Prabhupāda: Ah, ah. That dṛḍha-vratāḥ must be there, strong determination. Then it will go on. The scientists will come to learn and the psychiatrists will come to learn if you keep dṛḍha-vratāḥ. And as soon as you make compromise, then nobody will care for.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That is Vivekananda's philosophy. "Whatever opinion you have got, that is also nice." That means even if we differ, your opinion, my opinion, your is good and my is good. That means no controversy, that's all: making compromise. If I say, "Your, your whatever you think..." This is going on. When Gandhi was approached that "You have got so much influence on the Mohammedans. Why don't you stop this cow slaughter?" Gandhi said, "No, it is their religion. I cannot stop." That is yata mat, that "Cow slaughter is also good, and cow not slaughter is also good." (chuckles) This is their philosophy.
Paramahaṁsa: You mean a compromise between the two.
Prabhupāda: Compromise, yes. There was too much strain between Hindus and Muslims, so he wanted to make a compromise. Actually there was only Vedic culture all over the world. As the things deteriorated, new systems of religion came in. Either the Sikh religion or the Christian or this religion, Muslim religion. They are, what is called, deformed type of religion. Religion is that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ (BG 18.66). That is religion. These are later on deformed.
Prabhupāda: They could not mix in this planet, they are going to mix in another planet.
Srutakirti: They'll probably have some argument in outer space. The astronauts will get into a fight.
Prabhupāda: The rascal could not compromise here, they're going in the sky. All mental concoction.
Prabhupāda: Because we are doing business, we are getting money from these rascal government, so if you expose me, then I will not get money, and if I expose you, you will not get money. Let us remain together and let them remain fools. That's all. This is it. If a common man like me can understand the whole policy, how the scientist will not understand? But they have made a compromise that "Don't expose me, I'll not expose you, and let us take money from the government." This is going on.
Prabhupāda: No, we don't take that, by number of people. We take how many people are taking actually. But neither... Ekaś candras tamo hanti: "If one man accepts, then he can become the bright moon." Na ca tārāḥ sahasraśaḥ: "The so-called stars has no value." One moon is sufficient. So our preaching is: Let one man understand Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. We don't want disciples. I never collected disciples. I never compromised that "You can do whatever you like, and you become my disciple. "No. You have to follow this. Now also, this morning, I accepted so many... "First promise whether you are going to do this. Then I initiate." This is my policy.
Prabhupāda: They are daily one or two gentlemen, like you they are coming. But they find our prescription very strict. (laughter) And... but we are not going to change it. We are not after vox populi. That is not our concern. We have got our standard method.
Director: Yeah, sure. I believe that you should have these standards if you want them, if anybody wants them.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is making us successful. We do not make any compromise. This is our method. If you like, you take it. If you don't like, you go away. Don't mind.
Dharmādhyakṣa: Many of the students at the Graduate Theological Union, they might want to come to our college to take just one or two courses. Would it be all right for them to do that?
Prabhupāda: No, everyone is welcome. But they must see what is our ideal. Then one day they will also come. So our ideal should be always there, not that we make some compromise. Then it will not be effective.
Prabhupāda: Antar means internally, and bahiḥ means external. We... That chant, that ācamana mantra?
- apavitraḥ pavitro vā
- sarvāvasthaṁ gato 'pi vā
- yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ
- sa bahyābhyāntara-śuciḥ
Bahya means external, and abhyāntara means internal, not duplicity. That bahya, externally something, and internally something, that will not be successful. Bahyābhyāntaraṁ śuciḥ. Śuciḥ means purified, brāhmaṇa. And who is not purified, he is muciḥ. (break) We have to present an ideal institution, not that we make compromise with everybody. That is not our business. We don't want stars. We want moon.
Prabhupāda: Daṇḍya-jane rāja-jana... That was the chief punishment formerly. If one has to be punished, instead of putting into the jail and feed him, the officers will take him to a river and put him in the water. In this way, one day doing, he will say "I will never do these things. Please excuse me." Daṇḍya-jane rāja-jane nadite cubaya. (break) ...unless one remembers this, that "To be in the material world, how suffocating it is," he will not fit for going to back to Godhead. He must be completely detestful. If he keeps little attachment, "No, it is very good sometimes," then you have to remain here. (break) "This is not permanent. I shall be put next moment in the bad condition." That he must know. That is knowledge. And if he makes compromise, then he has to be again.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes. I have already written that. I was thinking that "What shall I do here? I have come here. As soon as I shall impose these four principles they will say, 'Go home.' " But I took that risk. I never said anything palatable. Against their activities, "You don't do this, don't do this." (break)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...compromised at all, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: No, what is the use of compromise if there is no good result?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Someone who compromises, he actually wants followers.
Prabhupāda: Then why he has become man? Why not animal? Therefore the śāstra says, "One who is engaged in these animal activities, he is animal. He is not man." Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma idya-dhīḥ (SB 10.84.13). Actually, man is doing like that. In the jungle the similar animals, they flock together. This nationalism is like that. It is nothing better than that. So our defending, that "We are Americans," "We are Indians," "We are Germans"—the same thing. Because they are animals, they have this United Nations. The animals will fight, so they are trying to compromise, "Let us live peacefully." That is not possible because they are animals, all failure.
Devotee: The big animals also prey on the small animals.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Mutual praising society. That's all. "I praise you and you praise me. I say you are very big; you say I am very big." That's all. And compromise. "I don't criticize you; you don't criticize me." That's all. (break) In the womb the child got life and when the... Sometimes some child comes, stunt. By process again he cries. So why the dead child is not brought into life by that? What do you call dead?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Stillborn. Still. When it's born dead.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. They're actually doing that. They may believe or not believe; our belief is going on all over the world. Is it not?
Yaśomatīnandana: Yes.
Prabhupāda: That's all. Phalena pariciyate. Hare Kṛṣṇa. We don't make any compromise. What we believe, we are preaching that. People are accepting. So you believe or not believe; it doesn't matter for us.
Prabhupāda: It may require... No, I said that "If you are equal rights, then make some arrangement: sometimes you become pregnant; sometimes he becomes pregnant. Why there is not right, equal right?"
Indian man: She was telling me when... She... I said that "Prabhupāda sometimes says these things that we feel all ashamed, you know, because..."
Devotee (2): The medicine is not always palatable for these people.
Prabhupāda: But in speaking spiritual understanding we cannot make any compromise. What to speak of in Mauritius, in Chicago I told. There was great agitation in papers.
Prabhupāda: Both ways. I cannot violate. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that you simply speak what Kṛṣṇa has said, and Kṛṣṇa says that anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is a rascal. He is a most sinful man, he is the lowest of mankind. So why shall I not say? It is not firing; it is telling the truth. (laughs with Patel) But I am not loser. I am, I do not make any compromise. All these my students ask, I never made any compromise. But still they understand, and they are with me.
Prabhupāda: Śaṅkarācārya, because he had to deliver people from this nāstika philosophy, bauddha, so for the time being, he made some compromise. The bauddha says there is no God, and he said, "Yes, there is no God. You are God." So if he realizes himself brahma-bhūtaḥ, then he'll be engaged in devotional service, that was his purpose. Unless he says that, that "Yes, it is not the fact that there is no God. There is God, but that God you are."
Dr. Patel: That is the final argument is that if there is no God, who said there is no God? And that is God. That is what he said.
Prabhupāda: (laughing) So you know better than me.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How is it that Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was not so strict in that regard, yet his son, who learned from him, became very strict, like a rod?
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was so strict (laughs) that because he married twice, he used to say, "strī-saṅgī, attached to woman," even his father. (laughter) He was very strict. Sometimes when he would be angry, he'd, "You strī-saṅgī." And don't discuss this thing. (laughs) He was very strict. No excuse, no compromise.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's where you got all of that from.
Prabhupāda: My is imitation, but his was real. (laughs) All these Navadvīpa people were afraid of him.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) Make the bullock cart an international. They'll be surprised. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya. We must be always convinced that if we simply take up the knowledge given by Kṛṣṇa, then you are perfect. That's all. If little success is there for me than other swamis and yogis, it is due to my conviction on this point. I never compromised with anything which is not spoken by Kṛṣṇa. Did you mark it or not?
Prabhupāda: No. I was not very much hopeful. That I wrote one poetry, that "Kṛṣṇa, why You have brought me in this country? What can I do? How I shall convince them how they will understand the philosophy? So, but because You have brought me here, must be there is some purpose. So all right. You make me dance as You like." That poetry, I (wrote) in Boston, Commonwealth Pier, on the sea. I came by ship. So I wrote that poetry, that I do not know what for I have come here, why Kṛṣṇa has brought me here. As soon as I shall say that there is no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no drinking, and no gambling, they'll say, "You go home. Don't talk." I knew this. Still I attempted. But these boys kindly accepted. I never made any compromise. I said, "These are the first conditions to become Kṛṣṇa conscious: no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling. Are you agreed?" They say yes, then come. If I would have made compromise, "Yes, whatever you like you can do." No, I never did. Ask them. I never did. Some of them left, that "It is too difficult. The primary necessities of life are denied here."
Prabhupāda: That is fact. These rascals come here for women and money, that's all. They do not know what is spiritual life. If I say like that, you think it is right or wrong?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: You're right.
Devotee: Good idea. You didn't compromise.
Prabhupāda: Why compromise? (break)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I think the nondevotees would like to be classified in one of those four categories.
Prabhupāda: But they are. They may not, they may like or not like, it doesn't matter, but they are.
Satsvarūpa: ...professor who's going to see you tonight, Professor O'Connell, he wrote a book review of Dr. Judah's book about our movement. And he said it was a very sympathetic book, Dr. Judah's, he said, and a little bit too sympathetic on one point. He made his statement. He thinks that our movement, the way we deny the flesh, he said, he called, "denying the flesh," it tends to make us a little cold in our relations to each other, and people in the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement are denying the natural affection that is somehow connected with the flesh.
Prabhupāda: No, we want to, what is called, reject that society. We cannot become sympathetic with everyone. That is not our policy. Asat-saṅga-tyāga vaiṣṇava ācāra. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was asked what is the general behavior of a Vaiṣṇava, He said that the first thing is that you should give up bad company. So these are bad company. We cannot have any sympathy. We cannot make any compromise with everyone. That is not possible. The modern scientists, they have made quarantine? Quarantine? What is that?
Hari-śauri: Separation.
Hari-śauri: If someone has a disease, they separate.
Prabhupāda: Those who are infected, they should be separated. You cannot make any compromise.
Satsvarūpa: His point was that even amongst ourselves, even amongst the devotees, he says, there is not enough expression of love, because we don't allow...
Prabhupāda: Well, then.... Trying to be perfect.
Prabhupāda: You are seeing so many wonderful things. I gave this example to another man, that there is a coconut tree. Now find out where is the pipe and pumping so that the water is pushed. Show me. You have no idea that such a high height, how water is going there. And full of water. How the water is transferred there? Show me the pipe and pump. You have got the idea, that with pipe and pump we can raise the water. Where is that pipe and pump? Show me. Every day, every moment, we are seeing so many wonderful things. How you are thinking.... "I am Dr. Frog. Pacific Ocean may be four feet. All right, five feet. Make compromise, ten feet." (laughter) Rascal. If you think for many millions of years, then you'll have no solution. Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo (Bs. 5.34). It is not possible in that way. They have no idea of God.
Prabhupāda: They will become powerful. And people will be less intelligent—means less God conscious. Just like when the king is weak, thieves and rogues, they flourish.
Hari-śauri: So we just have to be very strong and uncompromising.
Prabhupāda: How you can compromise with thieves and rogues?
Prabhupāda: I never said that "You have to give up this, you have to do this." Never said. Then gradually ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). When the heart becomes cleansed, then little. There is no hopelessness. So many people have come, and they are coming. Both black, white, everyone is coming. There is no question of (indistinct). But you cannot expect that cent percent people will come; that is not possible. But even, even one-fourth percent people come to this, then it will be successful. Compared to the American population, what percentage we have got? Still they have made some impression, the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. Literatures are selling, they are appreciating, learned circle. Takes some time, but if we stick to our principles and do not make any compromise and push on—in this way, I have given you instruction, it will never stop; it will go on. It will never stop. At least for ten thousand years it will go on.
Hari-śauri: They're always looking for a platform of equality.
Prabhupāda: The black men.
Hari-śauri: No, just the people in general, for happiness. Because they understand that if there are so many different groups, then there will always be fighting and dissent. So they are always looking for some compromise how to get the groups to live together.
Prabhupāda: This is equal—Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise not.
Prabhupāda: They do not know what is bhakti, what is Vedānta. They do not know. Simply aspiring, all after women and money, that's all. First-class rogues. I know all of them, all first-class rogues, after money and women. Beginning from Vivekananda. But they are so popular, if you say openly... Satyam bruhet ma bruhet satyam apriyam(?). "You can speak truth, but don't speak which is unpalatable." But we speak in a different way. And directly we don't speak. People will be angry. They're already fools and rascals.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: All of the others are trying to make some compromise.
Prabhupāda: That is also bad. How we can make compromise? Here is gold, here is iron, how you can compromise? Can we accept iron as gold? All right, let us accept. (laughs) Where is the possibility?
Hari-śauri: They don't see that clearly. They are looking at their iron and thinking it's gold.
Prabhupāda: They are seeing... They're tested. I don't make any compromise. All my speaking is also no compromise. Here is guru, here is Kṛṣṇa, here is God, here is Vedānta. Real version they neglect, and they stick to the rascal's version, Śaṅkara's version, Śārīraka-bhāṣya. All over India, they are reading Śārīraka-bhāṣya.
Hari-śauri: Rāmānujācārya is very well known in India, so why don't they read his commentary?
Prabhupāda: They hate Rāmānujācārya because he's Vaiṣṇava.
Prabhupāda: So long. As soon as there is five thousand years, they will (indistinct). The Christian theory used to say that the world is flat. So what is the value of their words? There is no value. You do not try to compromise with others.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, we are not compromising with anybody.
Prabhupāda: You present your own as it is Bhāgavatam, try to explain them to your best capacity scientifically. If you bring this, bring that... All of them are imperfect. So what is the use of wasting time with something which is imperfect?
Interviewer: Yes. Do you think that this is because of the Western influence under which they have gone and you are...?
Prabhupāda: No, no, they wanted to compromise with the Westerners. They did not come to teach, but they wanted to be victimized by the Western people. They had no strength to save themselves. They have no strength. They have no determination. Hodgepodge, that's all. Therefore it was not successful. Not a single man became Kṛṣṇa conscious. Even nowadays. Now Vivekananda is famous in India that "He preached in America, all Americans have become Vedantists," something like that.
Bhūgarbha: He asks what is meant by the situation in this world.
Prabhupāda: The situation is you have to suffer. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This is a place for suffering, and that also you cannot stay here. Even if you make compromise, "All right, I shall suffer and stay," Kṛṣṇa says no. You suffer, and after you make adjustment, you will be kicked out.
Prabhupāda: We are therefore requesting people that don't be misled. Here is the greatest mahājana, Kṛṣṇa Himself. You follow His instruction. It is very easy, there is no complication. This is our propaganda. But we don't make any compromise. Why shall I make compromise? If we are presenting the right thing, why shall I make compromise with something wrong? (Hindi) Baliye(?). If we are confident that we are presenting the right thing, why shall I make compromise with the wrong thing? (Hindi) No, you are intelligent. You can say if I am saying something wrong. Our culture has been spoiled by interpreting wrongly Kṛṣṇa's words. Bhārata-bhūmi, puṇya-bhūmi... still, thousands and millions are there. If there is Kumbhamelā, millions of men are coming. Whenever we hold some Kṛṣṇa consciousness meeting, daily, twenty thousand, fifteen thousand, thirty thousand men come. The spirit is there. Unfortunately, that is being artificially depressed. But it cannot be done. The puṇya-bhūmi, bhārata-bhūmi, it will go on. But the unfortunate thing is that the clear thing is there and that is being misinterpreted and people are misled. That is the difficulty.
Prabhupāda: Everyone. They are preaching Bhagavad-gītā with the purpose of killing Kṛṣṇa. Everyone. The politicians, the scholars, the rascals, and everyone. The main purpose is how to kill Kṛṣṇa. In Bombay I have got a very big friend, you know him. I do not wish to disclose his name. He has set aside ten lakhs of rupees for preaching Gītā. But he wants Gītā without Kṛṣṇa. Rāma without Sītā. Rāvaṇa's policy. Take away Sītā. Rāma will remain alone. So take away Gītā and cut Kṛṣṇa. But I cannot make any compromise I shall... My life is ended, now eighty-one. I do not... But so long I shall live I shall make no compromise, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Dṛḍha-vrata. And that is a fact. Why shall I mislead people? They are searching after God, what is God. Here is God. Why don't you take it. See His activities. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ. Tally with the formula of God, you see Kṛṣṇa is God. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. So whatever teeny effort I have got, I shall try to establish temples of Kṛṣṇa all over the world with my teeny income. I have got book sales. Kṛṣṇa has given me very good chance. It is beyond any dream. We are selling books sixty thousand dollars daily.
Minister: Unless you are so single-minded it can't be. Therefore you say there is no compromise. Otherwise if there are compromises, there will be adjustments, it will lead to dilution. We understand.
Prabhupāda: Compromise (Hindi). These boys when they come for initiation, no compromise. You have to do this. No illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication. Even up to smoking cigarettes or drinking tea. No gambling. If you accept, then you become my disciple. They accept. No compromise.
Minister: (indistinct) ...because you are establishing a center here. That will be very good.
Interviewer: When can we put questions?
Devotee: After.
Prabhupāda: Yes, let me finish, that... We are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, and it is being accepted all over the world. People are very much, those who are scholars, they say that even Rādhākrishnan and Aurobindo, they presented Bhagavad-gītā making some compromise with Western ideas. But here is presentation of Bhagavad-gītā in India's original traditional way. So they welcome it. And this is our, I mean to say, object also, that we cannot allow Bhagavad-gītā to be understood by anyone's imagination. No. That is not possible. And that is not allowed in the Bhagavad-gītā by the author. Kṛṣṇa says in the Fourth Chapter that as soon as the paramparā system of understanding is lost, then the whole thing is lost.
Prabhupāda: There is no question of individual. I know these rascals. God is so easy thing that simply by I am thinking that "I am moving the sun, I am moving the..., mo mo mo mo." He'll... because the whole world is mūḍha, we cannot say that "Yes, I am also with you. I am also one of the mūḍha." We cannot say. The votes may be against us but we cannot agree to that. We simply speak for Kṛṣṇa's sake. That is Kṛṣṇa. We cannot make any compromise. What do they say about this version in the Bhagavad-gītā, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante anya devatāḥ (BG 7.20). What do they say? What is their opinion? But don't say, "Somebody said..." Everyone is fool, rascal.
Prabhupāda: Ah, Chandra Swami, has strongly recommended that "This is the only movement which is converting Christian into Hindu." He is pleased on this account. He is not interested our Hare... He has said that "I am not very much interested in Hare Kṛṣṇa, but I am interested in this point." That is natural, that nobody could convert the Christian to Hindu, but this movement is doing that.
Yaśomatīnandana: That is indirectly accepting Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that's a fact. We do not make any compromise. Vivekananda went there. He came back. He said, "What is the wrong in meat-eating?" He introduced meat-eating amongst his contemporary sannyāsīs. This is his vedānta-pracāra. So he is advertised that he preached Vedānta all over America, and everyone has become Vedantist.
Prabhupāda: Sa eva ayam yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ. "Therefore I am saying you again, the old yoga system. It is not that because the time has changed, I am changing." Somebody says, "Now it was spoken some millions of years ago, now it is modern ways, I am explaining in the modern way." That is not the system. The system is I am speaking the same yoga system. Yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ. And they are modernizing, making compromise. That is naṣṭa. That is the defect. Therefore we did not get any benefit. And in the modern countries, before me, so many yogis, swamis have been there for the last two hundred years. Not a single person became a Hindu. Now they are calling (them) "American Hindus." Why? Because it was lost. Rotten thing was given. Yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa. If you supply something to me which is rotten and decomposed, such foodstuff, what shall I get benefit? Now they are getting benefit. Our mission is to put Bhagavad-gītā as it is. It is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission that He said, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Everyone of you become a guru and deliver these persons, these fallen conditioned souls. That is your business.
Prabhupāda: They have brought so many cases against me. But unless it is effective, how they are feeling the weight? Now these boys, their father, mother constantly kidnap them. "Stay here." No, they will not stay. They'll not eat with their father, mother. So they think that "Our son is lost." Other yogis and swamis go, they give some method. And the son is there at home."All right, a young man is going there." But here, their son is lost. Here their son is lost, and they are now called "American Hindus." So naturally they are very much against me. And counter movement is going on. Hindus... The government...That this is not a religion. The swami knows some mind-controlling power and he's brainwashing. In this way, there is charge. So because America has got freedom of religion, so if they accept my movement as Hindu religion, they cannot do anything. People are free to accept. But they are giving in a different charge, that I have manufactured something, that no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no gambling. How people can accept all these things? They're brainwashed. There are so many charges. But anyone who comes to me, I don't make any compromise.
Indian man: There was some trouble with your movement in America recently.
Prabhupāda: We don't care for this trouble. If you are sincere it is all right. We are facing so many difficulties. We don't care for it. We never compromise. All my students, they will never compromise. Why shall I compromise? If I am confident that I am speaking the truth, why shall I make compromise? Those who are not confident of his position, they will make compromise. One who does not know where he stands, he will make compromise. And if I know where I am standing, why shall I make compromise? Let others do whatever he likes. This is our position.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So you can invite this opposition cult to see what we are doing. "Why you are after us," ask, "like the barking dog? There is good use. It is the highest culture." Make some compromise: "Why you are after simply spoiling? Don't you want advancement in culture and knowledge? Why you are so envious?" Just try to bring the leaders, that "What is use? You also join. It is a culture. There is no need of repressing us. We are serious to introduce a new culture for the benefit of the whole nation. Why don't you study this? Do you mean to say we are publishing books only, all sentiment, brainwash, and people are purchasing?"
Prabhupāda: "We are giving culture, art, scientific knowledge. You are accusing. It is good for your nation. Think nationalwise what we are doing. We are not fools. They are also educated. They are coming from respectable family. Why you say that we have become befooled, brainwashed? We are not so fool that I shall be brainwashed by some Indian." Try to make compromise before them. Actually, this is a great culture.
Guest (2): But what was there before British came? This is human weakness of our own.
Prabhupāda: It is... You... You have been taught that Kṛṣṇa is an ordinary person, maybe little more in knowledge. That you are taking like that. Kūpa-maṇḍuka-nyāya. Kūpa-maṇḍa, the toad in the well, he is informed, "Oh, I have seen one Atlantic Ocean." So he is thinking "Atlantic Ocean may be.... This well is three feet. It may be four feet. Or five. Come on, ten." These rascals are thinking like that—avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā (BG 9.11)—that "Kṛṣṇa may be more intelligent by one feet or two feet. Let us compromise-ten feet." This is going on. And Kṛṣṇa says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: (BG 7.7) "I am the Supreme." They won't believe. They'll manufacture their ideas. This is going on. Aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2). They won't believe that. And still, they'll declare, "I am student of Bhagavad-gītā." They won't believe a word of Kṛṣṇa, and they'll say, "I am student of Bhagavad-gītā." This is going on. This is our position. In India everyone says, "I have read Bhagavad-gītā three hundred times," but he does not know even a word. So this should be stopped.
Prabhupāda: First thing is that my students are advised, "No illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication up to the point of smoking cigarette and drinking tea, and no gambling." But this is their life. How they can give up this? That is... It is a shock. Therefore they say, "brainwashing," that "How a gentleman can give up all these things?" Many... No many. A few of my students, they left. They said that "Swamiji is denying the primary necessities of life." They left. They could not tolerate even. So I do not make any compromise. That you want to become my student you have to give up these things. So the responsible parents, they are appreciating that "My son is now purified." But some of them, there are...
Guest (2): They feel that you are kidnapping their children. (laughs)
Prabhupāda: And therefore they are kidnapping. His father, mother came in Calcutta. His mother asked, "Swamiji, please return my son." And "Take your son."
Prabhupāda: This is para upakāra, doing good to others. And the patient will protest, "Oh, this rascal doctor, killing me, killing me, killing me!" "Yes, I am not killing you. I am saving you. You go on accusing me any way, but I must do my duty." This is the point. "Yes, we are washing brain," exactly like the experienced surgeon. He doesn't make any compromise. "Oh, you are suffering from the boil. There is pus. All right, you don't like operation?" Will that cure? ""No, fool! Come one. Bring knife. Cut it. Press. Now?" "Oh, I am so relieved! You are God. You are God." Then he will see. That is our duty: purge out all pusses accumulated due to infection, material infection. This is our duty. We cannot make any compromise. When the pusses are to be purged out, we cannot take your advice, that "Just blow some air from the mouth or some fan. It will be cured." No, it will not be. Take surgical operation. That is only way. Purge out.
Prabhupāda: You can... Yes. You say that "Somebody does like, somebody does like, somebody..." No. Full surrender. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66).
Guest (2): No conditional. Conditional means that we have hidden here any enemy to fight over his property.
Prabhupāda: If I would have compromised, then many millions of students I would have got. Anyone comes to me—"First surrender."
Guest (2): But Guruji, kindly excuse me. There is Droṇa and Ekalavya.
Prabhupāda: Surrender means full faith, that "Whatever Kṛṣṇa said is all right. I'll not do anything, and I shall simply surrender to Kṛṣṇa." That is surrender, not that one may be attracted by this, one may be attracted by this, one may...
Guest (1): No, we read literature, and we are surrendered.
Prabhupāda: Simply I am attracted with the words of Kṛṣṇa. That's all. No compromise.
Guest (2): No compromise. No compromise. There is no question of compromise.
Prabhupāda: That is not surrender.
Prabhupāda: Nobody believes in Lenin. Then there would have been everyone Communist. You believe, a section. Then why there are two parties? You are not all in all. That is going on everywhere. How you can say that you are correct, I am not correct? The process is the same. Therefore Vivekananda has compromised, "Everyone is correct." Yato mata tato patha. There is no quarrel.
Prabhupāda: Buddha is two hundred and fifty. And Bhagavad-gītā, five thousand years ago, this Bhagavad-gītā... And before that, puruṣa, forty millions of years ago... If you don't believe Bhagavad-gītā, then don't talk of Bhagavad-gītā. You talk of Śaṅkarācārya, Sunātha,(?) this... That is another thing. But if you talk of Bhagavad-gītā, it is stated there. People have misguided people in such a way that we are finding very difficult to reform them. But things are there. We have no difficulty. You do not accept—all right, you do your own business; let me do my business. We cannot make any compromise because some rascal has said something. That is not possible. We have to follow Kṛṣṇa. That's all. This is Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Prabhupāda: They knew that "We are not going. So long the nonviolence is there, we are safe." They were occasionally calling Gandhi and patting him: "Sir, why you are doing this? Let us compromise," because he knew that "So long nonviolence will continue, we are safe." But Subash Bose's protest was that "If you don't take to violence, then these people are never going." That was the difference of opinion between Subash Bose and... So when he was taking the Congress in hand, Gandhi became so angry that Subash Bose, being elected President, Gandhi did not attend the Congress. So other workers, he requested Subash Bose that "You resign. Otherwise Gandhi will not."(?) So he resigned. He done right. And then he thought that "Unless I go out of India, I cannot do anything." Then he managed to go out of India, and Singapore, he... Indians with their help and Hitler's intervention, he organized this INA. And when the Britisher's saw that "Now the soldiers are joining national movement, then we cannot rule over," then they decided, "Let us make some compromise, and as much possible, do harm. Divide this India, Pakistan and India, and go away." This is fact.
Prabhupāda: No, nobody cares for this non... (break) That is not, that India has no kṣatriya spirit. Very good kṣatriya spirit. But it was not organized. That is the difference of opinion between Gandhi and Subash. He wanted to organize it.
Guest (1): That's... But Gandhiji knew actually it's not possible to organize this violence in India, because the people are not of that nature.
Prabhupāda: No, everything has got. Just like Subash Bose organized outside.
Guest (1): Subash Bose was a very great organizer and a great politician.
Prabhupāda: He organized. He made compromise, some he made, this Hitler and Tojo, that "Whoever, Indian soldiers surrendered, you..."
Guest (1): They should go to INA.
Prabhupāda: INA. He made this... And the soldiers were voluntarily surrendering.
Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Practically begin. Any boy who comes to me, he's lost forever to his family. In other religion there is no such thing.
Guest (1): No, they go back again and...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Go back, they do everything. They remain the same thing, simply rubberstamp. That's all. (Bengali) ...an actual fact. So they are seeing it is dangerous. They say, "It is epidemic. Brainwash." (Bengali) ...that once gone, this camp, Hare Kṛṣṇa camp, never return. Finished. (Bengali) ...compromise nei... Individually, family-wise, when the boy goes, he's gone forever. (Bengali) Hari-śauri! (Bengali) (Bengali) Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66).
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.
Gargamuni: Chivalry.
Hari-śauri: Yes. Well known for chivalrous behavior. Very gallant.
Prabhupāda: Hm. One of them must die. That is kṣatriya spirit. No compromise. And it will go on until one is dead. That is chivalry. Chivalry?
Hari-śauri: Chivalry, yes.
Prabhupāda: They are now feeling the pressure of the opposite party. So fight is fight. When there is fight, my Guru Mahārāja used to say, "Some of our soldiers will die. It doesn't matter." You don't expect that not a single soldier of your party will not die. No, some of them will die. Still fight must go on. Fight cannot be stopped. So fight like brave soldiers, Kṛṣṇa will help you. Don't make any compromise. No truce with these demons. Fight must be. Our fighting weapon is Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. That's all. Sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam. Astra. That astra is yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana, this saṅkīrtana, this astra weapon. They're now afraid of this astra more than atomic weapon.
Prabhupāda: "...Aurobindo and Dr. Radhakrishnan, they have compromised with the Western idea, but here is the real tradition of India." Actually that's a fact. All of them, they have tried to make a hodgepodge. And from the beginning my idea was I shall present as it is. That's all. Therefore I gave this name, "As It Is." Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Why shall I manufacture idea? Present this as it is. All right. Let us do our duty. (devotees offer obeisances) (break) So at any cost, I am still dictating. I'll go on dictating so long I live. That's all. But this is very nice program, our farm program. practical. So if possible, Paramānanda may come and teach them.
Satsvarūpa: Probably because of this reasoning, that... They use this phrase, that "We have to make Kṛṣṇa consciousness more conventional, and with the shaved heads and pictures of Kṛṣṇa, people won't like it." So they've taken to this description of simple life, vague talk of spiritual life, reincarnation, meditation.
Tripurāri: Seems like a compromise.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: People are speaking about our movement now. Many people say to us that "You are selling out, compromising your position." And they...
Prabhupāda: This should be stopped, immediately. Why they are doing that without..., concocting?
Prabhupāda: We have got small boys also as good as Brahmā, more than Brahmā. Svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ prahlādaḥ kapilo manu, prahlāda. Immediately comes Prahlāda also. Amongst svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ.... janako bhīṣmo balir vaiyāsakiḥ. Read Bhāgavatam, amalaṁ purāṇam. Read yourself, let them read. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. There is no question of cheating or getting some some material profit out of this movement. We have no such thing. Material profit will automatically... My Guru Mahārāja used to say, "You are thinking of material things so. We should come and fall down at your feet, 'Why you are worrying? You go and speak the real truth.' " (Bengali:) " 'Go and speak the truth.' " No compromise. So I never had scarcity of money. He is from the very beginning.
Prabhupāda: Secular, pecular this is... Knowledge is knowledge. We cannot compromise. Knowledge is knowledge. It cannot be changed because there is secular, pecular. Knowledge is knowledge. Just like this asmin dehe dehino 'smin. What is secular knowledge? It is knowledge for everyone. Within this body the active principle is there. And the secular knowledge says "No, no, the active principle is outside." We have to accept it? Knowledge is knowledge. Two plus two is equal to everyone, everywhere. It is four.
Prabhupāda: Spoil their own life and spoil others. This is going on. The meaning is clear, but these rascals are thinking that "Meaning is not clear. Kṛṣṇa left for me to clear the meaning." That's all. Such rascals, they are touching Bhagavad-gītā. As if Kṛṣṇa left for him to clear the meaning. These rubbish things we want to stop. Of course, it is not possible. Many others are. But we are trying little, that's all. We cannot make any compromise. Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness. What Kṛṣṇa says, that is a fact. They are completely under the grip of material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi (BG 3.27). They are declaring independence. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate (BG 3.27). False, ahaṅkāra, egotism. Nature in one slap, crack! Indira Gandhi is so powerful, one slap, "Get out." What can you do? One slap is sufficient. They do not understand. Jump. They do not know. They are completely under the control of prakṛti, and prakṛti is under the control of Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: ...said that "This is our mission. Now whether you'll cooperate?" We cannot make any compromise. (break)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's going to have to hold regular kīrtanas and ārati.
Prabhupāda: You have to teach them. But so far the young boys who were there, they were very much impressed.
Prabhupāda: If you get the association of Kṛṣṇa, then you haven't got to come here, this material world. Duḥkhālayam. Kṛṣṇa says it is duḥkhālayam. Either you take birth in a very rich, aristocratic family, born in the upper planetary system as demigods-Brahmā, Indra, Candra, like that—or you take your birth, an insignificant ant; wherever you are in material body, it is duḥkhālayam. That you cannot avoid. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). And you cannot make any compromise that "Never mind it is very much miserable. I shall enjoy." So that also will not be allowed. Aśāśvatam. Your tendency is to live forever. So that will not be allowed. Aśāśvata. So this requires knowledge, intelligence, that "If I am eternal," na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), "I am not destroyed even this body is destroyed," then you should seek after eternal happiness. Why temporary? That is not in your interest. That happiness is there when you go back to Kṛṣṇa; otherwise not. These are the statement in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: "I will explain." And "Who cares for you?" (Hindi conversation) Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). (Hindi) Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate. He is a rascal who is thinking, "I am independent," rascal number one. Everyone is thinking, "Ah! I am independent." What is their independence? Hm? (Hindi) (Hindi conversation) (break) (Hindi conversation) We are preaching Bhagavad-gītā as it is. (Hindi) ...compromise and interpretation..
Prabhupāda: What you can reply if you conclude something like... They have no idea of spiritual life. This is disrupting, na dhanaṁ na janam. We don't want this. And they want it. So how you can reply? Everyone wants this, and we say, "We don't want." How you can make compromise? Therefore they say "emasculated." In your country also. "Why? What is the wrong, illicit sex? What is the wrong, intoxication?" They say, "Brainwash. Why not?" Is it not? It is very difficult to push on this movement. Still, we are going. That is Kṛṣṇa's grace.
Prabhupāda: That is his foolishness. Therefore Kṛṣṇa instructs, but he does not take. He wants to remain in māyā and at the same time claim that he is liberated.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Also, modern science tries to compromise... I'm sorry: Māyāvādīs try to compromise with modern science.
Prabhupāda: There is no other way. They cannot make a solution, so they must try to make a compromise.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Just like when we say that spiritual atom or ātmā is innumerable in numbers, they immediately come up.
Prabhupāda: Tamāla Kṛṣṇa?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Well, the point is that we have not built these temples for profit-making basis. We have built these temples to demonstrate to the world an ideal, perfect Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So if we are going to allow these people to come here, that means we're compromising. Then we should have gone into business...
Prabhupāda: Just like to take advertisement in the magazine. Eh?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. It's the same thing. We're trying to make something ideal. We don't care if anybody does join or doesn't join, but our business is to show the perfect ideal.
Prabhupāda: Jayādvaita?
Jayādvaita: I agree. This...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Just like our Back to Godhead magazine. For a while it was becoming very compromised. Actually it was becoming a little compromised. And just because we wanted... The editors were thinking that they should make it more popular, more acceptable. But our conclusion of all the GBC men was: "Popular or not, we are trying to present the ideal for the topmost men. There must be some ideal institution in the world." So we should keep it pure. And those who want the pure product, they will come and take. And others, at least they will know this is pure.
| Page Title: | Compromise (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 29 of Dec, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=91, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 91 |