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Grand (Lectures)

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.8-12 -- Los Angeles, November 27, 1968:

That is the etiquette everywhere. Even the father is sometimes violent, the child or the son tolerates. A typical example is Prahlāda Mahārāja. Innocent child, Kṛṣṇa consciousness child, but father torturing. He never says anything. "All right." Similarly Kṛṣṇa, just after taking the position of the spiritual master, is designating Arjuna as a grand fool. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu also said that "My spiritual master found Me a great fool (CC Adi 7.71)." Was Caitanya Mahāprabhu a fool? And can it be possible that anyone can become the spiritual master of Caitanya Mahāprabhu? Both things are impossible. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, even not accepting Him as incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, if simply you accept Him as ordinary scholar or man, there was no comparison of His scholarship. But He said that "My spiritual master found Me a great fool." What is that meaning? That "A person, even in My position, always remains a fool before his spiritual master. That is good for him." Nobody should impose that "What do you know? I know better than you." This position is not, denied.

Lecture on BG 2.13-17 -- Los Angeles, November 29, 1968:

Now here is another argument, that "Why you are going to lament on the body of your grandfather? He's grand old man. If he does not die, if you do not kill him, how long he will live? So you kill him or not kill him, he will die. And you should be rather joyful because your grandfather is going to have again..." This is only for argument. "...again have a new body." The... When Caitanya Mahāprabhu met Chand Kazi... I think I have explained this story many times. Chand Kazi was Mohammedan. So you know the story that Caitanya Mahāprabhu started civil disobedience, disregarded the section, I mean to say, imposed by the magistrate Chand Kazi that "You cannot hold the saṅkīrtana. The people are disturbed." Just like you are being threatened by the police. So this is not new thing. This thing is going on from the very beginning, even Caitanya Mahāprabhu's time. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu disregarded the notice. "Don't care for this Kazi. Go on." And when people... He was very popular, but we are not popular. Caitanya Mahāprabhu (laughs) was Kṛṣṇa. He had attraction. He was, although a boy of twenty years old, He had many followers. He ordered, "Oh, Kazi has ordered to stop.

Lecture on BG 2.18 -- Hyderabad, November 23, 1972:

Generally, people are dying... In India, the average age is thirty-five years. In other countries, maybe little more. But gradually it is decreasing, and it will decrease to such a point that even a, if a man lives for twenty to thirty years, then he'll be considered as grand old man. That, that day will come.

So this age... Therefore śāstra says, prāyeṇa alpa āyuṣaḥ. Generally, almost everyone is short-living. Prāyeṇa alpa āyuṣaḥ kalau asmin yuge janāḥ. Asmin yuge, kalau, they are very short-living. Then again, mandāḥ: all rascals. Mandāḥ, third class; no first-class men. Practically no brahminical qualification. All śūdra qualification. Therefore mandāḥ. Sumanda-matayaḥ. And if one comes forward to be spiritually enlightened, he accepts something bogus, which has no meaning, without any reference to the śāstras. Therefore mandāḥ sumanda-matayaḥ. They have got a opinion, and that is going on. You may have any opinion. That is all right.

Lecture on BG 2.46-62 -- Los Angeles, December 16, 1968:

This is a prayer by Mādhavendra Purī. (chuckling) He says that "I am not going to do anything except serving Kṛṣṇa." This Mādhavendra Purī was the grand-spiritual master of Lord Caitanya. Mādhavendra Purī's disciple Īśvara Purī, and Īśvara Purī was accepted as spiritual master of Lord Caitanya. Nobody can become a spiritual master of the Supreme Lord, but in order to teach us that even the Lord, He also accepted a spiritual master. That is the system. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Unless He shows us the way, people will say, "Oh, Lord Caitanya did not accept any spiritual master." They can give example. But therefore Kṛṣṇa also accepted spiritual master. This is the system. One has to. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). One must accept a spiritual master if he at all wants to know the spiritual science. Without that, it is not possible. Kṛṣṇa science, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, cannot be developed without the assistance of a bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa. Naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghrim (SB 7.5.32). There are very, very, many, many instances.

Lecture on BG 4.1-6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1969:

We are decreasing in our prosperity.

There are eight kinds of decreasing process in this age. Out of that, this memory will be decreased more and more, and the duration of life also will be decreased. Now, you can take history of the past years. Your forefathers were living eighty years, ninety years, hundred years. Now, generally, they live sixty years, seventy years. And gradually it will decrease so much that—these are all statement of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—that if a man lives for twenty to thirty years, he will be considered a grand old man. You see? That time also will come very soon. So we are not improving actually. We are not improving. We are decreasing in every respect, and we are proud of advancement of civilization. Go on.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Montreal, June 3, 1968:

If a man lives for eighty years, then he is considered to be very... But time will come, as we get information from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that at the end of this age, Kali-yuga, if a man lives for twenty to thirty years he'll be considered as the grand old man. So practically we are not making any progress. And materially it is not possible to make progress. It is... That is called māyā, illusion. We are actually not making any progress, but we are thinking that we are making progress. This is called spell of māyā.

But the real problem is that we should understand that this place is full of danger, and in the Bhagavad-gītā it is certified, this place, that duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This place is full of miseries and aśāśvatam. Even if you accept, "Oh, let it be miserable. I don't mind. I shall remain here..." People say frankly that "We don't want any other world. We don't want, don't believe in it, heaven" or "We don't believe in Vaikuṇṭha. We want to make ourself happy in this world." They say. But from authorities like Kṛṣṇa or Bhagavad-gītā, we understand that this place is meant for suffering. This is called duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15).

Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, September 30, 1973:

"The Gauḍīya Sampradāya has no commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra." So at that time Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura was requested... Because he was grand scholar, grand old man scholar, at that time living in Vṛndāvana... So he was very old at that time; so he authorized Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana, that "You do it." There was no need, but people are demanding, "Where is your commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra?" So Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana, with the order of Govindaji at Jaipur, he wrote the commentary on Brahma-sūtra. That name is Govinda-bhāṣya. So the Gauḍīya-Brahmā Sampradāya, they have got also commentary on Brahma-sūtra. That is required.

So Kṛṣṇa has explicitly explained that brahma-sūtra-padaiś caiva hetumadbhir. Hetumadbhir viniścitaṁ. The Brahma-sūtra is called therefore nyāya-prasthāna, with logic and reason, hetumadbhir, cause and effect, Everything. Because people like to understand on the basis of philosophy and reasoning everything. Yes, that is required.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.4 -- London, August 27, 1973:

Maybe our forefathers or grandfathers might have lived for hundred years, but we are not living so much. And gradually, our children, our grandchildren, they will gradually reduce that span of life so much so that at the end of Kali-yuga, if a man would live for twenty to thirty years, he'll be considered a grand old man. Yes. We are reducing. But formerly, they were living so many years. Alpāyuṣaḥ. Prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ. Prāyeṇa. Almost everyone is short span of life. Prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ. Kalau. In this age, kalau. It is not for a particular nation or party or religion. Everyone is subjected to the laws of nature.

So in this Kali-yuga the duration of life, the span of life will be gradually reduced. Memory will be reduced. Strength will be reduced. Mercifulness will be reduced. In this way... Now, it is a age of reduction. Not increasing. So prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ kalau asmin yuge janāḥ. People in this age are of short span of life.

Lecture on SB 1.3.10 -- Los Angeles, September 16, 1972:

The dām-patye ratim eva hi: husband and wife relationship means sex. This is the age. As soon as the husband will be unable to satisfy his wife by sex, he will find out another husband and file divorce. These are stated already in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And these are happening. And a man, when he lives for twenty to thirty years, he will be considered grand old man. These are all stated. So why research? You consult Vedic literature, you have got all information, everything. How the world is created, how it will be annihilated, how it is being maintained, who is the Supreme in this management—everything is there. That is called Sāṅkhya philosophy. Everything is there.

So Kapiladeva, He gave us this sāṅkhya philosophy. Later on, there was another. He imitated. He also named himself Kapila, and he gave the same philosophical process, sāṅkhya philosophy, Kapila. That is nirīśa; he's godless.

Lecture on SB 1.5.4 -- Los Angeles, January 12, 1968:

It is a great science. It is not a bluff, that anybody can manufacture something spiritual. No. It is a great science. One has to study the science from bona fide spiritual master. Study means... It does not mean that one has to be very highly qualified in academic education. Spiritual science does not depend on one's academic education. You'll be surprised to know that my grand-spiritual master, my spiritual master's spiritual master, he was illiterate. And my spiritual master was the learned, greatest learned scholar of his age. Now, how he became the disciple of an illiterate man? So, but that Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja... His name was Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, my spiritual master's spiritual master, my grand-spiritual master. So he was illiterate, but when you asked him some question, some intricate question of spiritual significance, he'll answer you immediately very nicely. That is realization.

Lecture on SB 1.8.26 -- Mayapura, October 6, 1974:

Because this will be entanglement. The more and more we shall think, "This is mine. This is mine." Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). This is illusion. Nothing belongs to him, but by illusion, he will think, "This is mine. This is mine." Just like we have got this nice, grand building in this district. If we think, "This is my building" or "My building," then there will be mishap. My Guru Mahārāja said. Personally he said that "When we were living in a rented house, if we could collect two hundred, three hundred rupees... We were living very nicely at Ultadanga. And since then—Jayavidatta has given us this marble palace, Gauḍīya-Maṭha—there is friction between our men. 'Who will occupy this room? Who will occupy that room? Who will be proprietor of room?' " Tīrtha Mahārāja... Kuñjabābā was giving one tablet, that "This is..." Everyone is planning in different way.

Lecture on SB 1.10.13 -- Mayapura, June 26, 1973:

Because Bhāgavata is full of varieties. But they explain in their own way. I have seen one big Māyāvādī sannyāsī, explaining Bhāgavata that "God became pleased..." in some stanza. "So if you become pleased, then God becomes pleased." This was his explanation. If I am pleased by drinking wine, then God is also pleased? This is his explanation. Yes. I'm a grand debauch. By debauchery I am pleased. So God is also pleased by my debauchery. Because God and I, the same. This is their explanation.

So it is very difficult. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given one line of Vaiṣṇava behavior: asat-saṅga tyāga ei vaiṣṇava ācāra (CC Madhya 22.87). Simply to give up these rascals' association. The rascal means the Māyāvādī, karmī, jñānī, yogi, all they are rascals. It is our open declaration. So we have to give up the company of these rascals. If we actually serious about advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we should not mix with them. We should not even invite them. Neither we shall take their foodstuff, accept their foodstuff. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti bhuṅkte bhojayate ca... Guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati ca. Bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam. Prīti. If you want to make one friends, then these six kinds of dealings must be there.

Lecture on SB 1.15.45 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1973:

And still, as a matter of fashion, we are writing, "In God We Trust." This is another cheating. Nobody trusts in God, and they write, "In God We Trust." And unless I write... Of course I do not wish to say very harsh word, that unless I cheat you that way, how a man will accept one piece of paper as one thousand dollars? (laughter) You see? It is a grand cheating, that "I am giving one thousand dollars to you." But if I value, it is not even one farthing. This is called māyā. It is not, but I accept. I accept. If people become enlightened, "No, we are not going to accept this piece of paper as one thousand dollars. We must have gold," so many things will be solved immediately. So many things. But because we agree to be cheated, the cheaters are cheating and things are going on wrong. This is called Kali-yuga.

Lecture on SB 1.15.46 -- Los Angeles, December 24, 1973:

We can live utmost up to one hundred years. We are not living one hundred years, but still, the limit is one hundred years. So just see. Now, from one hundred years... Now in India the average age is about thirty-five years. In your country they say seventy years? So it is reducing. And it will so reduce that if a man lives for twenty to thirty years, he will be considered grand old man, in this age, Kali-yuga. So āyuḥ, duration of life, will reduce.

Memory, smṛti, that will also reduce. We see nowadays, people are not very..., of sharp memory. They forget. Daily work they forget. Doing something daily; still, he is forgetting. The loss of memory. Similarly, āyuḥ, bodily strength. Everyone can understand. Your forefathers, your father or grandfather, as they were bodily strong, you are not so, I am not so. So bodily strength will reduce. Memory will reduce. Duration of life will reduce. Then dharma... There is no question. It is almost reduced. Nobody is interested in religion.

Lecture on SB 1.16.1 -- Los Angeles, December 29, 1973:

After the death of his father in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, he was in the womb of his mother. He took birth. And these grandfathers took care of him. This is Parīkṣit Mahārāja's life. He did not see his father from birth. So these grandfathers... So grandfathers, they retired and entrusted the whole kingdom, was entrusted to the grand-child, Mahārāja Parīkṣit. So he was trained up by the first-class brāhmaṇas. Tataḥ parīkṣid dvija-varya-śikṣayā mahīṁ mahā-bhāgavataḥ śaśāsa ha.

Mahīm. Mahīm means this earthly planet. Up to Mahārāja Parīkṣit, five thousand years ago, the whole world was being ruled over by one king, one emperor. There were no so many nations or no so many presidents or... No. Simply one king. Mahīm, this world. Mahīm means the earthly planet. This is the history. From Mahā-bhāgavata, er, Mahābhārata we understand that, that the whole world was under one flag, these Pāṇḍavas.

Lecture on SB 2.1.4 -- Delhi, November 7, 1973:

Not that, more than that. Because your this body in this material world, especially in this age, cannot live more than hundred years or (all?) within. And people are dying nowadays sixty, seventy. Oh, eighty years old? Very old. But time will come in this age... That is stated in the Śrīmad-SB.. If one lives from twenty to thirty years, he will be considered as a very grand old man. Yes. That time is coming very soon. Of course, it will take time. Because as the Kali-yuga is increasing, people are becoming more and more pramatta, more and more animal-like. So their duration of life naturally will reduce. They are not human being. They will be mlecchas and yavanas.

Lecture on SB 5.5.30 -- Vrndavana, November 17, 1976:

Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī is teaching us how we should present our case. Dante nidhāya tṛṇakam: "Sir, I have come to you, taking this grass in my teeth." This is a symbolic representation of becoming very humble in India. They take a grass. Dante nidhāya padayor nipatya: "And I am falling down on your feet." Kāku-śataṁ kṛtvā: "And I am flattering you. You are very grand. You are very nice. You are very learned. You are so on, so on." If you flatter, people become puffed-up. So, dante nidhāya tṛṇakaṁ padayor nipatya kāku-śatam kṛtvā cāham: "I have one submission." "What is that?" No... He sādhavaḥ: "You are a great learned sādhu. My one request is that whatever you have learned, please forget. Whatever nonsense you have learned, please forget. This is my submission." "I have learned so many things, and I have to forget? Then what I have to do?" He sādhavaḥ sakalam eva vihāya dūrāt caitanya-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam: "You just submit yourself to Caitanya-candra. Then everything will be perfect."

Lecture on SB 6.1.21 -- Honolulu, May 21, 1976:

Therefore you have to accept Kṛṣṇa as the proprietor. And it is accepted by all great personalities. Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Asita, Devala, all the ācāryas, Nimbārka, then Madhvācārya, Rāmānujācārya, and our worshipable Deity, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Everyone has accepted. So unless we are grand fool, we can't deny this. It is not possible. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). We have to take knowledge by the disciplic succession.

So let us get admission by Caitanya Mahāprabhu: kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Caitanya Mahāprabhu's, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement propagana, what is this propaganda? He says that "Every one of you become guru." He wants not rascal imitation guru but real guru. That He wants. Because people are in darkness, we require many millions of gurus to enlighten them. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission is, He said, that "Every one of you become guru."

Lecture on SB 6.1.30 -- Philadelphia, July 14, 1975:

Therefore this machine is sulabham. Sulabham means very fortunately we have got this machine. And sukalpam, "very nicely made." Those who are medical man, they see how nicely made it is, how the nerves are working, the nails are working, the intestines and the heart and everything—a grand machine. Therefore it is called sukalpam, "very well planned." And what for? Just like a nice boat, well planned. If you have got a nice boat, you get on it and cross over the river or the ocean. Similarly, we are in this material ocean. Life after life we are struggling. So now we have got a nice boat, this human body. Sulabhaṁ sudurlabham. And it is specially advantageous because the breeze is very favorable. When you ply your boat, if the breeze is favorable, pushing on, that is another advantage, good boat and good breeze. And guru-karṇadhāram: "And the captain, steering man, is guru." He is giving instruction, "Row like this. Turn this way, that way."

Lecture on SB 7.5.31 -- Mauritius, October 4, 1975:

That is also not completed. With the advancement of Kali-yuga the duration of life, bodily strength, memory, mercifulness, religious sense—in this way everything will be reduced. And the duration of life will be reduced so much so that it is stated in the Bhāgavata that "If a man lives for twenty to thirty years he will be considered as a grand old man." And there will be not available especially rice, wheat, milk, sugar. These are stated. This is Kali-yuga.

So the nature of this material world is that without knowing the goal of life they become leaders. Material world, especially in this age, they do not know what is the goal of life. They do not know what he is. That is the defect. Dehātma-buddhiḥ. Everyone, all over the world, they are thinking in terms of this body. Accidentally, somehow or other, because I have got this Indian body I am thinking, "I am Indian."

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- New York, April 9, 1969:

Because as soon as he chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, all the boys join with him and they clap and they dance. So this is going on." So he's teaching his classfellows now. Kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1).

Now, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which is in this table, this book is a great, grand edition of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Each verse contains eight commentaries by great stalwart devotees. They represent different disciplic succession of devotee. They are... There are four authorized disciplic successions. As I have already mentioned that Brahmā is one of the authorities, similarly, he has got the disciplic succession from Brahmā. From Brahmā to Nārada, from Nārada to Vyāsadeva, from Vyāsadeva to Madhvācārya, from Madhvācārya to Mad... I am making shortcut. From Madhvācārya to Mādhavendra Purī, from Mādhavendra Purī to Īśvara Purī, from Īśvara Purī to Lord Caitanya, from Lord Caitanya to Svarūpa Dāmodara, from Svarūpa Dāmodara to six Gosvāmīs, Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, from Gosvāmīs to Kṛṣṇadasa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and from him Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, and from Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Viśvanātha Cakravartī, from Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura to Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, from Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī to Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, from Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura to Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, and from Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī my spiritual master, and then we are descended.

Lecture on SB 7.9.35 -- Mayapur, March 13, 1976:

He first of all wanted to search out "Wherefrom my birth is?" Then he saw the stem of the lotus flower on which he was sitting, and then he found there is water. So he went within the water. It is said, apsu. And there he executed tapasya.

So this human form of life, we are born out of Brahmā. Brahmā is called, therefore, great-grandfather. Not great-grand... Grandfather. He is called grandfather. Because Manu, from Manu we have come, therefore our name is mānuṣya, "man," from the word Manu. That Manu is born of Brahma. Therefore he is called grandfather, pitāmahā. And Kṛṣṇa has been addressed in the Bhagavad-gītā, "the great-grandfather." So He is the father of Brahmā also. Ātma-yoni. So this is the position of Brahmā. So he had to undergo so great austerity to understand his position, so how much austerity we have to perform to understand our position: "What I am? What is my business? Why I have come here? Why I am suffering?"

Lecture on SB 12.2.1 -- San Francisco, March 18, 1968:

A man used to live for 100,000's of years. Then in the Tretā-yuga it reduced ten times. They used to live for 10,000 years. Then in Dvāpara-yuga it reduced again ten times. They used to live for 1,000 years. And now, in the Kali-yuga, the duration of life is prescribed as 100 years. But you see that it is reducing. Everyone may note it. Perhaps your grandfather lived for 100 years. Your father lived for 80 years. And nowadays, 60 or 70 years. Gradually, it will so reduce, we shall come to that statement, that if a man lives for 20 to 30 years he will be considered a very grand old man. If he lives for 20 to 30 years he'll be considered, "Oh, you have got very good life." That will come, gradually. This is the progressive age. Progressive age for material civilization. We are proud of making advancement of our civilization, but these nice thing are being reduced. That means... We are advancing means reducing the nice things. This is advanced. Āyuḥ and smṛtiḥ. Smṛtiḥ means memory. So these eight items will reduce gradually. You can keep it noted, and you'll see how they are being reduced. And we have already experienced.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.15 -- Dallas, March 4, 1975:

And then my son is not... Gradually, it is reduced. Reducing, reducing, reducing. By the end of Kali-yuga, the duration of life from twenty years to thirty years will be considered very, very old age, very, very old. If a man is living for twenty-five years, he will be considered a very grand old man. Yes. That is coming gradually. So therefore it is said, manda, manda. Manda means everything bad or everything slow. Duration of life is bad, then their activities also very bad, always sinful activities. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo (SB 1.1.10). And if somebody is little anxious to take shelter of somebody for spiritual advancement, then he will accept some bogus thing, sumanda-matayo, some bogus incarnation of God, some bogus yogi, some bogus... They will take sumanda-matayo, will not come to the real.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.29 -- San Francisco, January 21, 1967:

Vimukta-māninaḥ means they are thinking that "I am now liberated. I have become one with the Supreme." Te, aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Their intelligence is not purified. In other words, it is very gentlemanly said, "Their intelligence is not purified." That means they are in the darkness of knowledge, or grand fool, in other words. So these grand fools, they think that "I have become liberated." They are being kicked every second by the laws of nature; still, they think that "I am liberated."

So such persons... He aravindākṣa, "O the lotus-eyed," āruhya kṛcchreṇa, "to become one with You, they perform severe austerity." That requires, of course... Śaṅkarācārya recommended monism. Oh, nobody can follow his strict principle. So we simply say that "We are follower of Śaṅkarācārya." You cannot approach even the shadow of Śaṅkarācārya. He was so strict and so disciplinary. He would... They are... According to Śaṅkara-sampradāya, everyone must take first of all sannyāsa.

Festival Lectures

Ratha-yatra -- San Francisco, June 27, 1971:

Thank you very much. Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly participating in this great Ratha-yatra festival. I have already explained what is this Ratha-yatra festival. It is in commemoration of a grand visit by Lord Kṛṣṇa along with His elder brother, Balarāma, and His younger sister, Subhadrā, in a solar eclipse ceremony at Kurukṣetra. This occasion is the subject matter of this Ratha-yatra festival. Apart from these historical references in the matter of Ratha-yatra festival, there is another spiritual meaning, that the Lord is situated in everyone's heart, and this body is just like ratha, or car. He is sitting in everyone's heart. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ: "I am sitting in everyone's heart." Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: (BG 15.15) "I am giving everyone the intelligence as well as I am taking away the intelligence from everyone." This double work is being done by the Supersoul. In one side He is helping how to realize self, how to realize God, and other side He is helping also to forget God. How is it that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as paramātmā, is doing this double work?

General Lectures

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, January 19, 1969:

I saw. My grandmother lived for ninety-five years. My father lived for eighty-four years. So I do not know how long I shall live. Still I am living. So in this way the age, duration of life, will reduce in this age. And it is also said that at the ultimate stage, at the end of this age, if a man lives for twenty to thirty years, he'll be considered a grand old man. So because our human assets are reducing... Practically there is no mercifulness now, dayā. Formerly a man was very charitable, but here, at the present moment, where is the question of charity? He cannot maintain oneself. So these things are reducing. Therefore Vyāsadeva thought it wise to give the Vedic knowledge in writings so that we can read, we can hear, and we can utilize, we can take benefit out of it. So Vyāsadeva gave us this Vedic literature. His father, Parāśara Muni, gave us the definition, the understanding of God, what we mean by God. So he gave us this definition, that "God is He who is full with six kinds of opulences, of which there is nobody greater or nobody is equal.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972 'The Present Need of Human Society':

The king, the government, that is also stated. Government will be simply taxing. And people, being harassed in famine and taxation, they'll give up their hearth and home, will go to the forest and hills. And gradually, time will come when the ages will be reduced so much that a person twenty to thirty years old will be considered as great, grand old man. These are the symptoms of Kali-yuga.

So how to get out of this entanglement? There are so many things prescribed. But in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that kalau doṣa-nidhe rājan asti hy eko mahān-guṇaḥ. Doṣa-nidhi. Nidhi means ocean. This Kali-yuga is a ocean of doṣa, so many faults. But still, there is some hope.

Address to Rotary Club -- Chandigarh, October 17, 1976:

Because in this age, Kali-yuga, we are not very advanced. About us, it is described in the śāstra, mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā upadrutāḥ, prāyeṇālpayuṣaḥ kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ (SB 1.1.10). In this age, Kali-yuga, we are living not very long time. In Kali-yuga, the duration of life will be reduced so much, gradually, that if a person lives for twenty to thirty years, he'll be considered a grand old man. That day is coming. Now we have got practical experience. Our grandfather or father lived for so many years, but we are not living for so many years. Our sons will not live so many years. In this way the duration of life, the memory, the mercifulness, the bodily strength—everything will be reduced. This is already foretold in the śāstras. So therefore in this age we are all short-living, mandāḥ, very slow or bad, and sumanda-matayo. Everyone has got a obnoxious opinion about philosophy, about the goal of life. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo, and manda-bhāgyā, unfortunate also. The description, if we try to describe, it will take long time.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: That is not perfect knowledge.

Śyāmasundara: You must admit, though, being a scientist, that supposing you go down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, you see so many layers of earth going up thousands of feet, that the layers at the bottom are very, very old. You must admit, because the earth takes so many years to deposit soil. Even if it's only one million years, it's still very old. And in that lowest layer we find only evidences of simple...

Prabhupāda: So where is the lowest layer, he has gone? Where is it? Wherefrom it begins?

Śyāmasundara: The Grand Canyon is an example. That's a very deep canyon in the ground in Arizona.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: What happens if there was no human beings in that area so that they don't find any...?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Śyāmasundara: But still I'm not convinced that if we make geologic investigations all over the world, not just the Grand Canyon or here or there, but in many parts of the world we always find the same thing, that the...

Prabhupāda: But if you say that you have studied all over the world, I say you have not studied all over the planet. That is still defective.

Śyāmasundara: Let's just confine it to this planet.

Prabhupāda: No. Why should you confine it? Nature is not only within this planet.

Śyāmasundara: Because you said that millions of years ago there were many complex forms of life existing on this planet.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: Do they come, and they are still living? They are still there? Just like my great-grand..., great-grandfather was living. So I am his descendant.

Śyāmasundara: But where is he?

Prabhupāda: Where is he? You want to see him? Therefore you (indistinct).

Śyāmasundara: No. I want to find his remains.

Prabhupāda: You want to see my great-great-great-great-grandfather?

Śyāmasundara: But he must have left some remains.

Prabhupāda: I am the remaining. I am his descendant.

Śyāmasundara: But he made no tools, or he had no house?

Prabhupāda: Who said? You said. You said that there may not, but because my fore... I can make tools; naturally, my grandfather, he can make too. And what is there making tools?

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Hayagrīva: So that's all, on Darwin. (break) This is an appendix to the Darwin. In 1925 the Tennessee legislature passed the Butler Act, forbidding the teaching of Darwinism, Darwinian evolution, in the public schools of that state. In May, John Thomas Scopes, a science teacher at Dayton High School, consented to be the defendant in a court test of the law. He was arrested and indicted by a Grand Jury and stood trial on July 1925.

Prabhupāda: Why he was arrested?

Hayagrīva: For teaching Darwinism. For teaching that man descended from the apes.

Prabhupāda: So he was teaching, and the government arrested him?

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Prabhupāda: That expansion goes to a certain extent. Then the expansion stops, then it becomes dwindling and then finished.

Hayagrīva: Well then Bergson is actually incorrect in saying that the universe is evolving toward some grand harmony.

Prabhupāda: That is his imagination. What does he mean by this harmony? Just like I am increasing, your body is increasing, your child's body is increasing. So everybody's body is increasing, so where is the, what does he mean by harmony? It is increasing and it will dwindle and it will finish. That is material nature. If you say this process of increasing and dwindling is going on, that is harmony, then there is no harm, but the, individually everything is going under this process of increasing and decreasing and at the end finished.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: So the third and fourth categories he sees that relates to everything are relations and order. Everything relates to everything else and there is an order in everything. Everything is part of an order, a grand order.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Prakṛti, there is order. Just like the sun is rising exactly in time. It is setting exactly in time. The sea waves, they are forbidden, "Not to come beyond this limit." Big, big waves are always coming, "Ohn, ohn!" but not beyond this beach (reach?). So there is order. Everything there is order.

Śyāmasundara: Even the mind occupies space and transpires in time. Mind occupies space and works in time. Is that also a fact?

Prabhupāda: Yes. We are occupying space. That's a fact.

Page Title:Grand (Lectures)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:09 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=35, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:35