Flickering (Conv. and Letters)

Expressions researched:
"flick" |"flickering" |"flickers"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 25, 1968, San Francisco:

Devotee: Swamiji, is the dream world the real world?

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is reflection of the real world. Reflection is real for the time being. This world is also dream, for the time being. Because this body is not permanent, so it is also a dream. A dream for 100 years or 50 years or 70 years, but that dream is 50 minutes. At night we see the dream for 50 minutes, and this dream is 50 years. That's all. It is a question of time. It is also dream. But dream is reality... So long we see it and enjoy it, that is reality. Just like a man in dream he's crying. It is dream. But the effect is there. Reaction is there. In that sense, dream is reality. Reality, temporary reality, flickering reality. Otherwise, it is reality.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: Saṅkalpa, vikalpa. This is, in Sanskrit it is called saṅkalpa, vikalpa or accepting and rejecting. That is mind's function. I think something and again I reject it.

Dr. Weir: Well, you also react too.

Prabhupāda: You can say what you like but the function of the mind is flickering. Just like when Arjuna was advised by Kṛṣṇa to train the mind by meditation, by yoga system. He said that "Kṛṣṇa, it is very difficult for me." Cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham (BG 6.34). My mind is very, I mean to say, agitated. I think to control the mind is as impossible as controlling the wind. Cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi ba..., vāyor iva suduṣkaram. And it is very difficult to (indistinct) high wind and if you want to control it, as it is impossible.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 14, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Māyā-sukhāya, for flickering happiness arranging huge paraphernalia, just like for sporting, restaurants(?), so many things. Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43). No use. There is no use, but sporting, for frivolous sporting as we saw yesterday. Beginning from the morning working, so many people are engaged, but they do not know the value of arranging maṅgala-ārati. They do not know. (laughter) Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43). Making huge arrangement. What for? Only flickering happiness, that's all. Vimūḍhā, rascals. Therefore, Prahlāda Maharaja says, "I don't think for myself; I am simply anxious for these rascals who are engaged in huge affair for some flickering happiness."

Morning Walk -- June 14, 1972, Los Angeles:

Devotee (2): She said if someone else didn't shoot her, she would. She'd just do herself in.

Prabhupāda: Hopeless life. Māyā-sukhāya. Because they waste their time simply for flickering happiness, in future everything is zero. Śūnyavādī, nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi. Śūnyavādī means whose ultimate goal is zero. Pāścātya-deśa, Western countries. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi. (chants japa) Every one of you should take this movement very seriously and save your country. Misguided. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānas (SB 7.5.31). (laughs) Blind men.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With Three College Students -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: First of all... First of all thing is the, what is the aim of practicing yoga? So to achieve that end, that purpose, you have to control the mind because mind is very flickering, going here, there, there, there. So first of all you must know what is the purpose of practicing yoga, why you should practice yoga. So in order to achieve that goal, you have to concentrate your mind, and therefore you have to control the mind going here and there. That is control. Mind business is acceptance and rejecting. This is mind's business. Immediately I accept, "It is very good;" again, next moment, "No, no it is not good. Reject it." This is called flickering mind. So by yoga practice you have to make your mind in such a way that whatever you decide, that is correct, not the state of rejecting and accepting. So first of all, you have to know why you are practicing yoga.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 9, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That is called mano-dharmī. In Sanskrit it is called mano-dharmī, mental speculators.

Prajāpati: It's a disease, actually.

Prabhupāda: And therefore, mental speculators, they have been condemned. Manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ (SB 5.18.12). Because they carry on, or they are carried by the chariot of mind, manorathena. Manorathena asati. Manoratha, when you drive on the chariot of mind, you cannot get any fixed idea. Because mind is flickering. Saṅkalpa-vikalpa. Mind's business is "Accept this, and again reject it." So all these speculators are doing. Somebody is putting forward some theory, and after some years he will himself reject or somebody else will reject. So manorathena, by mental speculation, you remain on the material platform. You cannot get any spiritual idea.

Morning Walk -- April 1, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Nānya-gāminā. Because cetāḥ, mind is very flickering. So unless you fix up your mind under some regulative principles, then it is not possible. (indistinct) Everyone becomes paramahaṁsa: "Oh, I am now advanced. I do not require all these regulative principles."

Dr. Patel: What is paramahaṁsa?

Prabhupāda: Paramahaṁsa means he's above. Paramo nirmatsarānām (SB 1.1.2). That is paramahaṁsa.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: You are not understanding Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtīv hlādinī-śaktir asmāt. That I am explaining for the last few days. That is not at all this material. So unless there is loving affair in the spiritual world, how here it is as perverted reflection? It is the reflection of the reality. The reality is there. That they cannot understand. That is also hinted in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "There is another feature, or another nature," paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyaḥ (BG 8.20), "which is sanātana, is eternal." Here the rasas, on account of being material, they are flickering. But there, real rasa is permanent. Here the loving affairs between two parties finish as soon as the bodies finish. But there, there is no question of finishing. Increasing. Ānandambudhi-vardhanam, increasing. Harer nāma... (Break)...in reality, "what I am," that can be understood through devotional service, not by karma, jñāna, yoga. But... Give this example, I mean to say, authoritative statement of Kṛṣṇa, that bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55).

Morning Walk -- May 22, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: But a pure devotee goes back to home. There is no more material body. That is the... So we are advocating that you come to this stage where you will not to have accept this material body. Then you are really happy. And if you want to enjoy the flickering, illusory māyā, then you are subjected to the māyā. You are enjoying as American. Then you enjoy as a dog. That is māyā's control. But if you don't enjoy material things then you become purified. You come to the eternal life, back to home, back to Godhead. But they are not willing to give up this material enjoyment. That is the defect. So it requires education. It requires knowledge. It requires training.

Morning Walk -- August 12, 1975, Paris:

Yogeśvara: Well, some people say that "You've taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and now you have given up all of your..."

Prabhupāda: It is not duty? This is the main duty. This is the main duty. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām (BG 18.66). We have taken responsibility for Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are doing. Why we are traveling all over the world thrice in a year? We have taken the responsibility. Otherwise, who is, an old man, he'll take such responsibility? That is a greater responsibility. When you become a big officer of the government, it means you overburdened with responsibility, not this flickering resp... Here the material respons... means it has no use. You are simply wasting time. And here is real responsibility and real life. That I explained to that lady, that "Even if you take respons... what can you do? You cannot do anything." The example I gave, that "You have taken responsibility for your son's disease. He is suffering. You have brought good physician, you have brought good medicine, everything, but what can you do? In spite of your all responsibility, your son dies. Then where is the value of your responsibility?"

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 18, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: (break) So then the chance is lost. Repeatedly Kṛṣṇa is saying, "You give up all this habit. Just become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Sarva-dharmān..." Nobody will hear. "Why shall I not?" There is a Bengali song, cakṣe yadi lāge bhālo keno dekhbo nā: "If it is gratifying to my eyes, why shall I not see a beautiful woman? Why you are forbidding me?" Cakṣe yadi lāge bhālo: "It is pleasing to my eyes. Why you are forbidding me? This is going on. Cakṣe yadi lāge bhālo. If there is little happiness, don't mind it is flickering. It will go on. The Carvaka Muni: ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet: "Some way or other prepare foodstuff with ghee." "I have no money." Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā: "Just take. Beg, borrow, steal, bring ghee and prepare nice foodstuff and eat and enjoy life." This is the material world. But śāstra says, "No, no, no. Don't do this. This is the hog's business. Tapo. Just try to go, follow austerity."

Morning Walk -- January 18, 1976, Mayapur:

Hari-śauri: They have to go to so much trouble as well just to achieve that little flickering...

Prabhupāda: Very, very great trouble. You have not seen the yogis? Of course, there are some.... But still, they have to undergo very severe processes for achieving this yogic power. And a devotee, they kick it, that "What is this nonsense?" That is devotee. "What is this nonsense? What shall I do by producing gold?" And I never tried for making gold, but is there any scarcity of gold? I never tried for that, how to make gold. That Sai Baba is showing some magic power. What of the Maharsi? Maha.... He was also after some yogic power.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: They are taking credit of this turning crude wood into nice table, and they're thinking that "Our life is successful." This is going on. And the real technology, that "I am not this body; I have been put into this condition, and I am transmigrating from one body to another"—there is no such knowledge. For the temporary.... (break) ...temporary thing, flickering thing, like children. Children is very busy on the beach, making sand palaces, and he's very happy. So our position is like that. But we should be intelligent enough that "There is our real life, permanent life, not this temporary life," that "This life is temporary. There is another life." Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). "This śarīra is not..." Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. So many things.... The Bhagavad-gītā is full of information, but we don't take advantage. We are so unfortunate. And it is our country. This is Indian culture. We have given up this. (Hindi) Gandhiji, he was supposed to be a great student of Bhagavad-gītā. And the such a big āśrama, Sevagrama. Where is Bhagavad-gītā arcana? Boliye.

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to BTG Friend -- (Mathura U.P.) Dated as Postmark:

This paper is devoted to the cause of saving the human being from becoming an animal again. The unrest of the world is not created by God, but it is so done by the misgiven mind of the sensuous man. You cannot bring in peace and prosperity simply by material activities. You have to attain to the standard position of real life. The reality of life does not depend on the temporary body and the flickering mind, but it is transcendental to all such material conceptions.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- Los Angeles 11 December, 1968:

I have also heard from Purusottama that you have now obtained one beautiful temple on Second Avenue that can very nicely be compared with a palace. So this is all Krishna's Grace. You have tried so hard to find a new temple there but Krishna did not approve so there was no temple. But now that Krishna wills it with simply a flick of the eye a temple has come to us, better even than we were hoping for. So this is what is meant that Krishna is Controller and we are controlled. When we simply remember to accept the control of Krishna and not to act independently then all fortune is automatically present.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Upendra -- Hawaii 11 March, 1969:

A Vaisnava is expected to be humbler than the blade of grass, so when you train some new man you should not get agitated with him. After all, we are preachers, and we do not expect our audience or candidates completely respondent to our call. If everyone is trained then what is the use of our preaching. I receive daily so many odd letters, still we have to reply them properly. So you are in charge of the Seattle branch. You should try to develop and manage this temple as your life interest. Don't be flickering, thinking of going here and there. Whatever charge given from Krishna through the medium of Spiritual Master you should be carrying out very faithfully.

Letter to Rupanuga -- New Vrindaban 16 June, 1969:

I am very glad to hear about Sacisuta's activities. He is very intelligent and serious devotee, but due to his past habits, he is a little flickering. I think if there is any suitable girl, you can negotiate for his marriage, and then he will be fixed-up. He has got various capacities, and he can help our movement very much, but as he is a little restless, try to help him be very serious and get a wife amongst our Krishna Conscious girls.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Ksirodakasayi -- Los Angeles 29 January, 1970:

In the Bhagavad-gita it is always stressed to Krishna by the words aham and mam. Similarly in the Srimad-Bhagavatam the same stress is give from the very beginning—Param satyam, the Supreme Truth. If we divert our attention to worship other demigods, then our faith in Krishna will be flickering. We Gaudiya Vaisnavas, under the guidance of Lord Caitanya, want steady attention for Krishna, not flickering. Therefore, in our line of thoughts and action there is no scope for worshiping any other demigods.

Letter to Sacisuta -- Los Angeles 14 February, 1970:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated February 4, 1970, and I am glad to learn that you have now become steady in comparison with your flickering past life. The association of devotees is the most important element in learning Krishna Consciousness way of life. By association with undesirable companions we have learned so many bad habits and similarly by association with pure persons or devotees we can become purified of our acquired bad habits. So constant association and working cooperatively with devotees is the prime and easy method to relearn our original good habit of Krsna Consciousness.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Lynne Ludwig -- Los Angeles 30 April, 1973:

So to say they are not loving, that maybe true from the materialists point of view—they have given up affection for family, friends, wife, country, race, like that, all based upon the bodily concept of life or flickering sense-gratification—they have become little detached from Maya's love, or lust, and they want Krishna's love, or endless, full, rewarding love, but they have not yet developed to that point, that's all and we cannot expect that all of a sudden, being addicted to so many bad habits, your countrymen, will give up eating flesh, taking intoxication, sex-life, and so many other nasty things, and become overnight great self-realized souls.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Radha-Kanta -- Vrindaban 20 August, 1974:

This life is very flickering. At any moment you may die so we must cling very close to the instruction of higher authorities, the spiritual master and Lord Krishna in Bhagavad-gita. So I think that you can follow the instructions. You are intelligent hard working boy. In the meantime until you get stronger, you should remain in the association of devotees. In this way you will get a taste for spiritual life.

Letter to Jayatirtha -- Bombay 16 December, 1974:

As far as your proposals are concerned the real thing is that we must make broader constitution of the management by GBC. But the difficulty is that our GBC men are falling victim to maya. Today I trust this GBC and tomorrow he will fall down. That is the difficulty. If the GBC men are so flickering then what to speak of the others. Unless this problem is solved whatever we may resolve it will not be very useful. We shall discuss this at our meeting.

1977 Correspondence

Letter to Jagadisa -- Bombay 6 April, 1977:

Yes, Dr. Omkar Sharma is the proper man. Regarding Dr. Brojendra Nandan Goswami he is a little flickering and can not be given such heavy responsibility. If he wants to serve there can be no conditions. He has to live under our conditions.