Prabhupāda: You can fight against death very nicely, but you cannot stop death. These are the problems. But there is no education in the modern civilization how to stop death, how to stop disease, how to stop old age, how to stop birth, how to attain eternal life, how to attain blissful life. They have no education. But this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, although it appears a new movement in your country, but it is known to the world. But nobody had previously attempted to put these ideas and movement in practical shape. So that I am doing. That I am attempting. And with this mission, I have come to your country with the hope that if the American people take it very seriously, then it will be the greatest contribution to the world. So I have already published this, my magazines and my books, in this connection. So if people take advantage of this movement, try to understand these books, they will be benefited greatly. So that is the basic principle of my teaching. It is the most perfect humanitarian work. Try to understand. We invite anyone. And take it diligently, put your arguments, logic, understanding, and you will find it is sublime. That is the basic principle of my movement.
In this connection (Conversations)
Expressions researched:
"in that connection"
|"in this connection"
|"that connection"
|"this connection"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Brahman knowledge, Paramātmā knowledge, and Bhagavān knowledge. The same thing. The knowledge of sunshine, the knowledge of sun globe, and the knowledge of this predominating deity in the sun globe. So knowledge of sunshine is not knowledge of the predominating deity of the sun globe. There is another example in this connection. Just like if you see one hill from a long-distant place, first of all you see just like it is a cloud. Then, if you proceed further, you'll see something green. And if you enter into that hill you'll see, oh, there are so many varieties. There are animals, there are men, there are trees. But from the distant, you'll see just like a cloud. So although the same thing... Similarly, Absolute, when visioned from the Brahman point of view, it is just like cloud. Absolute when visioned as Paramātmā, it is just like something green.
1970 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That's it.
Haṁsadūta: We'll open a one-sided account.
Prabhupāda: Book fund account and one, International Society, checking account. (devotees offer obeisances) So what we have to do in that connection?
Devotee (4): (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: The water? (break) Where is your son? (Hindi) This is material conception. (Hindi) (end)
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. that's all right. We say in that connection that if you have got a name which is actually referring to God, that will also do. Just like we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare. So according to Vedic literature, kṛṣṇaś tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the... He has got many names. Thousands and millions of names. This is the original name. So Caitanya says not that you have to chant Kṛṣṇa, but if you have got actually a name for God, you can chant that. We are not asking you that you chant Kṛṣṇa. If you have got actually a name for God, then you can chant that. We are requesting that you chant God's holy name.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Interviewer: Jesus Christ. There are other peoples in different parts of the world who have different names for the Gods which they, uh, pray to.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that's all right. We say in that connection that if you have got a name which is actually referring to God, that will also do. Just like we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare.
Interviewer: Right. Yes.
Prabhupāda: So according to Vedic literature, kṛṣṇaś tu bhagavān svayam: (SB 1.3.28) Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the... He has got many names, thousands and millions of names; this is the original name. So Caitanya says not that you have to chant "Kṛṣṇa," but if you have got actually a name for God, then chant that. We are not asking you that you chant "Kṛṣṇa."
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest: And that means...
Prabhupāda: I may inform you, in this connection...
Guest: Huh?
Prabhupāda: ...that we are spending at the present moment seventy to eighty thousand dollars per month.
Guest: That's right. So whatever the exact amount may be, it's likely to be a big amount, and that means befriending people who will be prepared to part with the money...
Prabhupāda: Hard-earned money.
Śyāmasundara: "The three categories of devotional service which Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī describes in Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu are listed as devotional service in practice, devotional service in ecstasy and devotional service in pure love of Godhead. There are many subheadings in each of these categories. Generally it is understood that in the category of devotional service in practice there are two different qualities, devotional service in ecstasy has four qualities, and devotional service in pure love of Godhead has six qualities. These qualities will be explained by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī later on.
"In this connection, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī suggests that the person eligible for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or devotional service, can be classified by his particular taste. He says that devotional service is a continual process from one's previous life. No one can take to devotional service unless he has had some previous connection with it. For example, suppose in this life I practice devotional service to some extent. Even though it is not one-hundred-percent perfectly performed, still, whatever I have done will not be lost. In my next life, from the very point where I had stopped in this life, I shall begin again. In this way there is always a continuity. But even if there is no continuity, if only by chance a person takes interest in a pure devotee's instruction, he can be accepted and advance in devotional service."
Prabhupāda: This is the point. Preaching means this. Even one has no previous record of service, still, if he meets a pure devotee, he becomes enthusiastic. Therefore preaching required. Otherwise, one can say that whatever he has done last life, he will begin from there. No. Then?
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: "They'll save me." Just like when you, in the aeroplane, there may be thousands of aeroplanes, others, but when your aeroplane is in danger, nobody can save you. You have to save yourself, Otherwise, you go to hell. Similarly, we have to save ourself individually by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. What this material advancement will save me? Will the material advancement of knowledge can save anyone from death? Is it possible? Real problem, duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam, real problem is birth, death, old age and disease. So what this material advancement of science will help in this connection? They'll bluff: "Yes, in the future, we shall do." That's all. Bluffing. Past, present, future, never they'll be able to help. Still they're proud. "Yes, in the future, we shall do it." Dehāpatya kalatrādiṣu. Tasmād ekena manasā bhagavān sātvatāṁ patiḥ śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca dhyeyaḥ pūjyaś ca nityadā. (pause) Dehāpatya kalatradiṣv ātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api (SB 2.1.4). (pause). They have discovered so many... Can they fly like the birds are flying, all together? There is no collision. They can go with full force. There is no collision. They haven't got even intelligence like the birds. And they're proud. If a small bird, they'll fly together, flock together, with great force, they'll not collapse.
Prabhupāda: Because we don't want to die. If we understand that this house is going to be bombed immediately, we'll immediately leave. If there is earthquake... So many things. So nobody wants to die. But death is sure. So what solution they have made? I do not want to die, and death is forced upon me. So what solution we have made. What is, what is the scientists have done in this connection? Psychologically, if I do not want to die, then I must find out some way that death will not bother me. That is intelligence. You are talking of intelligence. Therefore I am explaining what is intelligence. Intelligence means "I do not want something, but it is being forced upon me. How to check it?" That is intelligence. Actually, the whole world is going on, we do not want to suffer. But suffering is there. Three kinds of suffering. One kind of suffering is called pertaining to the body and mind. I don't want to be diseased, but there is, all of a sudden, there is disease. Diarrhea. I don't want it, but it is imposed. This is suffering. Due to the body. Some discrepancies.
Śrutakīrti: Fifteen minutes of water.
Prabhupāda: Oh... So you, you can get that connection disconnected now. Otherwise you're going...
Śrutakīrti: Yes. I could also connect over to here.
Prabhupāda: Yes. For the time being, you disconnect. Otherwise it will fall down.
Śrutakīrti: Yes.
Prabhupāda: With water. Then you create another inconvenience. Yes. That's it. You have taken your bath? Not yet?
Brahmānanda: In the morning, we took.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Ah, yes, I heard.
Dr. Kapoor: So they came in that connection.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi).
Dr. Kapoor: I have two sons and two daughters. The eldest one is the one you know.
Prabhupāda: Oh, in Kanpur.
Dr. Kapoor: In Kanpur.
Prabhupāda: Dhawan.
Dr. Kapoor: Dhawan, Dhawan. Yes, she also knows you very well.
Prabhupāda: Then... The first thing is that we should see that everyone is engaged. How he should be engaged, that requires leadership. But the first business is to engage everyone. Nobody should be without engagement. Then it will be idle worse, works... What do you call? Idle brain is devil's workshop. And the devil is kāminī-kāñcana, woman and money. This is devil. So if you remain idle, then you shall think of devil. So we should see that everyone is engaged properly. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (break) ...instruction in this connection is very important. Everyone should be trained as Vaiṣṇava. At the same time, he should work in different position for management. So if our men are not prepared—Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja—for doing the plowing work, then what is the use of purchasing land?
Prabhupāda: I may say in this connection, in America, the laborer class is very highly paid. Anyone, any labor class man can earn $25, $50, daily, very easily. But because there is no direction of the brain, these labor class of men—I have seen—they—especially these Negroes—51%, they are drunkards. They spend their money in drinking. They do not know how to utilize the money. Because the brain is not giving direction. Or they have no brain. "I have got so money. How I shall utilize it?" As soon as he gets money, he use it, he uses it for drinking. You may think that you are sufficiently paying to the labor class, worker class, but because he is not guided by brain, he is misspending the money.
Yogeśvara: This is a man's story, if I may mention in this connection. Rūpānuga Mahārāja, one of our students, before joining the movement was a social worker. And he told me once a story about a particular case of a woman who was in a very destitute position. Her husband was in the hospital, she had five children, and one was... So many problems were there. And Rūpānuga was going and giving her her weekly money from the government, welfare check. And one day he came unexpectedly because part of his job was to see how they were using the money. And he found her there in her apartment with a strange man and drugs and alcohol on the floors and the children running naked, and he was obliged to stop giving her the money. Simply because there had been no proper use of it, there was no point in giving it. It was not doing her any good. To improve her situation superficially wasn't improving the situation at all.
Prabhupāda: You understand that?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That we are preaching. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are not sitting idly and smoking gāñjā. It is not like that. (French)
Yogeśvara: So what he's saying is that, "Yes, in this connection, I can compliment you (Śrīla Prabhupāda) for the work that you are doing because," from what he has experienced, "most of the people who are coming from India to preach about Kṛṣṇa, talk about Kṛṣṇa to old people or people who actually don't have any use for Hinduism or spirituality except as a kind of diversion or a drug."
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Yogeśvara: So I think, if I understood.
Prabhupāda: I agree. I agree. He's right. He's right. He's right.
Prabhupāda: The difficulty is, "It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss." Better you keep yourself ideal character that people can see that "Here is an ideal group of men." Otherwise, in politics... They are feeling the necessity of an honest leader, but they are themself dishonest, they people. So when you point out that "This leader is dishonest," they do not very much appreciate. There is a story in this connection I will tell you, that one man was drunkard. So his friend said, "You are drinking. You will go to hell." "Oh, my father also drinks." "Oh, he will also go to hell." "My mother also drinks." "Oh, she will also go to hell." In this way, all the family members, they scrutinizingly studying, that all of them were drunkards. You see? Then the man who was accused of drinking, he said, "If everyone is going to hell, then hell is heaven. (laughter) Because my father is going there, mother is going there, my brother is going there, I shall go there. It is heaven. Where is hell?"
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Oh, that's nice. But make them devotees. That is the real father and mother, who begets children and make him devotee. That is real father and mother. Otherwise cats and dogs. A Tulasī dāsa, he has written one poetry that "A son and the urine comes from the same way." Son... Son means it is born out of the semina. That also comes through the genital, and the urine also comes through the genital. So he is giving this example that "Putra and Mutra..." Mutra, means urine, and putra means son, comes from the same passage. So if the son is a devotee, then he's putra; otherwise he's mutra. (laughter) Otherwise he's urine. Very nice. Yes. Putra and mutra come from the same channel. If he's a devotee, then he's putra, otherwise he's mutra. (break) ...miseries are compared with the heat and cold. Mātrā sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). Śīta and uṣṇa. Uṣṇa means hot, and śīta means cold. They are pleasing and miserable in circumstances. Cold is very pleasing in the summer, and heat is very pleasing in winter. But same heat in summer is not pleasing, and same cold in winter, it is not pleasing. So what is the actual position of cold and heat? It is simply transforming as pleasure and pain according to circumstances. Otherwise it is neither painful, neither pleasing. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma iva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). (break) ...has given me hundreds of such places but His order is "You cannot stay." (laughter) I'll tell you one humorous story in this connection.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Our organization is to give service.
Haṁsadūta: And then another point in this connection is that when I was in Los Angeles last time, all the people that worked for Spiritual Sky, they were, they were starting to fall away because of Karandhara's karmic attitude...
Jayatīrtha: That's...
Prabhupāda: So this point you discuss.
Jayatīrtha: (to Haṁsadūta:) That problem we'll discuss, and I'll discuss it with you.
Atreya Ṛṣi: Śrīla Prabhupāda, there are also two reports we don't have here, and we should read those before... One is Karandhara's report, and one is Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Prabhu's report, who have investigated this.
Prabhupāda: Ah? Apatra-dana, that is third-class. Go on.
Brahmānanda: "This is called charity in goodness. In the śāstras there is no recommendation for giving charity to the unqualified men. In this connection I am enclosing a copy of one chart reproduced in our Back to Godhead, 'Charity in ignorance.' "
Prabhupāda: She has written one article in our Back to Godhead. I am quoting from that.
Paramahaṁsa: In this connection you have quoted Lord Brahmā, saying that... Lord Brahmā says that the great material scientists, they may be able to calculate the atomic structure of the material world and the planetary system, but even if Kṛṣṇa is standing right in front of them, they can't calculate His potencies.
Prabhupāda: Vivekananda liked to say, he challenged Ramakrishna, "Can you show me God?" He said, "Yes," and he showed him God and then he became disciple.
Paramahaṁsa: They're saying that this Bal Yogeshwara, people ask him "Can you show what is God," and he says, "Oh, yes," then he shows them.
Prabhupāda: "Eight. And all the development is being done by foreign exchange. So it can be continued if I get encouragement by the government. So I shall be very much pleased to see you in this connection."
Lalitā: "I need your advices for this development." (Bengali) "With the help of government in villages."
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: I... Just that one point. In my speaking to Ganesha's(?) also, even when we tell them we are bringing huge amounts of foreign exchange from abroad, they at once say, "But how do you get this money abroad?"
Prabhupāda: We sell our books.
Brahmānanda: "His mission is that everyone should become a guru and preach all over the world the instruction of Kṛṣṇa. So we are doing this very faithfully and it is becoming effective. I think in India also if some vigorous activity is done for awakening the Kṛṣṇa consciousness of the people under your leadership, it will be very effective. So we have already eight branches in India, and all development is being done by foreign exchange. It can be continued if I get encouragement by the government. So I shall be very much pleased to see you in this connection. I have written about fifty books of four hundred pages, such as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam..."
Prabhupāda: "Four hundred pages each."
Brahmānanda: "I have written about fifty books of four hundred pages each, such as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, and these books are very popular in foreign countries, Europe and America. By sales proceeds I am bringing foreign exchange."
Prabhupāda: That's all.
Brahmānanda: "When I was in Toronto, Canada, Śrīmatī Lalitā Devi, who is just like my daughter, sent me one intimation that she approached you for a meeting with me and you, and I have come here, postponing all my engagements. I am preaching this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all over the world on the basis of Kṛṣṇa's instructions in Bhagavad-gītā. Actually this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is called the saṅkīrtana movement and sometimes called the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, which was inaugurated by Lord Caitanya in Bengal and throughout all India. His mission is that everyone should become a guru and preach all over the world the instruction of Kṛṣṇa. So we are doing this very faithfully, and it is becoming effective. I think in India also, if some vigorous activity is done for awakening the Kṛṣṇa consciousness of the people under your leadership, it will be very effective. So we have already eight branches in India, and all development is being done by foreign exchange. It can be continued if I get encouragement by the government. So I shall be very much pleased to see you in this connection. I have written about fifty books of four hundred pages each, such as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, and these books are very popular in foreign countries such as Europe and America. By the sales proceeds I am bringing foreign exchange." "Yours sincerely?"
Prabhupāda: "Yours sincerely" all right, or "Your well-wisher"?
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: And describe that he has... Just like Mādhava Mahārāja also attempted. This is the attempt. So what we have to do in this connection? Let them do whatever nonsense they want. We shall do our own business. And we have no business to propagate that we are making... People already know us all over the world. So... But suppose if he makes an attempt to mix with us so that he can take advantage, his main policy is that we may go there. That is his... Because if we do not go, then all their propaganda makes him not very important if we go there..., if we do not go there.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Why does he depend upon our going there to become important?
Prabhupāda: Because he is visualizing that by our propaganda throughout the whole world, people will come here. That he has already seen. And if we do not go there, then he becomes insignificant.
Prabhupāda: Yes, there is a nice story in this connection. There was one Gopal Ban. So he was very cunning fellow. In the Muhammadan period in Bengal. So the Mohammedan Nawab asked him, "Gopal Ban, can you prepare a Mahābhārata in my name?" "Oh, yes!" So, "I'll engage so many paṇḍitas, and they will make a Mahābhārata, your activities, your glories, everything. So give me one hundred thousand rupees, just begin." He was taking money, taking money, "Yes, it is going on, going on." "Then when it will be published?" "Yes, just last few days more. Now, sir, everything is prepared. So the one thing is, you have to give me information how many husbands you have got, your wife, huh? How many husbands your wife has got?" That is very insulting. "What, you nonsense, you take." "No, that is the main feature of Mahābhārata. Draupadī had five husbands, so how many husbands your wife has got? Tell me that." Then, "No, no, I don't want that. I am the only husband."
Nalinīkaṇṭha:
- sarva-guhyatamam bhūyaḥ
- śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ
- iṣṭo 'si me dṛḍham iti
- tato vakṣyāmi te hitam
"Because you are My very dear friend, I am speaking to you the most confidential part of knowledge. Hear this from Me, for it is for your benefit." Purport. "The Lord has given Arjuna confidential knowledge of the Supersoul within everyone's heart, and now He is giving the most confidential part of this knowledge: just surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. At the end of the Ninth Chapter He has said, 'Just always think of Me.' The same instruction is repeated here to stress the essence of the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā. This essence is not understood by a common man, but by one who is actually very dear to Kṛṣṇa, a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa. This is the most important instruction in all Vedic literature. What Kṛṣṇa is saying in this connection is the most essential part of knowledge, and it should be carried out not only by Arjuna but by all living entities."
Prabhupāda: Then next verse.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. What is your argument in this connection?
Satsvarūpa: Well, just because Sunday comes before Monday, that's an interpretation to say therefore the sun is nearer than the moon. Sunday may be the first day of the week and then Monday, but that doesn't mean the sun is closer than the moon, just because Sunday is the first day of the week.
Prabhupāda: No, why this arrangement? There must be some arrangement in planetary system. Just like first, second, third, fourth, fifth, like that. Therefore, Sunday's first. Not whimsically. Suppose there is a system, first, second, third, fourth. So according to that, the dates are there. Not whimsically you first of all bring Saturn or first of all bring Jupiter. Not like that. You cannot do that. Why shall you do that? Therefore we are sitting, now, she's first, he's second, you are, like that. Not that although she is sitting there, he can be blocked here. No, everybody.... It is of course a very simple question, but it has got some intelligence. We must get some intelligent answer. Ordinary answer will not do.
Prabhupāda: Covered, but now it is corroding.
Kīrtanānanda: I see what you are saying. There is another door that goes in that wall there, like this, for access to that side.
Prabhupāda: Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. Little service in this connection, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, can protect one from the greatest danger. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya.
Kīrtanānanda: You are so kind to let us do it.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's desire. White sand, wherefrom you secure?
Kīrtanānanda: In Ohio, about sixty miles from here.
Prabhupāda: From the seaside, sea beach? No.
Dhṛṣṭadyumna:
- kāmam āśritya duṣpūram
- dambha-māna-madānvitāḥ
- mohād gṛhītvāsad-grāhān
- pravartante 'śuci-vratāḥ
"The demoniac, taking shelter of insatiable lust, pride and false prestige, and being thus illusioned, are always sworn to unclean work, attracted by the impermanent." Purport. "The demoniac mentality is described here. The demons' lust is never satiated. They will go on increasing and increasing their insatiable desires for material enjoyment. Although they are always full of anxieties on account of accepting nonpermanent things, they still continue to engage in such activities out of illusion. They have no knowledge and cannot tell that they are heading the wrong way. Accepting nonpermanent things, such demoniac people create their own God, create their own hymns, and chant accordingly. The result is that they become more and more attracted to two things—sex enjoyment and accumulation of material wealth. The word aśuci-vratāḥ, 'unclean vow,' is very significant in this connection. Such demoniac people are only attracted by wine, women, gambling and meat-eating; those are their aśuci, unclean habits. Induced by pride and false prestige, they create some principles of religion which are not approved by the Vedic injunctions. Although such demoniac people are most abominable in the world, still, by artificial means, the world creates a false honor for them. Although they are gliding toward hell, they consider themselves very much advanced."
Prabhupāda: There are so many religious systems: "Yes, you can do whatever you like, you can eat whatever you like," and still it is religion. This is demoniac. That will be explained further. Huh? Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca na vidur āsurāḥ janā (BG 16.7). No, not in the beginning.
Prabhupāda: Then his worship must be... That means after furnishing (?) he is also finished? That is ignorance. That is not the fact. If he's finished, then what was the purpose of furnishing?(?) There are so many questions in this connection, but they cannot understand. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ (SB 7.5.31). This is ignorance. This kind of civilization is civilization of darkness. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ.
Rūpānuga: It looks like the devotees are the only people who are enlightened in this dark world. By your mercy, only the devotees can actually see anything properly and understand the condition.
Prabhupāda: In Russia, that Kruschev, he was... Now, where he has gone, nobody knows. Finished. Nobody knows.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Śrīla Prabhupāda, in this connection, this variegatedness in connection with life, can you take it as some sort of complex structures?
Prabhupāda: You can... Because we, at the present moment, we cannot understand, except physics and chemistry, we cannot understand life. So as we do not understand life, so therefore the definition by negation is there. It is not physical, not chemical. It is something beyond. But by practical experience we can see that when there is life, a living man wants varieties. That's a fact. Varieties. Otherwise, why we disagree? I have got some varieties, you have got some varieties. So the conclusion should be tested that living condition or life is full of varieties, therefore the kingdom of life, the spiritual kingdom, must be full of varieties. That is the conclusion.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: In this connection, one quality that is quite visible is the, that matter in association with life, there is a constant flow of matter that biologists describe as metabolism. Means we eat some food, and then prasādam is digested in specific ways by so many chemical reactions in the body. But that happens only...
Prabhupāda: That is also stated, ahaṁ vaiśvānaro bhūtvā pacāmy annaṁ catur-vidham. That digestion is also helped by God. Is it not? Ahaṁ vaiśvānaro bhūtvā pacāmy annaṁ catur-vidham. Is it not in the Bhagavad-gītā?
Hari-śauri: Yes, "I am the fire of digestion."
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So that differentiates also the simple matter without life. For example, sometimes it has been asked whether a crystal is alive or not. This is confusing to the scientists. Sometimes they say that a crystal is behaving just like a living body, it grows and this and that, they say. But actually there is no flow of matter. That tells us that crystal is not life. There's a fundamental difference. The last point in this connection is that matter is impersonal and life has personality.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So that implies that matter is unconscious and the life is fully conscious.
Vṛṣākapi: It's been said sometimes, Prabhupāda, that you have said that some rocks have life. Some rocks, some stones, are actually souls in them?
Prabhupāda: Then you have to study Kṛṣṇa, that where is the great, the only great. Then you'll understand. God is great, there is... No religion will differ in this connection. But if find that "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is the greatest," then you have to accept. There is no other argument. So I'll take a little time go to shower. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (devotees and guests offer obeisances)
Hari-śauri: Śrīla Prabhupāda is coming back in about five minutes, he's just going to the bathroom. (break) (Prabhupāda returns) ...original Back to Godhead.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: We got it from the Library of Congress.
Prabhupāda: So God is great. Now we have to analyze what is the greatness. A man is supposed to be great when he is very rich. A man is supposed to be great when he is very wise, man of knowledge, strength, reputation. So item by item, you analyze and see, you'll see Kṛṣṇa is the greatest. By reasoning. Therefore He is God. They have been analyzed. You'll find in The Nectar of Devotion, the Gosvāmīs have analyzed the characteristics of Kṛṣṇa, and they found Him the greatest. So if God is great, and He is the greatest, then He is God.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi)
Svarūpa Dāmodara: And in this connection we actually wanted to also study Bhaktisiddhānta Prabhupāda's...
Prabhupāda: Sūrya-siddhānta.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah.
Prabhupāda: Yes. But where is that book?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Pradyumna told me that it's available in Bengali, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: That is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
- ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā
- varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ
- svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya
- saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam
- (SB 1.2.13)
Everyone is engaged in his occupational duties. Everyone is engaged. Generally according to Vedic civilization, the society is divided into eight divisions. Varṇāśrama-dharma it is called-four varṇas and four āśramas. Materially, four varṇas: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. And spiritually, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. These eight divisions. So according to these eight divisions, everyone has an occupational duty. So what is the duty and how the duty is perfected? That is hari-toṣaṇam, to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That people do not know. Especially at the present moment, they do not know who is Hari and they do not know how to please Him. That is the defect of the modern civilization, that they do not care to know who is God and how to satisfy Him. That is the defect. The life is meant for, human life, for satisfying God. That is going on under religious system, and the Vedic civilization is called varṇāśrama-dharma. Dharma is not a kind of faith, religion is not a kind of faith, but it is a duty, varṇāśrama-dharma. So that duty we are forgetting. And therefore we are coming to the level of animals. Because the cats and dogs, they have no duty-animal. But human being has an obligation, a duty to understand God and to satisfy Him. That is human life. Without this knowledge, without this performance of duty, human life is on the level of animals. There are many other verses in this connection. Where are others? They are not present here?
Prabhupāda: So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to elevate a person to the real standard of knowledge. Without knowledge a madman can say anything. A child can speak all nonsense. That is not knowledge. Knowledge is different. So the struggle for existence means to get out of distress, but the real distress they have set aside. The problem that "I do not want to die, but I'll be enforced to die," so what is the advancement in this connection? They might have, so big, big scientists, they have discovered many, many things, but where is that thing that "Take a pill and you'll never die. Take a pill, you'll never become diseased"? They can offer me... I had some abdominal pain, so they have given me dozens of medicine. But still they are not sure whether the pain will be cured. This is their science. So in this way things are going on, in ignorance, mūḍha. Therefore they have been described in the Bhagavad-gītā as mūḍha.
Prabhupāda: "That also distribute for me. More share for me." (laughs) Now there is drought; there is no rain. What the capitalists or communists can do in this connection? If they are able to present any program how to counteract? Then where is your progress? When there is some calamity, you both of you simply (indistinct). That's all. You cannot do anything. Then where is your progress?
Hari-śauri: The reason why the Russians were buying wheat from America...
Prabhupāda: Yes?
Hari-śauri: ...was because they had no rain. All their crops failed.
Jayatīrtha: Not only that, people aren't inclined to work very hard. The farmers are not very enthusiastic to work very hard, because they work very hard, but they have to give all the fruit away. So because they are karmīs, they want the fruit. The state is taking the fruit; therefore they don't want to work.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. It was the prediction of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu that in every village, in every town on the surface of the globe, there will be preaching of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's name and the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. It is to be translated? (translator translates into French) So by your transcendental endeavor it is being fulfilled, otherwise who expected that in this remote village of France, Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra would be chanted? When Caitanya Mahāprabhu said in every village, in every town, he did not mean that every village and every town in India. He specifically says pṛthivīte, means on the surface of the globe. So the purpose is that without spreading of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, nobody can become happy. That's a fact. The opportunity of human form of life is systematcially being refused by the modern civilization. This material activity only for the bodily comforts of life, that is not human civilization. Human civilization means the human being must know the supreme controller and the aim of life. The real fact is that God is there, the supreme controller, and we, living entities, we are His parts and parcels. As parts and parcels of God, we, being separated, we are suffering. An example can be given in this connection, just like a small child is the part and parcel of the body of the mother. So the child is happy when the child is on the lap of the mother. That means the part and the whole must live together. Then there is happiness. Otherwise, there is distress.
Prabhupāda: Any inquiry in this connection will be gladly answered by Śrī Swamiji. The Hindus generally chant the holy name of God in sixteen chain of transcendental sound composed of thirty-two alphabets as Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. The Vedic literatures like the Upaniṣads and the Purāṇas do recommend chanting of the above-mentioned sixteen holy names at a stretch, and Lord Śrī Caitanya, whose cult of chanting the holy name of God gave special importance on these transcendental sounds. In this age of Kali, or the age of hate, hypocrisy, corruption and quarrel, the only remedial measure is that every man should chant the holy name of the Lord, both individually and collectively. The glories of the holy name have been described by Śrī Caitanya in His eight verses of Sikṣāṣṭaka, which run as follows: 1) Glory to the Śrī Kṛṣṇa Saṅkīrtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years together, and thus the fire of conditional life of repeated birth and death is extinguished.
Prabhupāda: So the platform is different, eh? Externally, one can see, they are also spending so much money for traveling, they are living in a nice house and they have some nice car. But the consciousness is different. Another example in this connection, that I am sitting on this chair and there is a bug also. He is also sitting on this chair. But that does not mean the bug and myself equal. The bug's business is different, my business is different. But superficially, if one sees that the bug and Swamiji's on the same chair, therefore they're all equal? That is not the fact. Similarly, we may be using all these material things, but we have no material business. We have simply spiritual business.
Ali: It is living in the material world without become attached to it.
Haṁsadūta: Yes, another point in this connection, Prabhupāda, the men who come with me, they don't stay with me forever. They will stay a few months some of them, and then they go. In this way...
Prabhupāda: Then that is the habit...
Haṁsadūta: For instance, in this temple, there are so many men which are on our party who are...
Prabhupāda: So many men. We don't want so many men. Now we are going to minimize. We don't want so many men. That if, now we have to estimate how many men absolutely required. So many men we shall keep. Others, they must go for the preaching. They must go to the preaching.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: They can all go on the buses, the extra men.
Prabhupāda: No, they should be distributed. They may go to other centers.
Prabhupāda: This practice is there in Vedic system. Not Vedic system, (indistinct), fall down. There is technical name. Fall down from the mountain. This is easier than other type of suicide. Because you simply once jump, but as soon as you fall, you forget everything. Suicide itself is very bad. This fall down, serotan (?) it is called.
Akṣayānanda: So one question I wanted to ask you in this connection, is that this Vinobha, fasting until death, until cow slaughter is stopped. So if he dies then he is guilty of murder. Is it correct. And if he's a brāhmaṇa, he is guilty of brahma-hatya. So by this fasting he is committing a greater sin than the actual killing of the cows.
Prabhupāda: You are right.
Akṣayānanda: And what is the gain?
Prabhupāda: And what he'll get it? Does he think that by his dying of starvation this cow-killing will be stopped? That is his foolishness.
Prabhupāda: (dictating:) Only the rascals and less intelligent class of men think that God is formless and when He incarnates, He takes a particular form. In this connection, a verse from Yāmunācārya may be quoted as follows. You have quoted the Bhagavad-gītā? That quote?
Pradyumna: Well, it doesn't mention the Sanskrit here of that Yāmunācārya verse.
Prabhupāda: No, no. "In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said"—what you have written?
Pradyumna: Oh. We can put the Sanskrit, avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannam.
Prabhupāda: No, what you have written here?
Pradyumna:
- avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannaṁ
- manyante mām abuddhayaḥ
- paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
- mamāvyayam anuttamam
- (BG 7.24)
"Unintelligent men who know Me not, think that I have assumed this form and personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is changeless and supreme." That God is never formless. Only the rascals and less intelligent class of men think that God is formless and when He incarnates he takes a particular form. In this connection a verse from Yāmunācārya may be quoted as follows.
Prabhupāda: So what is Yāmunacārya's quotation?
Pradyumna: "My dear Lord, devotees like Vyāsadeva and Nārada know You to be the Personality of Godhead. By understanding different Vedic literatures, one can come to know Your characteristics, Your form and Your activities, and one can thus understand that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
Prabhupāda: So in this connection, the statement of Bhāgavatam, is especially important. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). Brahman is impersonal, Paramātmā is localized, and Bhagavān is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead...
Pradyumna: Brahman is the impersonal.
Prabhupāda: Brahman is impersonal. Not "the." Paramātmā is localized, and Bhagavān is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When Arjuna understood Kṛṣṇa after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, he addressed Kṛṣṇa as follows. Quote this, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma (BG 10.12). Find out. No. Find out in the book.
Devotee (3): "The Lord has given Arjuna confidential knowledge of the Supersoul within everyone's heart, and now he is giving the most confidential part of this knowledge: just surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. At the end of the Ninth Chapter he has said, 'Just always think of Me.' The same instruction is repeated here to stress the essence of the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā. This essence is not understood by a common man, but by one who is actually very dear to Kṛṣṇa, a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa. This is the most important instruction in all Vedic literature. What Kṛṣṇa is saying in this connection is the most essential part of knowledge, and it should be carried out not only by Arjuna but by all living entities."
Prabhupāda: Guhyatamam, most confidential. This is not for all, but for the advanced person and who is in confidence of Kṛṣṇa, He says, iṣṭo 'si me? What is that next? Iṣṭo 'si?
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Rāmeśvara: Yes. Somehow, whatever we do now, they find some fault and then they write about it in the newspaper, and millions of people read about us.
Prabhupāda: "Hare Kṛṣṇa." Svalpam apy asya dharmasya. Any way, if something is done in this connection, it becomes an asset.
Rāmeśvara: Now, this Governor of California, he invited us to assist him for helping the conditions in these mental retarded hospitals. So that is like mundane charity, in one sense. So is it all right for our men to take some time? Because the end result will be that we will become appreciated.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes, you do. Wherever we get opportunity, we shall chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all.
Rāmeśvara: We can teach them to chant.
Prabhupāda: That's very good. (laughter) I asked him to do this last year. Very good.
Satsvarūpa: India was broadly divided, the same as it is now, of Gopāla Kṛṣṇa to do the north and west, Gargamuni Mahārāja to do the east-Calcutta, Māyāpur. And in that connection we resolved that Śatadhanya Mahārāja should take responsibility for being president of Calcutta and Panihati.
Prabhupāda: Why two?
Gargamuni: Panihati is very near to...
Prabhupāda: No, no, Panihati he can take, but why Calcutta?
Gargamuni: Because for maintenance sake, Panihati and Calcutta is the same place for collecting funds.
Prabhupāda: The system of management will go on as it is now. There is no need of changing. The money which is in my personal name in different banks, that is being spent for the society, and it will be society property. In this connection a few deposits, which is allowing some pension to the members of my former family, may not be touched. That's all, two points. Hm? What do you think? So...?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What can I suggest?
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That in regard to the three temples, Māyāpur, Bombay and Vṛndāvana, you should designate who you want the trustees to be.
Prabhupāda: That I shall do.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. And therefore the civilization should be athāto brahma jijñāsā, simply to enquire about the Absolute Truth. And that is civilization. Now you can... Whatever little we have discussed, you can discuss now and close our book. How wrongly the whole civilization is carried on, how risky it is, that they do not know. Now, what the materialist has to say in this connection?
Śatadhanya: They say everything is getting better.
Prabhupāda: What is that better?
Yaśodā-nandana: Well, a few hundred years ago there was no airplanes, no cars, no facilities...
Prabhupāda: (coughs) These two ślokas are guide in this connection, in Bhāgavata.
- tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha-viplavo
- yasmin prati-ślokam abaddhavaty api
- nāmāny anantasya yaśo 'ṅkitāni yat
- śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti sādhavaḥ
- (SB 1.5.11)
And just the other:
- na yad vacaś citra-padaṁ harer yaśo
- jagat-pavitraṁ pragṛṇīta karhicit
- tad vāyasaṁ tīrtham uśanti mānasā...
- (SB 1.5.10)
- Like that. These two ślokas are guide. And there... It is explained there.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "Actually in America, when you criticize someone who is highly regarded, people are very interested to read it. That is the American spirit. So I think by purposely singling out historical figures who are considered good welfare workers and showing that actually their welfare platform failed, it will make interesting reading and will help to establish the real platform of welfare in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Patitānāṁ pāvanebhyaḥ. Pāpī tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo, tāra sākṣī jagāi-mādhāi, brajendra-nandana jei, śaci-suta hoilo sei. Kṛṣṇa is coming. He has come as Caitanya Mahāprabhu to deliver these pāpīs and tāpīs. Whole process is scientific. It is not (laughs) the Ramakrishna, Vivekananda. It is not that. What do they know? Or Gandhi. They are also trying for the betterment, but they do not accept the standard process. Everyone is trying. That is struggle for existence. So who is fittest? The fittest is the devotee. He'll survive. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma (BG 4.9). I have now explained how Kṛṣṇa became subordinate to devotee. (turns on dictaphone, plays back from tape:) "Yamarāja, controller of all living entities, is afraid of the order of Kṛṣṇa. Still, Kṛṣṇa is afraid of mother's stick. This contradictory thing cannot be understood by one who is not devotee. Devotee can understand how much powerful is unalloyed devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, so much so He can be controlled by such devotee. Bhṛtya-vaśyata. That means under the control of the servant, but He is under the control of pure love by the servant. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, we see, Kṛṣṇa became the chariot driver of Arjuna. Arjuna is ordering Him, senayor ubhayor madhye rathaṁ sthāpaya me acyuta (BG 1.21). Here Kṛṣṇa has agreed... (break) '...my chariot...' (break) '...to execute my order. Place my chariot between the two party soldiers.' Kṛṣṇa immediately executed his order. One may argue in this connection that Kṛṣṇa is also not independent.
| Page Title: | In this connection (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 12 of Feb, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=54, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 54 |