Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, after consulting various scriptures, has enumerated the transcendental qualities of the Lord as follows: (1) beautiful features of the entire body; (2) marked with all auspicious characteristics; (3) extremely pleasing; (4) effulgent; (5) strong; (6) ever youthful; (7) wonderful linguist; (8) truthful; (9) talks pleasingly; (10) fluent; (11) highly learned; (12) highly intelligent; (13) a genius; (14) artistic; (15) extremely clever; (16) expert; (17) grateful; (18) firmly determined; (19) an expert judge of time and circumstances; (20) sees and speaks on the authority of Vedas, or scriptures; (21) pure; (22) self-controlled; (23) steadfast; (24) forbearing; (25) forgiving; (26) grave; (27) self-satisfied; (28) possessing equilibrium; (29) magnanimous; (30) religious; (31) heroic; (32) compassionate; (33) respectful; (34) gentle; (35) liberal; (36) shy; (37) the protector of surrendered souls; (38) happy; (39) the well-wisher of devotees; (40) controlled by love; (41) all-auspicious; (42) most powerful;
Fluent
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
Some brāhmaṇas sitting in that assembly hall would fluently chant Vedic mantras, while others recounted stories of past kings of pious renown.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Nectar of Devotion
A person who can speak meaningful words and with all politeness and good qualities is called vāvadūka, or fluent. There is a nice statement in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam regarding Kṛṣṇa's speaking politely. When Kṛṣṇa politely bade His father, Nanda Mahārāja, to stop the ritualistic offering of sacrifice to the rain-god, Indra, a wife of one village cowherd man became captivated. She later thus described the speaking of Kṛṣṇa to her friends: "Kṛṣṇa was speaking to His father so politely and gently that it was as if He were pouring nectar into the ears of all present there. After hearing such sweet words from Kṛṣṇa, who will not be attracted to Him?"
In this condition of lamentation one becomes questioning, thoughtful, tearful, regretful and heavy-breathed. His bodily color changes, and his mouth becomes dry.
One aged devotee of Kṛṣṇa addressed Him in this way: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, O killer of the demon Agha, my body is now invalid due to old age. I cannot speak very fluently, my voice is faltering, my mind is not strong, and I am often attacked by forgetfulness. But, my dear Lord, You are just like the moonlight, and my only real regret is that for want of any taste for Your pleasant shining I did not advance myself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness." This statement is an instance of lamentation due to one's being unable to achieve his desired goal.
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So for education, vidyā, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. If one studies Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he is well versed in every subject matter.
So we want to create a new generation in your country so that in the future there'll be fluent speaker in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and preach all over the country, and your country will be saved. This is our program. We have come here not to exploit your country, but to give you something substantial. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So read Bhāgavatam, pronounce the verses very nicely. Therefore we're repeating. You hear the records and try to repeat. Simply by chanting the mantra, you'll be purified. Simply by chant... Even you do not understand a single word of it, simply if you chant, this vibration has got such power. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). If you simply chant and vibrate this verse, these verses, these ślokas, it is puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. There is, there is no question of understanding.
So they presented the choicest words, very learned scholars. I mean to say, grammatical, metaphorical, everything very nice. Sattvaikatāna-gatayo vacasāṁ pravāhaiḥ. And they presented their prayers just like flow of the water. They were very learned. So there was no impediment. They could say fluently, pravāhaiḥ.
Nārādhituṁ puru-guṇair adhunāpi pipruḥ. Prahlāda Mahārāja says that "These demigods and sages, they could not satisfy. Still, now..." Kiṁ toṣṭum arhati sa me harir ugra-jāteḥ. "How it is possible that the Lord will be satisfied by my prayers?" This is the humbleness. A devotee should always consider himself that he has no value. "How I can satisfy Kṛṣṇa or the Supreme Lord? I have no possession." That is the devotee's position. A devotee should never think that "I am well equipped. I have got very nice education. I have got great riches. I am wealthy. I am beautiful. I am wise.
And how they wanted to pacify? Sattvaikatāna-gatayo vacasāṁ pravāhaiḥ: They were very great learned men. Immediately they began to compose in Sanskrit verses so many nice prayers, and they were all full of goodness, modes of goodness. Sattvaikatāna-vacasāṁ pravāhaiḥ. Pravāhaiḥ means they prayed in such a fluent way, just like the river flows down without any gheck. That is the learned man. Just like a learned man will speak fluently for hours together, similarly, they were so learned scholars that they composed prayers in Sanskrit so nicely and began to speak just like flow of water. So he says, sattvaikatāna-gatayo vacasāṁ nārādhituṁ: "Still, they could not satisfy the Lord." Nārādhituṁ. Puru-guṇair adhunāpi pipruḥ: "Still, the Lord is not pacified. Still." Kiṁ toṣṭum arhati: "Then what can I do?" Where... There is an English word, "Where angels fail, the fools rush in." So "I am so lower. I am born of an atheistic father, demon. How can I please the Lord?" So this is the position.
They are going down, down, down, down. These things are explained there.
Here, these brahmādayaḥ sura-gaṇā, the demigods headed by Lord Brahmā and the siddhas and the great saintly persons and elevated yogis, how they have become? Sattvaikatāna-gatayo vacasāṁ pravāhaiḥ. They fluently explain in very nice words, just like prayer. Whenever the Lord's name... Kṛṣṇa's name is Uttamaśloka. Uttama, uttama means selected, high class. Actually, not high class. It is transcendental. Ut means "trans," and tama, tama means "darkness," and śloka means "verses." So uttamaśloka means verses which are not of this material world. When Brahma-saṁhitā we read, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **, these words, these vibrations are not of this material world.
When Brahma-saṁhitā we read, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **, these words, these vibrations are not of this material world. These are vibration transcendental, above this material world. Sattvaikatāna-gatayo vacasāṁ pravāhaiḥ. And they are so learned that fluently they went on praying the Lord with uttamaśloka, selected transcendental sounds, but nārādhituṁ puru-guṇair adhunāpi pipruḥ. But still, the Lord is not yet pacified. Although these great personalities have presented their prayers in so nice selected verses and they are transcendental vibration, still, they could not pacify the Lord. And kiṁ toṣṭum arhati sa me harir ugra-jāteḥ: "Then how it is possible for me, because I am born of a father who was most passionate. So my body is most abominable. I have got this body from the abominable father. How can I please Lord when they have failed?"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Then the analogy and metaphor should be like that. Nothing should be twice repeated. So there is Sāhitya-ratna in Sanskrit, Sāhitya-ratna. Caitanya Mahāprabhu defeated one great scholar simply by little mistake. Yes. Keśava Kāśmīrī. Keśava Kāśmīrī was great scholar, and Sanskrit great scholar means he must fluently speak in Sanskrit verses everything.
Allen Ginsberg: Everything he says must be done in perfect Sanskrit verses?
Prabhupāda: Oh, that is... Yes. That is Sanskrit scholar. Not in prose. He'll go on composing verses. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu at that time was sixteen years old boy, but He was very learned logician. So the Keśava Kāśmīrī, he was traveling all over India by, I mean to say, competing other paṇḍitas, other learned scholars. So he, everywhere he was victorious. So he came to Navadvīpa. And in those days Navadvīpa and Benares and Udipi and Kashmir, four, five places, were very scholarly.
Prabhupāda: So when he came to Navadvīpa, that was the... In all other places he was victorious. So all the Navadvīpa paṇḍitas, they conferred that "Nimāi Paṇḍita should be forwarded to talk with him. And if he is defeated by Nimāi Paṇḍita, then we'll become victorious because a boy has defeated him. But if Nimāi Paṇḍita becomes defeated, then we'll get another chance: 'No, you have defeated boy. Let us come.' " In this way they make. So Keśava Kāśmīrī was informed that first of all he'll have to talk with Nimāi Paṇḍita. So one day Nimāi Paṇḍita, boy Nimāi Paṇḍita, was talking with his disciples, students. And Keśava Kāśmīrī was strolling on the Ganges side. So he heard that this boy is Nimāi Paṇḍita. "Oh, I will have to talk with Him? He is a boy." So he went there, and when He was acquainted that Keśava Kāśmīrī..., "Oh, please come down, sit." So Nimāi Paṇḍita said that "I have heard that you are so learned scholar. Now we are on the Ganges side. You can chant the glorification of mother Ganges. She may hear and enjoy." So he was very learned scholar. Immediately he composed hundred verses, one hundred. And fluent, very fluently he went on.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Who?
Nitāi: Ananta Ram Sastri and one other, I forget his name. He is very, very good in Sanskrit. He reads it fluently, speaks it fluently.
Prabhupāda: He speaks Sanskrit also?
Nitāi: Yes. Speaks it. He lectures in Sanskrit.
Prabhupāda: Oh, that's good.
Nitāi: While he was in Vṛndāvana, we were taking daily a class with him in Bhagavad-gītā. We would read Viśvanātha Cakravartī's commentary.
Prabhupāda: Where is our car? (break)
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: How he'll translate?
Devotee (3): He's a Hungarian and he knows Russian also.
Prabhupāda: If he does not know English, how he can translate?
Devotee (3): He knows English quite fluently, but he feels not so expert in it. He's developing his expertise for English too. (break)
Prabhupāda: Everyone is engaged in the business of sense gratification. Just like last night millions of men went to see the firework. So the firework as well as the people went to see there, the expenditure was very heavy, I think, total?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: You mentioned that with all of the cars going and what not, it probably amounted to about ten million dollars.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Bengali is not at all very difficult.
Mr. Gupta: No, not at all. Once upon a time I could read and write. But it's just out of touch.
Prabhupāda: The Calcutta Marwaris, they speak very fluently. Yes.
Mr. Gupta: Fluently. Being in railways I've had about eight cross-country transfers. Rajkot, Ajmer, Bombay, Ahmedabad, Lohar(?). So I know as much of Gujarati and Marwari too.
Prabhupāda: Rajastani?
Mr. Gupta: Rajastani. Hindi is the mother tongue for Rajastani.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Hindi is understood everywhere. (break) ...Bhagavad-gītā, what you have learned?
Prabhupāda: In Hong Kong there is no dog, only people. (laughter)
Brahmānanda: They ate all the dogs.
Trivikrama: Śrīla Prabhupāda, there's one boy here, Bhakta Lou, he joined with us in Taiwan. He speaks a fluent Chinese, this boy.
Prabhupāda: Oh. American? He's American?
Trivikrama: Yes, he's from Indianapolis.
Prabhupāda: So he can help. He's in Hong Kong already?
Trivikrama: He was there just now, yes. (some devotees enter)
Devotee (3): Prabhupāda, I have brought you some gift from Hong Kong for you.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's brought you some gift from Hong Kong.
Harikeśa: So he's become a Swedish citizen. Now he can come and go as he likes everywhere. So now he's in Poland, and in Poland there are many Russians and it is very easy to get a book translated by them. Otherwise with Dvārakeśa it takes so long.
Hari-śauri: There's a man in New Vrindaban who speaks fluent Russian. He graduated in Russian.
Harikeśa: Really?
Hari-śauri: Yes.
Harikeśa: I did not know this.
Prabhupāda: What is his name? He is initiated?
Prabhupāda: How long you were in Russia?
Dr. Sharma: I was there for six years. Over six years.
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Guest (1): He speaks very fluent Russian also.
Prabhupāda: Ah, must speak. I have been also in Moscow. In Moscow, I went there. I was walking in that Red Square. Lenin's tomb is there. I was putting on the National Hotel.
Dr. Sharma: National Hotel. That is quite opposite. My brother requested me to see you personally, Mr. K. Gopalan from Hyderabad, the Joint Commissioner for Improvements.
Prabhupāda: Oh. He is in Moscow?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Good speaker has to be there.
Guest (1): Yes, good speaker, or... Or on this Caitanya philosophy daily, if some lectures are arranged and discourse is arranged. If you can permit, Prabhupāda, there's Bhāgavatam discourse in the daytime, and all of this kono(?) Hindi fluently on Caitanya philosophy... Yesterday I saw this rāsa-līlā also. If suppose some rāsa arrangement also is made.
Prabhupāda: Who?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says that there should be good speaker in Hindi. But Acyutānanda could not speak Hindi.
Guest (1): No, no. His was a different thing, whether Hindi or English. He was attracting very big crowd.
Prabhupāda: Let us introduce in Hindi.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Our Hindi books. And actually that man I spoke to on the phone, he spoke such fluent Hindi I had to ask him three times if he's Chinese or Indian. He was Chinese.
Prabhupāda: No, in Calcutta we have got many Chinese. They speak fluently.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: This Chinese was from Peking, not Indian-born. And also I was thinking we can say that Bhaktivedanta Book Trust is one of the biggest printers in the world, and we are seriously thinking of buying Chinese paper for printing. And we can buy Chinese paper if it's good, because I found out that Chinese paper is as good as Japanese paper and it is cheaper.
Correspondence
1966 Correspondence
The only thing is the people of this country must know that this is very important work and by such conviction enough money could be raised from the local people. I hope when you will come I shall get your full cooperation in this connection. Henceforward write in English language. Here English language is very much essential so try to have it practiced fluently. You are educated and it will not be difficult for you.
There is another impediment for my staying here. My publication work is suspended. You know I have already published three volumes of my Srimad-Bhagavatam and further copies are ready for printing. Please let me know if your establishment can take charge of publishing these books or can manage the publication in my absence. Due to my absence from India the publication is stopped and therefore it disturbs my mind. This publication work is my main function.
1970 Correspondence
I am so glad that you are at last happily married. Now utilize this nice opportunity of working combinedly in the service of the Lord. You both have all my blessings for working on in spreading Krsna consciousness movement to the German people and elsewhere in European countries. I think your wife will be of great assistance because she is a fluent linguist. I have given her the spiritual name of Indrani devi Dasi.
It is good news that you are so quickly successful in your Sankirtana and distribution of literatures in Berlin. I am sure that this so large city will prove a very important center for European ISKCON activities. Thank you for your keeping to our regulated program of chanting, study and Sankirtana, etc. If you simply stick to this program which I have given you in so many ways, you will come out successful in your mission, of this there is no doubt. So do it very seriously and enthusiastically and receive the blessings of Lord Krsna for your sincere efforts to spread His Holy Name.
1973 Correspondence
Had it been the case of some Mohammedan, there would have been great riot. But Hindus are such cowards, therefore no action has been done.
Regarding Hrsikesa das, he may come here to Mayapur and I will discuss with him what his engagement shall be. He speaks fluent Bengali, so he may teach the local boys here at our school.
| Page Title: | Fluent |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 20 of Nov, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=3, Lec=5, Con=10, Let=3 |
| No. of Quotes: | 22 |