Crucial

Expressions researched:
"crucial" |"crucially"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.17.41, Purport:

The progressive religionists and those who are responsible human beings or those who do not want to spoil their valuable human lives should refrain from all the principles of irreligiosity, especially illicit connection with women. If a brāhmaṇa is not truthful, all his claims as a brāhmaṇa at once become null and void. If a sannyāsī is illicitly connected with women, all his claims as a sannyāsī at once become false. Similarly, if the king and the public leader are unnecessarily proud or habituated to drinking and smoking, certainly they become disqualified to discharge public welfare activities. Truthfulness is the basic principle for all religions. The four leaders of the human society, namely the sannyāsīs, the brāhmaṇa, the king and the public leader, must be tested crucially by their character and qualification. Before one can be accepted as a spiritual or material master of society, he must be tested by the above-mentioned criteria of character. Such public leaders may be less qualified in academic qualifications, but it is necessary primarily that they be free from the contamination of the four disqualifications, namely gambling, drinking, prostitution and animal slaughter.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.4.5, Purport:

When a hungry man is given food to eat, he feels satiation of hunger and the pleasure of dining simultaneously. Thus he does not have to ask whether he has actually been fed or not. The crucial test of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is that one should get positive enlightenment by such an act.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.1.1, Purport:

Since Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a Vaiṣṇava, when he heard the description, at the end of the Fifth Canto, of the different hellish conditions of life, he was very much concerned with how to liberate the conditioned souls from the clutches of māyā and take them back home, back to Godhead. Therefore he reminded his spiritual master, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, about the nivṛtti-mārga, or path of liberation, which he had described in the Second Canto. Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who at the time of death was fortunate to have met Śukadeva Gosvāmī, inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī about the path of liberation at that crucial time. Śukadeva Gosvāmī very much appreciated his question and congratulated him by saying:

varīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ

kṛto loka-hitaṁ nṛpa

ātmavit-sammataḥ puṁsāṁ

śrotavyādiṣu yaḥ paraḥ

"My dear King, your question is glorious because it is very beneficial for all kinds of people. The answer to this question is the prime subject matter for hearing, and it is approved by all transcendentalists." (SB 2.1.1)

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.10.2-3, Purport:

"Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me." Anyone who is not a devotee of Kṛṣṇa and does not surrender to Kṛṣṇa must be considered narādhama, the lowest of men, and duṣkṛtī, one who always commits sinful activities. Thus there is no difficulty in finding out who is a third-class or fourth-class man, for one's position can be understood simply by this crucial test: is he or is he not a devotee of Kṛṣṇa?

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 8.15, Purport:

Despite all this, those who are actually inquisitive to understand the philosophy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu through logic and argument are welcome. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī addresses them, “Please put Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy to your crucial test, and if you are actually a logician you will come to the right conclusion that there is no personality more merciful than Lord Caitanya.” Let the logicians compare all the results of other humanitarian work with the merciful activities of Lord Caitanya. If their judgment is impartial, they will understand that no other humanitarian activities can surpass those of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 13:

In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.3.1) the state of being in love with the Godhead is compared to the sunshine emanating from the sun; this shining makes the devotee's heart more and more lovely. The heart of such a devotee is situated in a transcendental position beyond even the mode of goodness. The process for making the heart even more sterilized by the sunshine of love is called bhāva. A description of bhāva is given by Rūpa Gosvāmī. Bhāva is called the permanent characteristic of the living entity, and the crucial point of progress for bhāva is called the marginal state of love of Godhead. When the bhāva state becomes deeper and deeper, learned devotees call it love of Godhead.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 7:

The purport is that one should not accept as a spiritual master someone who is fool number one, who has no direction according to the scriptural injunctions, whose character is doubtful, who does not follow the principles of devotional service, or who has not conquered the influence of the six sense-gratifying agents. The six agents of sense gratification are the tongue, the genitals, the belly, anger, the mind and words. Anyone who has practiced controlling these six is permitted to make disciples all over the world. To accept such a spiritual master is the crucial point for advancement in spiritual life. One who is fortunate enough to come under the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master is sure to traverse the path of spiritual salvation without any doubt.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 1.10 -- London, July 12, 1973:

After giving up this body, we have to accept another body. These rascals, they do not understand it. So many defects in the modern civilization, full of ignorance, and still, they are passing as great scientists, great philosophers, great politicians. Real knowledge they haven't got. So try to give them real knowledge. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. This is the crucial point, dehāntara-prāptiḥ. One has to accept another body. So if you can find out a means so that you do not accept another body, then you are safe. Because as soon as you accept another body, janma, birth, then where there is janma, there is mṛtyu, death also. And between janma and mṛtyu, birth and death, there is disease and old age. So Kṛṣṇa says that tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti: (BG 4.9) "One can avoid accepting another material body." How? Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa, why Kṛṣṇa appears, why Kṛṣṇa takes part in politics, why Kṛṣṇa... so many, Kṛṣṇa's activities.

Lecture on BG 2.2 -- London, August 3, 1973:

Just like modern-day scientists and philosophers, they propogate so many branches of knowledge, but when, on the crucial point, they are caught, they say, "I do not know perfectly. I do not know perfectly. We are trying to know. In future, we shall tell you the perfect." But if you are not in perfect knowledge, why should you take the post of a teacher? If your knowledge is imperfect, then whatever you speak, that is imperfect. Therefore with imperfect knowledge, why you should become a teacher? That is cheating. That is cheating. Therefore purposefully Vyāsadeva is writing, sri-bhagavān uvāca, where there is no cheating, no imperfection, no illusion, no mistake. Four things. No mistake, no illusion, no cheating and no imperfection. This is Bhagavān.

Lecture on BG 2.2 -- London, August 3, 1973:

A spiritual master must have sufficient knowledge, so many other qualifications. No. Even without any qualifications, one can become a spiritual master. How? Now the process is, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, āmāra ājñāya: "On My order." That is the crucial point. One does not become spiritual master by his own whims. That is not spiritual master. He must be ordered by superior authority. Then he's spiritual master. Āmāra ājñāya. Just like in our case. Our superior authority, our spiritual master, he ordered me that "You just try to preach this gospel, whatever you have learned from me, in English." So we have tried it. That's all. It is not that I am very much qualified. The only qualification is that I have tried to execute the order of superior authority. That's all. This is the secret of success.

Lecture on BG 2.2 -- London, August 3, 1973:

Dadāsi yat means "whatever you give in charity." Kuruṣva tad mad-arpanam: "Give it to Me. Yes, I am expanding My hand. Come on." But they have forgotten Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's advice, and they remain puffed up, that "I am engaged in this activity, that activity, this activity." Thousands of millions of such activities may be very good in the estimations of the fools and rascals, but it may not be accepted by Kṛṣṇa. That is the crucial point. But our point is that unless accepted by Kṛṣṇa, it is simply śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8), simply waste of time. Our philosophy says. We have to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. We haven't got to satisfy ourself that "I am doing very nice work in this way." So all these people, they are manufacturing

Lecture on BG 4.28 -- Bombay, April 17, 1974:

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He talked on Vedānta-sūtra at Benares. And because the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they were criticizing Caitanya Mahāprabhu that "He is sentimental sannyāsī, devotee, He does not study Vedānta-sūtra..." The Lord was criticized like that. So some of His devotees requested that "We know that You do not mix with the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, but they are criticizing You. If you kindly meet them..." So Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu met all the Vārāṇasī Māyāvādī sannyāsīs. Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, he had sixty thousand disciples. So they asked. Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī asked Caitanya Mahāprabhu that "You are a sannyāsī. So you do not study Vedānta-sūtra. It is the," I meant to say, "vow of the sannyāsīs that they must." Vedānta-sūtra is the crucial point of sampradāya. One sampradāya must give his commentation on the Vedānta-sūtra. Otherwise he is not a bona fide sampradāya. So especially in the Śaṅkara sampradāya, they are very much fond of studying Sāṅkhya philosophy and Vedānta-sūtra.

Lecture on BG 6.30-34 -- Los Angeles, February 19, 1969:

Now, there is the crucial test of yoga system. If you can concentrate your mind on the form of Viṣṇu, the process has been described previously that you have to sit like this, you have to look like this, you have to live like this, so many things we have already discussed. But Arjuna said that "It is very difficult for me." We have to understand this point. He says, "O Madhusūdana, the system of yoga which You have summarized," this system is called aṣṭāṅga-yoga. Aṣṭāṅga-yoga, eight different parts. Yama, niyama. First of all controlling the senses, following the rules and regulation, then practicing the sitting posture. Then exercising the breathing process. Then concentrate your mind. Then be absorbed in the form. There are eight processes, aṣṭāṅga-yoga.

Lecture on BG 6.46-47 -- Los Angeles, February 21, 1969:

I am demanding to be the highest. But bhakti-yoga is just the opposite. To become servant. Servant of the servant (CC Madhya 13.80). Just opposite. There is no question of demanding to become the Lord or the President or this. I want to serve, that's all. And that is the crucial test. Service is the original nature. Now in this material world also you are serving. If you want to become the President then I have to promise so many times to the voters that "I'll give you service." Without promise of service, there is no question of presidentship. So actually my position is to render service. Either I become President or Minister or this or that. That they cannot understand. In spite of my becoming the highest executive person, President—Oh, I have to give service to my people, otherwise immediately they dethrone me. Therefore my real position is service.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.23 -- Los Angeles, August 26, 1972:

So this is a chance, these conditioned souls who have come to this material world to enjoy senses, they are given chance, they are given chance, "All right, you enjoy. You want to enjoy as human being. All right, take a body of human being. If you want to enjoy like a tiger, all right, take a body. If you want to enjoy as demigod, all right, take a body." Kṛṣṇa is so liberal, "Take, and enjoy as you like. But you'll never be happy." That is the crucial point. "If you want to happy, then surrender unto Me." This is the point. You cannot manufacture your happiness. That is not possible. Therefore this is, this creation is there. Try to understand. Why there is creation? This creation is a chance given to the conditioned soul, how to come to his senses, that living entity, that he is eternally servant of Kṛṣṇa, part and parcel. His only business is to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. So here is a chance. If we don't take this chance, then again the creation will be wound up, it will be destroyed.

Lecture on SB 1.10.11-12 -- Mayapura, June 25, 1973:

This is the crucial point of advancement in human life. Tyaja durjana-saṁsargam. Try to avoid. Not try; must. You must avoid the association of the materialistic persons. Materialistic person means those who are after money and woman. That's all. They are materialistic. Those persons, simply hankering after money and woman, they are materialistic. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has advised to associate with this class of men, hankering after money and women, it is better..., death is better, preferred, than to associate. When He was requested to see King Pratāparudra... Because he was king, he's supposed to be always in association with money and women. He refused to see him: "No, I cannot see the King." When He refused to see, He quoted one verse: bhava-sāgarasya, niṣkiñcanasya bhava-sāgarasya. Niṣkiñcanasya jigamiṣor bhava-sāgarasya.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Address -- New York, July 9, 1976:

Brahmāṇḍa bhramite. Brahmāṇḍa means within the universe. They are trying to go to the upper planetary system, and they can go. There is no difficulty. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti (BG 9.25). But you have to properly prepare. Not that because you have got one sputnik or airplane you can go by force. That is not possible. This is all rascaldom. This is not possible. But you can go if you prepare yourself. You can go even back to home, back to Godhead. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām. So there is every possibility. Now this is the crucial point of human form of life. We can go in the higher planetary system, we can go in the lower planetary system, we can stay where we are, or even we like we can go back to home, back to Godhead.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969:

So if we take this crucial test of learning, we shall find hardly a learned man in this world, hardly one man, because everyone is absorbed in this bodily conception of life. All their ideas—this nationality, humanity, this duty, that duty, all—everything on this. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). They are accepting this bag of skin and bones as self. You see? This is a bag made of skin and bone, and this... Is spirit soul so cheap thing that it is a bag of skin and bone and some stools and urine, combination? That is nonsense. So hardly you'll find any sane man or any learned man in this world. You see? So first teaching is that "You are not this body." That is the beginning of Kṛṣṇa's teaching.

Life Member House Lecture -- Hyderabad, April 14, 1975:

Nara means man and adhama means lowest. So those who are narādhama they will escape this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Otherwise anyone who is intelligent, intelligent after many, many birth's experience, he'll accept. So we can understand by this crucial test or test tube(?) what is what. So anyway, our business is you Western boys and girls, you have taken this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement very seriously. I'm very much thankful to you. So try to make the people uttama, although at the present moment they are narādhama, without understanding Kṛṣṇa. So these are not exaggeration. This is stated in the śāstra. And our point is that anyone who is not taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's among these groups-duṣkṛtina, mūḍha, narādhama, māyayā apahṛta-jñānā āsuriṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ. The basic principle is āsuriṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ. Asura.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Hayagrīva: Concerning the question whether karma is personal...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: ...he writes, "The crucial question is whether a man's karma is personal or not. If it is, then the pre-ordained destiny with which a man enters life represents an achievement of previous lives, and a personal continuity therefore exists. If, however, this is not so, and an impersonal karma is seized upon in the act of birth, then that karma is incarnated again without there being any personal continuity."

Prabhupāda: What is that impersonal karma? Karma is always personal.

Hayagrīva: Karma is always personal.

Prabhupāda: Personal.

Philosophy Discussion on St. Augustine:

Hayagrīva: This, this is the last point. It's actually very crucial. For Augustine, the mind, reason and soul are one and the same, and he writes...

Prabhupāda: Mind, reason?

Hayagrīva: Mind, reason and the soul are all wrapped up together.

Prabhupāda: Wrapped up. But there are different identities. Intelligence... Everyone has got mind, but the mind acts under intelligence. But the intelligence of different living entities are different. Similarly mind is also different. A dog's intelligence is not equal to the intelligence of the human being. A dog's mind is not equal to the human being's mind. So actually the soul, being put under different types of body using different types of intelligence, and different some mental, psychic action, thinking, feeling, willing. So according to the body, the mind and intelligence are different.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1971, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes. But the test is there, whether he has become a lover of God or lover of dog. That is the test. If you find that he has become a lover of dog, then his religion is useless.

Guest (1): How does he know?

Prabhupāda: You can see whether he's loving God or dog. That's all. That you can see. Everyone can see, whether he has got good love for dog or good love for God. That you can see. Anyone can see. The test is there. Crucial test is there.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Indonesian Scholar -- February 27, 1973, Jakarta:

Prabhupāda: So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is an educational movement to give enlightenment to the people at large, to understand the values of life. Not to live like animals, eating, sleeping, sex life and dying. This is animal life. This is the best humanitarian welfare activities: to make people understand scientifically what he is, what is God, what is our relationship with God. So the Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of this science. So this should be presented very scientifically. One who knows perfectly well about this Bhagavad-gītā. These are the (indistinct) crucial point. That one... Kṛṣṇa says, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). There's so many very touch(?) point. If they are not very, explained nicely people will remain in darkness.

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Therefore I do not wish to come here. There is no facility for walking. Everywhere wet.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Ahh. This is wet also. Let's go this side.

Prabhupāda: Everywhere wet. There is a little space to walk. Biology, chemistry is the origin of life. So the chemistry, biology's so much advanced. Why they cannot create life? When the crucial point is touched, they say: "We shall do it in future." Why future? If it is already done at present, why future? What is this?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: This is... Small ones?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (chants japa) (break). They'll talk of Kṛṣṇa, so many things but they're not devotees. Just like Kaṁsa. They may talk of Kṛṣṇa or think of Kṛṣṇa, but they don't accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme. Therefore they are demons. This is the test. They'll read Bhagavad-gītā, but they'll not accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme. And that is the demonic. māyayāpahṛta-jñānā āsuriṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ. Because they are demons, therefore their so-called knowledge is useless. Apahṛta-jñāna. And apparently, they seem to be very learned scholar, but there is no knowledge. There is no knowledge. This is the demonic... Just like Rāvaṇa. He was very much advanced student in Vedic literature. But he was a demon. So simply by studying Vedas one does not become out of the jurisdiction of demons. Just like Jarasandha. He was also worshiping Viṣṇu. But he was a demon. He was a demon. His purpose was different. The yajñic brāhmaṇas, they also could not understand Kṛṣṇa. So this is the crucial test. If one does not understand Kṛṣṇa and become submissive to surrender, he remains a demon, however big scholar he may be.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Reporter -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: There are different groups. I know that. But I do not go in detail to understand them. But our..., we have got a crucial test. That anyone who is..., does not know about Kṛṣṇa, he is put into four different types of categories as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. One category is that he is sinful. Another category is that he is rascal. Another category is that he's lowest of the mankind. Another category is that his so-called knowledge is taken away by illusory energy. So this is our test. That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā, that

na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ

prapadyante narādhamāḥ

māyayāpahṛta-jñānā

āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ

(BG 7.15)

Anyone who is not talking about God, he is either of these group: sinful, rascal, lowest of the mankind, and knowledge taken away by illusion. This is our conclusion, and that's a fact. Because a person who does not know about God, what he is? He is animal. The animal has no knowledge about God. But a human being, if he poses himself to be very learned, then he must have knowledge about God, otherwise what is his knowledge?

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

Dr. Sukla: Therefore you are doing so with tremendous success.

Prabhupāda: Yes, people say that "Swamiji, you have done wonder, you have..." so on, so on, so on. But I do not know what is wonder. I know it is certain that I have not adulterated. That much I know. But I do not know how to play wonders. That I do not know. But I am certain that I have not adulterated what Kṛṣṇa has said. That's all. And I study everything by the crucial test of Kṛṣṇa's teaching. That's all.

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Jugalkishore Birla -- Bombay 26 August, 1958:

I hope you will not misunderstand the position of the Acarya who is so important a figure in the matter of learning the transcendental science. The Acarya is the direct representative of the Personality of Godhead. And no body can claim to become a bona fide Acarya if he has not strictly followed the footprints of the previous Acaryas authorized in the matter. The whole thing has been disturbed in the set of Sanatana Dharma only by violating this principle of following the Acarya. So far the Bhagavad-gita is concerned every one, let him be a very great scholar in the mundane sense, must be in confirmed position along with the mode of understanding of Sri Arjuna. That is the crucial point of testing an Acarya false or real Sri Arjuna is the first man to understand Geeta and the mode of his understanding is clearly defined in the Bhagavad-gita. So there is no difficulty in testing an Acarya whether he is false or bona fide.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Citsukhananda -- Allahabad 10 January, 1971:

Please continue your program in the universities. They are the best places for propagation of our philosophy and the students are very eager for this crucial information. They are not unaware of the futility of material education which gives a paper degree only, because it is common observation that the graduates are unable to find good employment and the students are becoming hippies, etc. So they are wanting something good and that best thing is Krsna consciousness.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Jayapataka -- Los Angeles 16 June, 1972:

If Tamala Krsna can do some tangible work in Bangledesh it will be advertised all over India and we shall be respected by all classes of men. So it is a crucial point in our progress, so make this Bangledesh program very nicely. My godbrother in Jessore will help him in every respect. His address is known to him.