Just like in Bombay sometimes I showed to my disciples, say in 1935. 1935 means about fifty years ago. Fifty years ago when I was in Bombay, that time I was doing some business. So a class of men, they were living on footpath. Their home (is) on the footpath. They have got a box or a bag and lying on the footpath and eating on the footpath, their, everything on the footpath. Now the same class of men are still there. Now economically, fifty years ago, the value of money was greater. At that time, fifty years ago we were purchasing, say ghee, at most one rupee per kilo. So now you cannot get first class ghee unless you pay twenty-five rupees per kilo. So the value of money has decreased. So that means, in other words people are getting more money. Formerly, one servant was engaged, ten rupees or twelve rupees per month. Now you cannot get a servant unless you pay one hundred rupees. So in that comparison, everyone is getting more money, but still the condition is the same. Condition is the same. This will go on. Even if you get more money, the other circumstances will force you to remain in the same condition as you were fifty years ago. Because you are destined. This is called destiny. You cannot change your destiny. That is not possible.
Kilo
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura visited this temple at Vallabhapura. At that time the person in charge was a Śaivite, Śrī Śivacandra Caudhurī, who was a descendant of Kāśīśvara Gosāñi's brother. In Vallabhapura there was a permanent arrangement to cook nine kilos of rice, vegetables and other foodstuffs daily, and near the village there is sufficient land, which belonged to the Deity, on which this rice was grown. Unfortunately, the descendants of Kāśīśvara Gosāñi's brother have sold a major portion of this land, and therefore the Deity worship has now been hampered.
CC Madhya-lila
A māna is a measurement containing about forty kilos.
"Cook one kilo of rice daily and offer it. I shall eat that rice and follow behind you."
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
So just try to understand, if the major portion of the living entities have no problem... Their necessities of life are being supplied by the supreme eternal, God. Just like an elephant. There are millions of elephants in African jungle. They eat at a time fifty kilos. But they're getting their food. Similarly, a small ant, it requires a grain of sugar. So he's also getting his food. So the supreme eternal has arranged food, or the economic problems are solved by nature. They do not do any business, they do not go to school or colleges to learn technology, to earn livelihood, but they are being supplied. They are healthy. There is no disease.
As the sons have got right to enjoy the property of the father, similarly, we, all living entities, not only human beings, but trees, planets, animals, everyone, all living entities, sarva-yoniṣu, they are all sons of God, or Kṛṣṇa, and everyone has got right to live at the cost of Kṛṣṇa. And He's also feeding everyone. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. All the necessities of life is being supplied by Kṛṣṇa. In Africa there are millions of elephants. They are also supplied food, at a time, forty kilos. And the ant is also, within the hole of your room... (break) ...according to law. Don't encroach upon others' property. Mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam. Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā (ISO 1). Whatever is allotted for you, that is... Everything is prescribed. Everything is there. But the... Why this arrangement is made? They do not know. The arrangement is made that mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha... Of course, particularly the name of manuṣyāḥ has been... Because in the human life God consciousness can be developed, not in the animal life. Therefore here particularly it is mentioned, mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ. "Everyone is trying to approach Me, but according to different angle of vision, according to capacity." The capacity is somebody's trying to go up to the Brahman effulgence, somebody's trying to understand the Supreme Paramātmā within everyone's heart, and somebody's trying to understand and go directly to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The vaiśya... Generally, we understand, vaiśya means the mercantile class of men. No. At the present moment the so-called vaiśyas are śūdras, less than śūdras. Why? Now the vaiśya's business is kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). The vaiśyas must be engaged in producing foodgrains, but they are not interested. They are interested for opening factories for bolts and nuts and tires, Goodwheel tires, Goodyear tires. Now you eat tire and bolt nut. No, you cannot eat. You have to eat rice, and rice is ten rupees per kilo. That's all. Because no vaiśya is producing food grains. This is the defect.
They don't see the defect. They're simply howling, bawling, "Oh, it has increased price". Why not, increased, price? There are millions of people in Bombay city. Who is producing food grain? But they are known as vaiśya. What kind of vaiśya? There is no brahminical culture; there is no brain. There is no kṣatriya who can give you protection. There are so many defects.
So their advantage is better. The birds, small birds, in the morning, just early in the morning they will rise up and they will chirp and they will go away because they are sure that "Our foodstuff is ready anywhere we shall go." And that's a fact. They go to any tree. What the bird will eat? Four, five small fruit. But there are innumerable fruits in one tree and there are innumerable trees. Similarly, take any animal, even the elephant. In Africa there are so many elephants, millions of elephants. They eat at a time forty kilograms. And who is supplying food? They have no business. They have no profession. How they are eating?
Therefore I have already quoted this Vedic quotation, eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. So far your living conditions are concerned, what you are? Human being. You are only four hundred thousand species, and the other animals, they are eight million. So if eight million forms of body can be maintained by God, the four hundred thousand forms cannot be maintained? He maintains. He maintains. It is a fact. We are simply unnecessarily wasting our time "Where is food? Where is shelter? Where is sex? Where is defense?" So do that. There is no objection. But do not forget God. Then it is perfect. Otherwise, śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8), simply waste of time.
That is the Vedic information. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. God is supplying food to everyone. Therefore in the Christian method it is prayed, "O God, give us our... O Father, give us our daily bread." That is very good idea. But even if you do not ask, the food is there. We should understand, because the animals lower than human being, they do not go to church or to temple to ask for daily bread, but they get their bread. The elephants, they eat at a time 40 kg in this African forest, but they are getting their daily food twice. And the ant, it is satisfied with one grain. It is also supplied food. There are 8,400,000 forms of living entities. They are all getting their food without going to the church or to the mosque or praying to the Lord.
It is already happening. Rice is selling seven rupees kilo, nine rupees kilo. How a poor man will eat? So the more the Kali-yuga will advance... Now we are getting ten rupees or twelve rupees or nine rupees kilo rice, but rice will not be available at all. That is also stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Because people are becoming Godless, naturally the material nature will put them into suffering. That is the laws of nature. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14).
Actually, nobody is dying out of starvation, nobody, not even an animal, not even a bird, dying of starvation, not a beast. God is supplying everyone's food. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He is supplying food to the elephant. In Africa there are millions of elephants. They take food, at a time, forty kilos. But they are also being supplied with food. But who is supplying food? We have not arranged food for the elephants, or we have not arranged any food for the ant within our room, but they are being fed by the laws of nature, by God's arrangement. So that is not question. This is our false, I mean to say, idea, that "We shall die out of starvation if we do not make economic condition better." You do it, but you must know that food is already there.
These rascals are interested to adjust things materially. That's all. Durāśayā. It is called durāśayā, which hope will never be fulfilled. Therefore it is called durāśayā. The bahir-artha-māninaḥ, external energy. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ (SB 7.5.31). Andhāḥ, blind leaders, they are leading other blind men. They do not know. They are under the stringent laws of material nature. What their program will fulfilled? Just like see, so many plans are being made, but the result is rice is selling at six rupees kilo. This is the result. The poor man... They are making so many plans, increasing wallet(?), (fault?) material comforts, but the poor man is still poor man. As I have several times told you, fifty years ago when I came to Bombay, I saw there are person care of foot path. Still there are under care of footpath.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So here it is śruti-sāram ekam. This Bhāgavata is the śruti-sāram, just like cream. You churn the milk, two mounds of milk, you get, say, five kilos, kg, of butter, the sāram, essence. If you simply try to see where is the essence... You have to churn it. Then in the milk there is. You may possess lots of milk, but from the milk you have to take the cream. That is intelligence. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the cream of Vedic knowledge. Therefore it is said that nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). Nigama. Nigama means Vedas, and kalpa-taru... Vedas is just like desire tree. Desire tree means whatever you want, you can have it from Vedic knowledge. Just like in India, the Āyur-veda. Āyur-veda means this is material thing. But still it is in the Veda. Dhanur-veda, military science. There are so many Vedas. Vedas means knowledge. So the Vedic knowledge is so perfect, that anything you want, material or spiritual, you will get the knowledge perfect. That is Veda. Veda is not ordinary thing. And it is learned by hearing. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12).
So except these so-called civilized twenty-five percent human being, other living entities have no problem for eating, sleeping, mating. We have created. Because we are so-called civilized, we have created the problems for eating, sleeping, mating. Otherwise there is already arrangement for everyone by God. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. In Africa there are thousands of thousands of elephants. They are eating at a time fifty kilos of foodstuff. But they are eating; God is supplying. They are also living. They have got sleeping accommodation. They have got mating arrangements.
Gradually, it will deteriorate more and more. These are stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Now rice and wheat is selling at a high price, three rupees kilo. But time will come when if you pay 300,000 rupees, still, it will not be available. Especially rice, wheat, sugar and milk and fruits. That means sāttvikāhāra. These things will be finished. Therefore they are learning how to eat beef. This is the beginning. Just like a child learns to eat, little, little. Otherwise there will be no more food. Therefore dharma is required to stop this miserable condition of life. That is real dharma.
So therefore the..., at the present moment, the big, big factories, they are the activities of the asuras, ugra-karma. All the people are dragged in the city, industrial area, to engage them in the produce of iron bars, big, big iron bars, Tata iron industry, and so many other industry. Capitalists, they have drawn all the innocent people from the village. And they think that "We are getting fat salary." But what is the use of fat salary? One side you get fat salary; another side you have to purchase three rupees a kilo rice. Finish your salary. This is going on. Let them produce their own food. Let him have some land. Let him produce his own food. Let there be cows. Let cows become happy.
So "Caitanya Mahāprabhu's message, you are all educated young men, you should go and preach." I replied that "We are dependent nation, Indians. Who will hear us? Nobody will hear." So at that time he explained dependence and independence—temporary, it has no meaning. Actually, at that time I could not realize the independence. We were waiting for independence. What independence we have got? Independence means you go for one kilo of rice and stand there for two hours. (laughter) This is our independence. Everything is controlled. You cannot get. And the price... Before independence the price of rice was two annas or five rupees, six rupees per mound, two annas per kilo. Now it is more than two rupees. Everything. Practically we have increased our dependence. Not independence. In the name of independence, we have increased our dependence. So actually there is no independence. But we manufacture so-called independence. Nobody is independent. I thought, "We are so much dependent on the state rules and regulation. America is independent." When I went to America I saw they are so dependent, that any young man could be called for military service without any objection. So the whole nation is dependent on the whims of the military board. So dependent.
You cannot maintain even your family, what to speak of maintain everyone. But God maintains everyone. Eko yo bahūnām, bahūnām. Bahūnām means many, unlimited. Unlimited number of living entities are there. There are millions of elephants in Africa; He is maintaining. At a time the elephant eats about forty kilograms. And who is supplying food? He is eating. The small fish in the ocean, he is also eating. A small ant within the hole of your room, you are not supplying any food, but they are... They have got their family, their friends and everything. Sometimes they come out in hundreds. (laughter) Who is maintaining? Therefore eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti: Kṛṣṇa is maintaining, God maintaining.
Our society, international society, we must collect thousands and thousands of dollars, but for spending it for Kṛṣṇa, not for keeping in the bank. That is not our business. We must collect as much. Suppose for doing some business... We are constructing our temple in Vṛndāvana. We require fifty lakhs. That is required. But I shall not collect more than fifty lakhs even one cent. This is atyāhāra. Similarly, if your body can consume foodstuff one kilo or half kilo, you can eat. But not even an ounce or even a, what is called, grain more than that. That is atyāhāra. You eat. It is not forbidden to eating. But you must eat as much as you can digest very nicely, not more than that. This is against bhakti principle. Eating too much or collecting too much. Atyāhāra. And prayāsa. Prayāsa means do something with extraordinary endeavor. So, of course, we have to do sometime, but it is the general principle. We shall accept... Suppose you are constructing a temple. If it is..., suppose two millions of dollars required, or, say, five millions of dollars. If we cannot do that, we shall not attempt.
So here Kṛṣṇa is addressed, he aravindākṣa. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa. Ye anye. Anye means neglectfully, others. Prominent men are especially mentioned, "Here is Mr. such and such and such," and there are others. So these others, he aravindākṣa, ye 'nye. Who are that others? Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. The others means less intelligent class of men who are thinking that "I am now liberated. I have now become God by mystic yoga, by meditation." So therefore it is called māninaḥ. Māninaḥ means they are thinking wrongly like that. Actually, they are not liberated, not liberated. They are in darkness. Because he is foolishly thinking that he has become God. How you can become God? What is your power? What you have shown like God? We accept God, Kṛṣṇa, Lord Rāmacandra, and others, by seeing His activities. Kṛṣṇa, at the age of seven years old, He lifted Govardhana mountain. Govardhana-dhārī, Giridhārī. So what you are? You cannot raise even five kilos of load, and you are becoming God?
Then adhidaivika. If there is no rain, there will be no food production, and the rice will go eight rupees per kilo. And you have to suffer. Durbhikṣa. Even people are not willing to give you bhikṣā. "Because the rice is so costly, how can I give?" That is called durbhikṣa. Durbhikṣa means when you do not get even bhikṣā. This is the most lowest profession. It is highest also. The sannyāsīs, they go door to door, bhikṣā. Brahmacārī go to door to door. Our Vedic civilization is that in the society there are four divisions: the brahmacārī, the gṛhastha, the vānaprastha, and the sannyāsī. Suppose there are hundred men in a village or in a place. The society is divided into four āśramas: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha... So... This is material calculation. Suppose if there are hundred men, seventy-five men are to be considered brahmacārī, vānaprastha and sannyāsī. So these seventy-five men will live at the cost of the twenty-five men, gṛhastha. Gṛhastha has to give alms to the brahmacārī, to the vānaprastha, and to the sannyāsa. Just see how nice communism.
Just like sometimes we hanker after rain in summer season, looking after, "When rainfall will come?" The people will be disappointed. There will be cloud, there will be thundering bolt, but there will be no rain. This time will be like that. Anāvṛṣṭi. Anāvṛṣṭi and durbhikṣa. And if there is anāvṛṣṭi, scarcity of rain, certainly there will be no food grain production, as it is now, we are feeling. Food grain production-eight rupees kilo, rice. So why? The food grain is shortage. So anāvṛṣṭi durbhikṣa and taxation, kara-pīḍitāḥ. Government will... Dasyu-dharmabhiḥ. It is said, "The government means a gang of rogues and thieves." That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. They'll plunder. The rogues and thieves, they seek opportunity secretly, and government, by law, they will plunder. And still, they will go on as big minister. This is all stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). This hṛdaya-granthi increases, develops. Now there is a need of attachment, apartment, gṛha. Now there is need of land for getting food grains. Now there is, they have gotten, what is called? Service, go to the office fifty miles away and you will get your food grains. Formerly this was not possible, therefore one must possess some land to produce food grains. Now, if you can get some money, you can purchase eight rupees kilo food grains. That is... But formerly even that was not possible. And formerly you must have land. Parjanyād anna sambhavaḥ, annād bhavanti bhūtāni (BG 3.14), you have to produce. People are not interested now producing food grains. They, somehow or other, if they can get that paper currency, they can purchase. Therefore everyone has got this printed paper. The value is increasing. Competition. I can pay two rupees kilo. The other says, "No, I can pay three rupees." What is this rupees? This paper. You, somehow or other you gather this paper, and there will be competition and the price will increase. This is the economy. Because they have got false money, therefore there is false increment of price. Bad money. Gresham's theory: "Bad money drives away good money." As soon as there is bad money, this paper currency, the coin, gold coins and silver coins, they are finished, they are no more.
Anyone who is making plan, the plan-making... Kāma-sambhavaḥ means plan-making. You see the whole world, the big, big politicians. In our government, central government, there is a planning commission. Perhaps every one of you know it, planning commission. From, for the last twenty years they are making simply plans, and no plan has become successful. Every plan (chuckling) is unsuccessful, and the result is eight rupees kilo rice, your staple food. The plan has come successfully to bring rice eight rupees per kilo. That is not possible. So long the, you are materially affected and making plan how to get out of it, the material nature is so strong that it will baffle all your plans, and therefore you will have to remain perpetually restless. One plan you make, and it is baffled by the material nature, stringent laws of nature. And at last, making plan, making plan, making plan—one day the time comes and immediately orders, "Please vacate your presidency, your prime ministership." Although I am trying to make plan, successful plans, up to the point of death... Pralayānta, pralayānta, asuric plan, up to the end of life... And then he entrusts. He says, "My dear son, my dear daughter, I could not fulfill this plan, so you do it. Now I hand it over to you." And the son also going on, making plan, plan, plan. It will never be fulfilled.
There is no doubt about it. Gold..., gold mine, big gold and a small particle of gold, they are qualitatively one-gold. But the gold mine is different from the gold particle. These rascals, they do not understand it. The gold particle is claiming to become the gold mine. This is Māyāvāda. And they are making people atheist. So 'ham. So 'ham, it is Vedic version. That is all right. "What is God, I am also the same thing." But not... "The same thing" does not mean that as God is powerful, I am also powerful. No. You are qualitatively the same thing. That's all right. But if you claim quantitatively that you are the same powerful as Kṛṣṇa, then you are mistaken. Kṛṣṇa can lift, when He is seven years' old boy, the whole mountain. And a seven years' boy, when he is here, he cannot even seven kilo. So you cannot compare with Kṛṣṇa potencies your potency. But as Kṛṣṇa, when you are out of this material conception of life, bodily concept of life, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170), when you become purified by giving up these all designation...
So he went there again and... He knows that He is Supreme Personality of Godhead personally. He does not know that He is Deity. He's Deity, but He's Supreme Personality of Godhead. "Sir, if Your devotee... I know that old man is Your devotee, but he is now perplexed on account of his son and wife. So You have to go with me and say yes, this promise was made before You, to become witness." So Gopālajī said, "How I can go? Do you think a marble Deity can go anywhere?" So he was devotee, he said, "Yes, marble Deity, if He can speak, He can go also." Then He could not say anything. By logic, Kṛṣṇa was defeated. Yes. "Sir, if You can speak You can go also. So You have to go." "All right. So I'll go with you, but don't see back. I'll go, rest assured. And you'll hear the tinkling sound of My ankle bell, so you'll know I am coming. Daily you offer Me one kilo rice on the way. I shall go."
So these rascals are doing that. Taking milk as much as possible from the cows, and then as soon as... Milk is not stopped, it will again come if the cow is protected, given right nutritious food and protection, cow will supply you milk so long she lives. As long as she lives. But as soon as they see that the cow... "Now they were giving thirty kilos. Now it has decreased, twenty kilos or ten kilos. Oh, economic development. Cut its throat." Economic development. Just see how rascal civilization it is. Therefore, it is called nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Vikarma. Vikarma means criminalities. You cannot kill anyone. Just like in the state laws, if you kill somebody, then you'll be hanged. This is the law: life for life. That is sanctioned in the śāstras, Manu-saṁhitā. When a person is a murderer, he should be killed. Why he should be killed? Because he'll be saved from so many dangerous conditions in his next life. That they do not know. They do not believe in the next life.
Those who are gṛhamedhis, they have got many, many things to learn. Just like you see the newspaper, so many subject matter. You'll find different stock exchange report, and this municipal report, and the advertisement, wine advertisement, and meat advertisement. What is that? "Beefeater's" advertisement, and cigarette advertisement, and cinema advertisement, restaurant advertisement even. Gṛheṣu. Nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ. Thousands and thousands subject matter you'll find. Here we don't have such newspaper in the Western country. Such a big bunch, at least ten kilos' weight. Is it not? Big, big bunch, throwing. Who will read? But they have the subject matter.
So what kind of atonement I have to do?" So the bhaṭṭācārya advised him that "You take one kilo of lead and melt it and drink it, and that is your atonement." You see? So he said, "How it is possible?" "This is the atonement for such sinful activity. Yes." Just see. For the last five hundred, six hundred years... Why...? For thousands of years the Hindu society is so fallen. Therefore so many Mohammedans have increased here. They are not imported. In this way the Hindu population, they have been forced to accept Mohammedan religion. You see? By the Mohammedans. Just like Aurangzeb. He imposed one tax for the Hindus. So all the poor men class, to avoid the tax they became Mohammedans. And there was so much punishment by the Hindus. And so he became a Mohammedan, so-called Mohammedan, by the diagnosis of the bhaṭṭācārya. So this kind of prāyaścitta was current during the fallen days of the Vedic society.
So Buddhimanta Khan took it that he has now become a Mohammeddan, so he went to the brāhmaṇa for consultation. So when Buddhimanta Khan went to a bhaṭṭācārya, he said that "The," what is called, "prāyaścitta is that you melt one kilogram of," what is called, "lead, and drink it." So he, being helpless, he went to consult another brāhmaṇa bhaṭṭācārya. He said, "All right, if you cannot drink molten lead, then you can drink one kilo of melted ghee." So in this way, when he was helpless, he went to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu knew the situation of the then society. He therefore advised him that "You better give (up) your family life. You go to Vṛndāvana." So He advised him that "Go to Vṛndāvana, live there and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." So the difficulty is, in the śāstras there are atonement for prāyaścitta of so..., not like that—you drink hot ghee or hot lead—but there are prāyaścittas. So one has to execute that.
So "If other sons, without any labor, without any endeavor, they can get their food, why I am stealing?" This is knowledge. This is knowledge. "Why I shall steal? There is enough food." But because I haven't got this knowledge that "God is the proprietor. I am His part and parcel, son. So if He has provided food for the elephant, who eats at a time forty kilos, he can eat, and I eat only, say, half a pound, I cannot eat?" This is knowledge. "Why shall I steal? I shall depend on God." This is knowledge. So this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. I am God's part... Why shall I starve? There are so many... Out of 8,400,000 forms of life, eight million forms of life are less than the human being. Human being, only 400,000. Out of that, civilized men very few. Out of that, Americans are very few, Indians are very few. So "If so many, 8,300,000 forms of life, they can get without stealing, why shall I steal?" This is knowledge. Prāyaścitta vimarśanam. As soon as he becomes in quite perfect knowledge, then whole problem solved.
In this way they make a big honeycomb. So a brāhmaṇas and kṣatriya, er, sannyāsīs, although they are meant for collecting, they do not collect heavy at a place. Little. Because they are collecting not for his sense gratification. He is collecting for satisfying Kṛṣṇa. So everyone is given chance, that "You give little. You give little. You give little," and whole thing is engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. And just like here we have got the container of flour and container of rice. So although we are feeding two hundred men daily, still, it can be collected by muṣṭi. Everyone, gṛhastha, can come and place one muṣṭi attar. That is not difficult for him. He has got children, family. He is consuming five kilos of attar daily. Out of that, little, if it is put into the temple, he does not feel any burden. Therefore the collection... Sannyāsī, brahmacārī collects little, little, little from everywhere. That is called mādhukāri, exactly following the footsteps of mādhukāra, bumblebees.
They are not concerned how to eat, how to sleep. They know, by nature's arrangement there is already arrangement. Just like the birds in the morning. They rise up early in the morning. They are not concerned where they will eat. They know there is already arrangement for eating. The elephants in Africa, they know that God has already arranged for their eating forty kilos at a time. The ants within the room, they know there is already arrangement. So if God has arranged for everyone, eight million different species of life or forms of life, why not for human being? There is arrangement. But in the human being is advised to do certain things. They must do it. Then there is no question of scarcity. There is... Everything is arranged there. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, annād bhavanti bhūtāni: (BG 3.14) "You produce your food grains so that the animals and the man, both will be happy." But if you don't produce food grains, if you produce sugarcane, then how they will be satisifed? Food grains must be produced.
Actually the food price is increasing daily. Nobody knows where it will end. This is called (indistinct). People will not get alms. Alms, to beg from door to door, and live on alms and begging, this will not be possible. Nobody will give alms. Suppose there is ten rupees' kilo rice, and if a sannyāsī goes to a gṛhastha, "Give me some alms, rice," they'll consider in terms of price, "So much rice I have to give. This is two rupees' worth. Give him four annas, go away!" So durbhikṣa, this is called durbhikṣa. Even begging will be very difficult. Begging is the last stage of livelihood, but he'll not be able to beg even.
So durbhikṣa means these brahmacārīs, sannyāsīs, they should go to every householder's house and take some alms. When this is refused, that means we are calling durbhikṣa, scarcity of food grain. It should be given. That is... A small collection, it is going to the temple for offering prasādam to the Lord and the prasādam to the Vaiṣṇavas, brāhmaṇas. Therefore something must be given. If we open this guru-kula as we are contemplating, the students should be trained up to go house to house and take little alms. It doesn't matter one has to give one kilogram. No. Whatever you can, you must give. This is the system all over India still. So here it is said that sāyaṁ prātaś cared bhaikṣyam. Twice in a day the brahmacārīs should be trained up to collect alms: in the morning, in the evening. And bhaikṣyam, and gurave tan nivedayet. And whatever collection is there, it should be offered to the guru. Not that something kept for my own purpose. No. Everything should be offered, whatever you collect. You cannot keep because everything in the gurukula or in the temple, it is for the interest of the guru. In the beginning it was said, vasan dānto guror hitam. Everything, all collection, either in cash or kind, that is for the benefit of guru, not the personal benefit. No. Therefore only the gṛha, I mean to say, sannyāsīs and the brahmacārīs, they can beg. They can collect, not others. That is prohibited. Sāyaṁ prātaś cared bhaikṣyam gurave tan nivedayet.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
The people do not know that. They think... People, the karmīs, they think that "If we get a nice body in the heavenly planet, that is perfection of life." Svargaloka. And the jñānīs, they think that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul. But somehow or other, if we finish my body, and merge into the Brahman effulgence, that is perfection of life." The yogis, they think that "We may keep this body, but with this body, if we can play some jugglery, magic, that is perfection of life." Sometimes we see somebody plays some jugglery, magic, little magic, not very nice magic... One cannot show greater magic than Kṛṣṇa, because Kṛṣṇa, when He was seven years old, He lifted the Govardhana Hill with little finger. So who can show this magic? There are so many imitation Gods, but if I ask him that "You just lift this one hundred kilo burden with your finger," it will be very difficult for him. You see.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
This is Vaiṣṇava philosophy, that "Let others be delivered, and if they are unfit, sinful, all their sins may be transferred to me." So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "You do not require to take their sinful reaction, but even without your transferring they can be delivered. But this is only one universe." And He compared that this universe is just like a grain of mustard in the mustard bag. Say, hundred kilos, kg., mustard bag, and there is one mustard seed. So this universe is like that. So many universes are there. So my Guru Mahārāja explained that "This universe is only just like a grain of mustard seed among millions and trillions of universes, and in each and every universe there are millions and trillions of planets, and this earthly planet is one of them, and in this planet, the earthly planet, there are so many cities, and in each city there are so many daily papers, and each daily paper has got so many editions. So this is only one-fourth exhibition of God's creation. If in one city there are so many news, people can read, so from the three-fourth creation of the world, Vaikuṇṭha-jagat, we can give so many news that we can overflood them with news. Unfortunately we have no customer.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Similarly, as the soul is the important thing in this body, my body, your body, or anyone's body, similarly in this huge gigantic body of universe, there must be one soul. Otherwise how it is going on? How it is working so nicely? The big sun is rising exactly in time, the moon is rising exactly in time, the seasons are changing one after another. So many millions and millions of living entities, they are being maintained. Everyone is getting their food, even the elephant who eats at a time hundred kilogram, he also eats. An ant also eats. The birds also eat, the beast also eats—there is no problem. Only the civilized man, so-called civilized man, he creates problem because duṣkṛtina. He has got merit, but it is being used for sinful activities. Therefore there is problem. Otherwise there is no... If the birds have no problem, the beasts have no problem, the ant has no problem, why the civilized man has got problem? Because they are duṣkṛtina and mūḍha. Rascal and always engaged in sinful activities, duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ. Simple thing.
Then everything will come automatically. Kṛṣṇa is supplying already. Just like government. When a man is put into the jail for his criminality, the government takes care of his food, of his shelter; if he's sick, hospital, everything—but he's still punished for correction. Similarly, we are all part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa will give us food, shelter, sex facility and defense everywhere. Sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā deha-yogena dehinām sarvatra labhyate daivād: by the arrangement of the superior. You can see practically. The elephant is eating forty kilos at a time, and he has no attempt for economic development. He's getting. And the ant also, a grain of sugar, he's getting. You'll find within your room, in a hole, there are thousands of ants. Are you giving him food? Who is giving them? Not only one, two-thousands. So this is intelligence, that God has provided for everyone these facilities, so human being, why he should not have this facility from God? It is already there. There is no doubt about it.
General Lectures
These are not legends. They are fact. Those who are not intelligent, they take it as legend. There are so many descriptions which is not within our experience—we take it as legend. Now, I gave some gentleman the example that the coconut tree, on the tree there are coconut and there are one-kilo water. Now, how the water is transported there? Where is the pipe? Where is the pumping? Because you have got experience if you want to get water high, you have to pump and you must have pipe. So where is the pipe and where is the pumping machine?
Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) That is my reply. Otherwise, I have not come to teach you something invented by me. I have come to teach you about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And if you are not interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you must be amongst these four classes of men: duṣkṛtinaḥ mūḍhāḥ, narādhama, māyayāpahṛta-jñānā. This is my first reply. So far economic condition is concerned, then I may say, eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. God supplies you everything. God is supplying food to the elephant who is eating at a time forty kilos of food, and He's supplying to the ants also. So your anxiety for food, that is not humanly. Even the cats and dogs, they are not anxious for their food. Even the birds, they rise early in the morning, they are also not anxious for the food. God has arranged for food, everyone. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. As you do not try for getting distress, it comes upon you according to your karma, similarly the so-called happiness also will come upon you without any endeavor. But because you have no faith in God, you are thinking that you will die out of hunger. That is not the position. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateto kovido. Our only business is how to become advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is no other problem in human life. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is the human life. But you have been deviated from that high standard of life. You are now questioning in this way. That is my reply. Thank you very much.
We know, Indians. So they are very much envious of these British people, and therefore they started two big wars, world war. So if we collect more... Now the British Empire is finished. So if we collect more, if you want to acquire more, then other becomes jealous. And in this way, our jealousies increase, and that is the cause of war, that is the cause of fight. But if you are satisfied with your minimum or maximum needs, nobody will be jealous. Just like an elephant is eating forty kilos of foodstuff at a time. We cannot eat even one-fourth kilo, but we are not envious of the elephant because we know he needs to eat so much. Neither the elephant is envious to us. So whatever you need you can collect, you can eat—but don't take more. Then according to the God's law, you become criminal, you are punishable. That is God's law. (break) It is a common sense. You eat; I eat. It is a common philosophy. So I must eat what I need and you must eat what you need.
Devotees: Kilos.
Prabhupāda: Kilos. But they are also eating. There is no scarcity of food for them. So it is a fact that eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. But because we don't believe in God, we manufacture our own ideas; therefore we create simply chaotic condition.
So according to Bhagavad-gītā, as we are preaching, we are also opening centers, self-help center. In New Vrindaban, West Virginia, we have already opened a very big community center. We are going to open in California also, and we have already opened in India also, that we occupy a certain tract of land, we produce our own food, we keep our cows and take their milk, and there is no scarcity. Everything, there are. We don't require to go outside the land for our livelihood. So we are advising, we are making centers like that, that "Be self-sufficient. Save time for spiritual culture." That is human civilization. This was advised some thousands of years ago by Ṛṣabhadeva. I will recite some verses. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It is stated in the Fifth Chapter of the Fifth Canto. It is said, Ṛṣabha uvāca. Ṛṣabhadeva was a, the emperor of this world. He was advising his sons.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: That was perfect in Vedic system, that you... The land is supposed to belong to the government or to the king. The king gives you the land that "You make production and give me tax, one-fourth. That's all." So there is no question of profit. If you have produced one kilo, give one-fourth kilo to the king as tax. That is real social system. Actually, according to our Vedic system, everything belongs to God and the king is supposed to be representative of God to manage things. So for his managerial work he requires some money. Therefore I have taken some land for my livelihood. So whatever production is there, I pay one-fourth to the king for management. This is nice system. As soon as the tax is realized in terms of pound, shillings, pence, whole difficulty arises. I have produced ten mounds of rice and out of that one-fourth I give to the government or to the king. So I have no anxiety. If I produce twenty mounds, I give one-fourth. If I produce ten mounds, I give one-fourth. If I don't produce I don't give. This is perfect system.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: And still I find. When the rice is selling at eight rupees kilo, and when the rice was selling three rupees a mound, at that time also they were on the footpath, resident, and now also.
Guest (2): Now also.
Prabhupāda: Now also. So how you can stop this?
Guest (1): It is God's desire.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is nature's arrangement. And those who are rich... There are richer section when the rice was selling at three rupees per mound, and the richer section is still there when rice is selling, nine rupees a kilo. So they have no eyes because less intelligent. They cannot make equal. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Prakṛti, in the prakṛti there are three modes of material nature. They will be manifested. It is not possible to make everyone of the same standard, the standard must be different. So they are simply spoiling their time to make the whole society on the same status. The communists are trying, the others are trying. That is not possible. So one should not be disturbed with all these superficial low and high places.
Jagajjīvana: Does that mean the same amount of gold is here?
Prabhupāda: No, larger scale... Suppose if you want to store, say, thousand kilos or a thousand bags of rice, so you have to pay me gold. But you have no such gold. Therefore large scale industry will be stopped. Just see.
Karandhara: Then the price of rice would go very low.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Then you get actual price and actual value. Goods are there, any part of the world you..., there is enough commodity. But these rascals, they are hoarding, and they are not giving in right time. So people are suffering.
Karandhara: Yes. There's a... They buy now. They buy the goods before they are even grown, from the commodity market.
Prabhupāda: Yes, because they can pay in this paper, the bank will advance. So as soon as you... You have to introduce this metal coins, value. The whole cheating scheme will fail.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: You have done this. You have, on the false plea that "We'll give you five hundred rupees salary. You come in the city and be engaged." Oh, he saw, "Oh, I am simply producing my food. If I get five hundred rupees, then I'll go to cinema, I'll have a good dress." Now there is no food even. You have done this. That's all. What is the benefit of this machine. Machine benefit is that we were purchasing, when there was no so much machine, in our childhood, three rupees, four annas per mound, first-class rice. Now we are purchasing one Kg.
Devotee: Ten rupees Kg. For one rupee (indistinct) first-class wheat.
Prabhupāda: Just see. So if one is rascal, they will be misled by this. Otherwise, any sane man will not accept. They say that, "We have done so much." What you have done? You have done this. At least in India, the effect of machine and factories: that there is no rice, no food.
Devotee: With the machines they're mixing stones in the rice.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Devotee: With machine help, they're mixing stone in the rice.
Prabhupāda: That's it. That's it, that you cannot get. Oh, you have done so much. But India is not meant for machine. These rascals, they do not know. India is, India's culture is plain living, high thinking. You require some food. Produce food, and take it, and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. But they'll not accept, "Oh, this is primitive. Nowadays we have got... We must have the motor car, motor tire."
Prabhupāda: Ah. Advanced in knowledge, who can teach other people nicely. And they can guide. There must be. That brāhmaṇa means spiritual guidance, kṣatriya means material guidance. So these things are necessity. But where are those brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas? They are training everyone śūdra. Work hard like hogs and dogs and fill up your hungry belly. That's all. This is the modern civilization. (break) ...Kali-yuga's symptoms: dakṣyam udaraṁ bharitaḥ. One man is supposed to be very expert who has learned how to fill up his belly. That's all. No other knowledge is required. Whether you have sumptuously put foodstuff within your belly. And then it is... You are very expert person. (break) ...saṅkīrtanaiḥ prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ (SB 11.5.32). That is mentioned in the śāstra, that those who have got good brain, in this age they will perform this yajña. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtanaiḥ prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ. Sumedhasaḥ. Others they will bother with so many things, but this yajña should be introduced, and people should be engaged in performing this yajña. Then everything will be all right. (break) Yajñād bhavati parjanyaḥ parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ (BG 3.14). Annād bhavanti bhūtāni. This is the process. If you don't perform yajña, there will be no sufficient rain, and if there is no sufficient rain, there is no sufficient food products. And if there is no food products, then how you will...? Simply by political agitation you will be happy? And that has happened. There is no food. Simply talks, in the assembly, in the conference, in the meeting. But there is no food. Food is selling at four rupees a kilo. Where is yajña? (break) "...need of brāhmaṇa, there is no need of yajña," or "Kick aside all these things. Simply make śūdras." Now, how you will be happy? There is no food, there is no cloth, there is no shelter. That's all.
Mahāṁsa: That kind of worship is eternal.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Janme janme pita sei. Cakhu-dan kilo jei, janme janme pita sei.
Pañcadraviḍa: Where is that śloka you were quoting last night from that ending gokala.
Prabhupāda: Go-kharaḥ, go-kharaḥ. That is in Bhāgavata. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhiḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma idya-dhīḥ (SB 10.84.13). You give him that śloka, (indistinct). So actually at the present moment the whole world is full of go-kharaḥ, that's all, animals. Everyone thinks in terms—"I am this body," that's all. He is not human being, but every so-called civilized man is thinking like that. So where is the civilization of human being? All go-kharaḥs, animals. (break) ...because if you keep all these ingredients, life will come. Is it not?
Guru-gaurāṅga: Given the fact that all others, they are loving God too, the same principle, Christianity...
Prabhupāda: No, symptoms must be there. If you love God, then you should love everything of God. You cannot distinguish that "These are human beings. They should be given service, and the animals should be sent to the slaughterhouse." That is not love of God. That means he does not know what is God. He is still unaware of God. Just like father. Father has got ten sons. Out of them, one is very intelligent or two are very intelligent; others are fools. And if the intelligent sons propose to the father, "Father, these are useless sons. Let me kill," will the father agree? So God is father of all living entities. He is providing food for the animal, for the man, because He is father. There is, in the jungle of Africa elephants. They are eating at a time hundred kilos. The father is providing. And the ant, a small ant, is eating one grain of sugar. He is providing. Within the hole of your room there are millions of ants. The father is providing food for them. That is God. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That one is providing all necessities of life to everyone, all living entities. That is God. So if I know God, then I can know also that all of them are sons of God and God is providing all their necessities of life. What right I have got to kill them?
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: They are purchasing eight rupees kilo rice.
Śrutakīrti: Even the poorest person seems to be maintaining somehow. Even the poorest people seem to be maintained. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...of knowledge, not starvation of food.
Vīrabāhu: The modern scientists, they even admit that the body, a human body, is the most perfect machine. They admit this in college. But the same teacher, I heard him saying this, though he says this, he says, "There is no God. This is an invention of the necessity of man."
Prabhupāda: Then why do you die? Why do you die?
Hṛdayānanda: If it's a perfect machine?
Vīrabāhu: No, he says is the most perfect. No one can make something better.
Prabhupāda: Where is perfection? Why do you die? You don't like to die. Where is perfection? Nobody wants to die, but it is sure that he will die. Where is perfection?
Vīrabāhu: He says because of the fear of dying, one invents God.
Ṛṣi-kumāra: You have to possess some food and some shelter.
Prabhupāda: No, no. The food is supplied. Who is supplying food? If there is a hole in your room and so many thousands of ants are coming out, who is supplying food? Are you supplying that "Here is a hole. There are ants. They must be given some food"? Of course, that is your duty according to Vedic civilization. But who is doing that? But he is quite healthy. There are so many fishes in the water, many millions. Who is giving food them? There are many elephants in African jungles. They eat at a time forty kilos. So who is supplying food? This is not the problem. If the bird, beast, animals, fishes, aquatics and cats, dogs, everyone, can get food, what you have done that you will not get your food? You are human being. This is the right conclusion, that "If food is supplied to the elephants and to the ant by some superior arrangement, what I have done that I will not get my food?" Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. Find out this verse. It is not in Bhagavad-gītā. In Bhāgavata.
Dhanañjaya: Now we have stopped that. Prabhupāda: Eh? Dhanañjaya: Now we have stopped. We've reduced the quantity. Prabhupāda: Why you were purchasing more? Dhanañjaya: We were purchasing because the ghee was being used in all the preparations, in all the vegetable preparations... Prabhupāda: That's all right. So what is the price of four kilos? Devotee (2): Eighty-eight rupees. Prabhupāda: Huh? Dhanañjaya: Eighty-eight rupees. Prabhupāda: So you collect only the ghee price. And what about others? Other, attar and sugar and so many things? That means you are spending hundred rupees, and the kitchen department, you are is collecting eighty rupees.
Prabhupāda: Bartering. So there is no need of money. Similarly, you go to another shop. You get. So you produce your food, and in exchange, in barter, you get all things, other things. Somebody is producing something, somebody is producing something. But it can be done. Suppose I am a blacksmith. You want some work from me. So you say that "I'll make this instrument for me." So I say, "You give me one kg paddy." So you give me one kg, I prepare you, so your necessity is fulfilled. Now I have got so much paddy. Now, I may go to purchase something else because I am blacksmith, so grains will be used for my eating, and for, say for ghee, I take the same grain somewhere. So where is the money need of?
Harikeśa: It's very difficult to cheat in that system. It's very difficult to cheat.
Prabhupāda: Cheat?
Harikeśa: In a system of bartering it's very hard to cheat.
Prabhupāda: Yes. There is no cheating. Everyone is simply simple, honest. And here the government begins cheating. He is engaging you to hard work day and night and paying you a piece of paper, where it is written "one hundred dollars." That's all. This is your society, cheating and cheater. That's all.
Jayapataka: In Los Angeles they paid good money.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Jayapataka: In Los Angeles they went in some movies. They got two, three thousand dollars. (break) ...buy kilos when they're that big. So many of them.
Prabhupāda: That's nice. That will keep the water clean.
Jayapataka: Yes.
Prabhupāda: But be careful that these rascals may not come and throw out(?), the Mohammedans.
Jayapataka: (break) ... is growing on the water. And in the hot days they go in there.
Prabhupāda: No. That should be cleaned away.
Prabhupāda: That is the sign that in very near future there will be no food grains. That is the sign. There will be no rice, no wheat, main food grain.
Yaśomatīnandana: Already in Bombay it's about six, seven rupees per kilo, rice.
Prabhupāda: Ācchā?
Dr. Patel: No, no. Now rice will be very much down. In Gujarat it is two rupees. I bought some land here and sown the rice. We are going to get about eight hundred or a thousand mounds of rice. And when we sown the field it was sixty rupees, rice. Today it is thirty-two rupees. It is coming down. The crop is very good everywhere, all over India this year.
Prabhupāda: Because there was sufficient rain.
Dr. Patel: Very good rain, yes. Gujarat will be more than self-sufficient. It is already the richest part of this country.
Prabhupāda: Parjanyāt.
Dr. Patel: Parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ. Annād bhavati bhūtāni. It is...
Prabhupāda: This is cycle. Perform yajña and everything will come. They have stopped yajña... Therefore hari-nāma-yajña, this is the yajña.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Jayapatākā: What ha... In the... Because now this field is the only field that is ripening, so that if he doesn't scare the bird away, all the bird will come and eat his field. When all the wheat is ripening at the same time, then nobody cares. They let the birds eat. But if one man only is growing one crop at one time, then all the birds come. They will clean out and they all get...
Prabhupāda: No, therefore everyone should grow seasonal grains. Everyone should take wheat. I think the number of men is more than the number of bricks. (break) ...rooms will be finished. They are not being finished. This? (break) ...Calcutta. So landlords became very perplexed. So one landlord asking, "You don't go. I shall reduce the rent." "Yes, that's all right, but your house is also not very good. There are so many rats." "All right, you can remain without rent." "And still, there are rats." "All right, I shall give you one cat so there will be no dis..." "Ah, who is going to keep a cat? I will require milk also to feed." "All right, I shall give you half kilo or one kilo milk also." "All right." So then he says, "Now no rent and one kilo milk, that's all right." This was in 1942.
Prabhupāda: Therefore America has so much over-production. Let the hungry men come here. Greediness is not allowed. Whatever... Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). This is śāstra. Everything belongs to God. Whatever He allots to you, you take it. In the family the father says, "My dear boy, take of this." That's all. Why should he claim more? The father knows how much he'll eat, and He'll give it. He's supplying the elephant his food, the ant his food. Elephant's not dying starvation. Why you are worried? You want to eat forty kilos. All right. Take it. The father is able to supply. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He's supplying everyone.
Prabhupāda: What is that revolution? The ball is kicked here, and again goes and he kicks there. That's all. Revolution means Czar was kicking, and then Lenin began to kick. But his business is to be kicked. That's all. What is the advancement? One man was kicking, another man was kicking. That's all. That is revolution. Gojan mumukta(?) (indistinct). If you have got strength, then the government is yours. That's all. But those who are resident, they are suffering. Just like this Korea, Vietnam, sometimes Communist government, sometimes capitalist government. The sufferer is the ordinary man. Revolution means one part takes the power, another man is killed. But the general people, they're suffering, this way that way. They do not think who will rule. Just like in India, they are the British rule, now it is Congress rule. But the result is in British rule the ghee was selling at one rupee per kilo, now it is twenty-five rupees. The dhotī was selling one rupee six anna, now it is twenty-five rupees. So what the public has gained? Nothing.
Nava-yauvana: That means it cost only six rupees per month for food.
Prabhupāda: Yes. In the hotel also they were charging six rupees. Means third-class hotel, not first class for cooking dāl, vegetables. Rice was, first-class rice, six rupees per month. Dāl, twelve annas for kg, flour, five annas for two and a half kgs. And from 1942, all of a sudden the price increased, artificially. Milk, two annas per kg. Now three rupees, four rupees. Ghee, first-class ghee, one rupee per kg. First-class ghee. (break) ...paying for the clerks thirty rupees per month. And head clerk, sixty rupees. Officers, hundred to two hundred rupees. High-court judges, four thousand rupees. High-court judges were highly paid.
Harikeśa: Abortion.
Prabhupāda: Yes, also. Otherwise, we have seen in our childhood how happy people were. They were. Simple. If one has five rupees income per month he's happy. I've seen it. Husband, wife, a small family. If he has got five rupees income, they can maintain very nicely, happily. Why not? Suppose he has got five rupees income. The rice was selling at four rupees. So two person, say one-fourth kg., one-fourth share each. A gentleman cannot eat more than that. So means half a share. And the whole month, fifteen share. It is about one rupee eight annas. And further, one rupees eight annas add for vegetables and other things. With three rupees they can maintain, the husband and wife. And two rupees still there. He can spend for other purposes. I have seen it. Fresh vegetables, rice, this and... Just like with banana leaf. The pots were of earthen, the wife is cooking and she's utilizing dry foliage as fuel, a little temperature, everything is cooked. The husband takes one banana leaf and spreads, and the wife gives sufficient rice, vegetables. And things were so cheap. I have seen it. And fresh.
Prabhupāda: And because we are trying to stop this thing in Europe and America there is agitation that "These people are propagating brainwash. How is that a man who will not eat, drink? This is brainwash." They spend ten rupees out of twenty rupees. Eh?
Vāsughoṣa: Yes, we were told like that, that they would take their twenty rupees pay and then they would go and spend ten rupees and on alcohol, drinking, toddy. (break) I was in... Last time at the festival in Māyāpur I was riding from Māyāpur to Calcutta. And so one man was saying that "Oh, fish, 80 paisa a kg. How much are potatoes?" I asked. So even their hard-earned money, so much more they spend just to eat meat, to enjoy their senses. It doesn't make sense in any way.
Prabhupāda: And that also, they cannot live on meat. They must have vegetable also. Without vegetable, simple meat-eating will not help them. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (Hindi) Jaya.
- piśācī pāile yena mati-cchana haya
- māyā-grasta jīvera haya se bhāva udaya
Just like a man, when he is haunted by a ghost, he speaks nonsense, he does nonsense. Similarly, when one is absorbed, overwhelmed by māyā, he speaks like that, he talks like that, he acts like that. (break) ...scientists manufacture? They are very proud of becoming scientists. Such nice flower, can anyone manufacture? And still, the rascal, they say there is no God. Hm? What do you think? How do they say there is no God, these rascals? What is the reason?
Vāsughoṣa: Actually I think they are all misers.
Prabhupāda: Fifteen rupees?
Mahāṁśa: Kilo or whole?
Devotee (7): Whole thing.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi)
Devotee (7): Ten kgs. Ten kgs altogether.
Prabhupāda: Ten kg.
Devotee (7): Approximately he is selling ten kgs.
Devotee: 1.50 a kilo.
Mahāṁśa: It's high priced.
Prabhupāda: Higher... (Hindi conversation over price) Pañca-rūpya, you can take?
Devotee (7): I told him but he said "I will better go there and sell it."
Prabhupāda: All right.
Prabhupāda: What is the market price?
Mahāṁśa: Of those vegetables?
Prabhupāda: Ah.
Mahāṁśa: To be about a rupee a kilo.
Prabhupāda: So how many kilos it is?
Mahāṁśa: He says there's ten kilos.
Haṁsadūta: We should have bought it.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Haṁsadūta: We should have bought because when we go we have to spend money for gas, five rupees.
Devotee (4): Of course, paying a Hyderabad price.
Devotee (7): He is going there.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Mahāṁśa: You want him to come, Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: No, if you offer him little more, if you pay...
Mahāṁśa: Ten rupees less.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Hari-śauri: I should make it, or Pālikā or...?
Prabhupāda: Yes, Pālikā. (break) ...business, that requires so many other things. But if you take to agriculture you can do it immediately. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya. That... We are going to do that. Kṛṣi... This is beginning, family life, maintenance, body and soul together. This is the beginning. Business is there when there is excess. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyam (BG 18.44). First of all you take care of the cows and engage yourself in agricultural products. Then when there is excess production, you trade, get some money for other purposes. But you... Agriculture means you work for producing food. That is wanted. Why immediately go to trade? Trade is required when there is excess product. Everything is there. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya. And the kṛṣi you can produce independently. You simply work. You have got your hands and legs. You till the ground and throw some seed, and it will come. One kilo seeds, you'll get one hundred mounds. Then, when the product is excess, you trade. Everything is there. If you produce food grain, you'll eat nicely and you'll be strong. You'll be able to work more. Our point is take Kṛṣṇa's instruction. Everything will be perfect. Not that Kṛṣṇa is advising immediately sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). For that stage you are not prepared. That I know. But in your present stage what you'll do, that is perfect.
Prabhupāda: Our family was taking two kilos and a half milk daily. Two annas per kilo. Ghee was selling, first-class ghee, in Calcutta... Just in front of our house there was a grocer shop. We were purchasing in that tin, but if some required, I would go immediately.
Dr. Patel: Fourteen rupees I think it was. Fourteen rupees is twenty kilos.
Prabhupāda: Less than that. Ten seers.
Dr. Patel: That is twenty kilos.
Trivikrama: Cow ghee?
Prabhupāda: No, buffalo's... Cow ghee we were taking with rice. But it was not available in quantity.
Dr. Patel: Many was so very cheap then. After I graduated myself when I was university scholar, I was given seventy-five rupee scholarship per month and a free bungalow with servants and all these things. It was all right for me till I passed my M.D., seventy-five rupees only.
Prabhupāda: This cow's milk in Bengal, it is compulsory-before beginning your meal, little cow milk, er, ghee mixed with rice and smashed potato. It is very nice.
Prabhupāda: There is milk supply? No.
Gurudāsa: Yes. We have one man from Vṛndāvana who's bringing milk at 2.70 a kilo, a little costly, but Mela time, and they have to bring it from a far distance. Anyway, 2.70, kilo, cow's milk.
Prabhupāda: Cow's milk...
Hari-śauri: They say. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Cow's milk means buffalo with water.
Gurudāsa: With a little bit of the newspaper inside also.
Prabhupāda: Acchā.
Gurudāsa: For to put, to make it look like cream, they put newspaper also.
Hari-śauri: Make it thick. They grind paper. You have to strain it before you drink it.
Gurudāsa: But I... We tasted it. We came to the conjoint opinion that it was passable.
Prabhupāda: Less newspaper. (laughter) So why such milk should be taken, with newspaper?
Devotee (1): Śrīla Prabhupāda, in the Muslim countries, the Muslims, they feed the cows fish, dried fish. And the Hindus will not take the local milk there.
Rāmeśvara: Per month?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That three hundred rupees is equal to nine thousand rupees now. Now, a middle class man, who has got nine thousand rupees' income? Maybe one thousand, two thousand... (break) ...same thing, thirty times. The same ghee is selling not less than twenty-five, up to thirty. Thirty times. Take anything, rice, dahl, wheat, two annas per seer. And now they charge two rupees, three rupees per kilo. So from two annas to two rupees, sixteen times more.
Rāmeśvara: America also...
Prabhupāda: No, sixteen, thirty-two times.
Rāmeśvara: Thirty-two times.
Prabhupāda: You take average, thirty times more. Cloth, you could purchase very nice cloth, one rupees six annas. Now that is thirty rupees. So in this way proportionately, average thirty times, everything. Everything has increased thirty times. So I am speaking when we were child, say eight years—seven years, eight years old—or up to ten years. So I am now eighty-one. Seventy years ago and now, the difference is thirty times. We were purchasing milk, two annas per seer, and now it is three rupees per kilo. That is also, we do not know whether it is milk or some white water.
Prabhupāda: Formerly they used to stock huge stock in Calcutta. Burma Sale. And new tin, if you exchange the container, then six annas less. Not very costly. Of course, in those days it was costly, taking consideration of the purchasing power of money. Four rupees, I remember, a few annas. My father did not like to purchase anything retail. For his daily necessity he'll purchase, he would purchase potato, one bag. So one bag means, maybe, one rupee, eight annas. (laughs) One anna per seer, kilo, I have purchased. Rice, fifteen mounds he will purchase. And what is the price? Three rupees, four annas. First-class rice. Coal, this coal, coke. Five annas per mound, purchase one cart load, fifteen mounds. The other day I was calculating. My father's income was, utmost, three hundred rupees per month in those days. And taking gold standard, my mother was purchasing gold from my cousin—he has gold shop-twenty rupees per tolā, first-class gold. Now it is six hundred rupees per tolā. (break) ...in those days thirty rupees per month. For thirty rupees, clerical staff, if you increase thirty times, how much it comes?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Nine hundred.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "ISKCON farm report: Port Royal, Pennsylvania, report for year 1976. ISKCON Incorporated of New York owns a prime farm in Juanita County of Pennsylvania. The land is nearly four hundred acres in size, valued at around five hundred dollars per acre, or two hundred thousand dollars. In addition the buildings on the property consist of the following: barn worth $40,000; outbuildings worth $10,000; calf barn $25,000; equipment $50,000; residential building $45,000; guesthouse and public kitchen and prasāda pavilion $75,000; and silos $20,000. Total, including land, $465,000. The purpose of this land is to produce foodstuffs to meet all the needs of the farm community as well as the needs of our temples in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Another purpose is to demonstrate the principle of cow protection, as we are strict vegetarians and do not believe in slaughtering cows. Our herd of cows is Brown Swiss, and they are rated amongst the top one percent of dairy cow herds in the United States. All of the cows are pedigreed. Our farm holds fifty milk cows and fifty young cows, heifers. The milk cows milk an average of 40 kilos of milk per day in their first month of lactation and average 25 kilos per day over the whole year. We have 140 acres of crop land and 30 acres of pasture, the balance being woods, primarily hardwood, which is excellent for fuel. On our land we grow not only all the food for the residents but also for the cows. The following is the yield for 1976: corn-200 tons, soybeans-10 tons, barley-10 tons, oats-10 tons..."
Prabhupāda: What do you do with the soybeans?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The soybeans are ground and given to the cows.
Prabhupāda: Former paisa, when sixty-four paisa was one rupee. Now hundred equal to one. The purchasing power of money was big. Now thirty percent has gone up, but people's income has not gone up so much. Thirty percent, thirty times. Formerly gold was priced twenty rupees per tolā. Now it is six hundred rupees. So thirty times. But people have not increased their income thirty times. My father was earning two hundred fifty to three hundred per month. So we were middle class. So now thirty times of three hundred means nine thousand. So which middle-class man has increased so much? Middle class man now, if he's earning one thousand rupees he's considered very well-to-do. But what is that one thousand rupees? Nothing. My father had from one business, one hundred rupees, from another business sixty rupees, and we had a house rented, eighty rupees. Eighty rupees, sixty rupees and hundred rupees. How much? Two hundred forty, plus something more. Utmost, three hundred. And in our house four, five guests was always present. It didn't matter. Besides that, he was inviting some Vaiṣṇava, some sādhu. He married four daughters, and we were eating very sumptuously, daily two and half kg milk. Two annas per kg. Very nice milk. This man was coming from outside Calcutta. So we were so many children. We would stand, "Give some phāo:" Two half kg's milk and half kg phāo. He wouldn't mind.
Indian: Half kg, three, phāo?
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Because we are so many children, little, little, little. Kṛṣṇa was asking for phāo. That is the system in India. You purchase something from some vendor and ask little more phāo. He'll give. That is included in the price. (Bengali) Phāo? Especially children, they'll ask," Phāo dā." They'll give gladly. (Bengali) Ask them to come inside. (Bengali) Come inside. (Bengali) (end)
Prabhupāda: Per pound. What is the price here?
Devotee (4): About eighteen rupees.
Bhāgavata: Sixteen or eighteen rupees a kg.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The same price in America also, about a dollar a pound.
Prabhupāda: No, in India?
Bhāgavata: Sixteen or eighteen rupees, one kg.
Hari-śauri: They're getting that Holland ghee for about twelve rupees a kg.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's the same price here also, about a dollar a pound.
Hari-śauri: That's not pure ghee. That's dalda.
Prabhupāda: That is not pure ghee?
Hari-śauri: No. That's dalda.
Prabhupāda: Pure ghee is not available. So at least we can import pure ghee for our own use. If possible, we can sell also. At least for our own centers, food distribution.
Pañcadraviḍa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, when we first got to Argentina it used to be for three dollars you'd get five kilos of butter, or for a dollar you got, like, twenty-four quarts of milk.
Prabhupāda: Australia.
Bali-mardana: No, Argentina.
Prabhupāda: Argentina, oh.
Bali-mardana: There is also many cows... They produce many cows there.
Rāmeśvara: They have the reputation in Argentina of killing more cows than any country in the world.
Prabhupāda: No, because they do not know what they will do except killing.
Prabhupāda: So about ten rupees, Indian ten rupees.
Bali-mardana: Although the rate in India they give less, for some reason, because it was just devalued. So it's about 8.90 for cash, about 9.70 for Australian travelers checks.
Prabhupāda: No, the Amer..., is ten rupees. It is one kilo?
Bhāgavata: This is two kilos. Four pounds, 6.5.
Prabhupāda: So about five rupees per kilo. Very cheap.
Bhāgavata: That's forty rupees... No... Kg...
Bali-mardana: Forty per kg.
Bhāgavata: No. It's forty rupees for two kgs.
Bali-mardana: Yes. Twenty.
Bhāgavata: Twenty rupees per kg. If you tried to buy some ghee in India now, butter ghee, you'd have to pay about twenty-five rupees.
Bali-mardana: But this... The export... The Australian ghee in Australia is cheaper. This is export quality, is much higher quality. Higher...
Prabhupāda: Oh.
Guest (1): But that all has vanished now. That plan has failed now completely.
Prabhupāda: Not failed. Another man will come. Because the unemployment is there. Practically, when we were boys, children, we were purchasing mustard oil, eight annas for two-half, two-half only, kilo, first-class. In Calcutta, Kanpur mustard oil. So my father would give me eight annas. I shall go to the shop and purchase. Now that quality, even taking it..., he's now selling thirteen rupees per kilo. Will the change of government bring this thirteen rupees to three annas? Then what is the benefit? The same stool, this side or that side. People are not going to get any relief by this change of government. So we are not concerned about thirteen rupees or three annas or... Some way or other, people are getting their things. That's all right. But the real loss is to remain in animal mentality and forget the aim of life. That is the real loss.
Prabhupāda: And what materialistic advancement they have done?
Dr. Sharma: No thing.
Prabhupāda: Now in our childhood, when we were ten-years-old boy, my father used to purchase high kilo saraṣera tela, for eight annas. Can these rascals do to that standard? Eight annas, first-class Kanpur mustard oil. Now that oil... Not that quality oil, still, they are being sold thirteen rupees per kilo, instead of three annas.
Dr. Sharma: They were always, even in a small village, there were five or ten good people were to do the kīrtana. You know, they had a knack of one particular instrument, they could get up and all on the Janmāṣṭamī and so many festivals they used to have kīrtana. And all, you know, small village, even nook and corner of the country, bubbling with life, religious life. This is only twenty-five years ago, even thirty years ago it was there. And look now...
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) It is better late than never. (Hindi) We are sending our men from village to village. Not only here, also in the European countries.
Prabhupāda: He has now kept some.
Viśvambhara: Many cows we have got now. One Dhanañjaya bought, she is giving thirteen kilos, fourteen kilos.
Indian man (3): Milk?
Viśvambhara: I bought it from Dhanañjaya. She is giving thirteen, fourteen kilos.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) (Hindi conversation) And what about that Hindi translation?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That judge is making?
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That has to be sent.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) (Hindi conversation) (break) "It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss." So restaurant is going on in Jalni(?) building? No.
Akṣayānanda: Evening, up till ten o'clock.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In the new building? In this building.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's in the guesthouse. There weren't many people there, though, only about five people.
Akṣayānanda: Today.
Prabhupāda: People are not coming.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I'll tell you, I'm getting so upset sitting in the room upstairs. I mean I just... I was walking around... Two of the devotees told me this road is so bad that if you go on this road, you're going to be jolted back and forth. The road is terrible. I just can't understand, Śrīla Prabhupāda, why it has to be tomorrow that we have to go. If anybody wants you to travel, I do. My whole desire is to take you all over the world. I want to take you on parikrama, but why do we have to go when you're in this condition? I can't understand it. It just... I was standing outside. This kavirāja, he has worked so hard. He's so much disappointed. He can't understand why he... He says that now, today, you've taken half a kilo of milk. No mucus has is being produced. No stool is being passed. He says tomorrow he wants to give you a medicine that will begin to build the milk into muscles. He's going to get you to a point where you can take two kilos of milk a day. And he says very soon you'll be able to have the strength to actually do parikrama. So why are we throwing everything out the window, that we must go tomorrow? I cannot understand.
Prabhupāda: All right.
Bhakti-caru: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Bhavānanda: Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: I cannot refuse all your request.
Bhavānanda: Now I am, Śrīla Prabhupāda, yes. (laughter) I was in too much anxiety.
Prabhupāda: No, no, I cannot put you in anxiety. You have done so much. You have suffered in Māyāpur so much. I cannot put you in anxiety. So I shall do what you like. (Bengali) Lefthand, righthand. I cannot refuse.
Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bābājī: (Bengali)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I mean I'm amazed, Śrīla Prabhupāda. A half a kilo of milk you've drank today—no mucus, no stool, and that is wonderful. You could not have done this two weeks ago.
Bhakti-caru: Yes, when I told the kavirāja he got quite amazed. He told me, "Don't give any more milk. It might..." But Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted some milk now, so I'll give.
Prabhupāda: Where is kavirāja?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's out again getting medicine. This man, Śrīla Prabhupāda, Adri-dhāraṇa says he sits up all night worried about you, thinking, taxing his mind how to give you just what you require.
Prabhupāda: No.
Prabhupāda: Where he is?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're just trying to get him here. He went out again to get some more medicine for you. He says now that he's seen that you took this half kilo of milk he's going to start to give a medicine that will make this milk make muscles on your body, because all the muscles have become finished, slackened. So he wants to do that so that you'll then have strength. Parikramming the temple is not so bad. Let's just see what he says. It's certainly not that difficult. The main thing is, you have to be able to sit up for some time. (aside:) Prabhupāda wants to become enlivened spiritually, you know, by some spiritual activity. (to Prabhupāda:) We'll ask the kavirāja if he thinks we can take you tomorrow for a short parikrama around the temple, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Indian devotee: He just got on the phone. I just talked with him.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He's coming back? I couldn't believe that... I felt so bad, seeing him tonight. He was sitting, Śrīla Prabhupāda, on the fountain steps, completely dejected. Couldn't understand why. He just was so, so disappointed and unhappy.
Prabhupāda: (Bengali)
Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bābājī: (Bengali)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the way you deal with us simply deepens our attachment every moment.
Prabhupāda: It is my duty. (laughter) There was a professor in Scottish Churches' College. So when you would say something, he would reply, "That's my duty," "juti," j-u-t-i. (chuckles) So there was a student. He said... So he said, "Is that Scottish pronunciation?" (break)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What would you like, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Pass urine.
Correspondence
1970 Correspondence
I have received information from the Scindia Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. that the pair of Deities, 24 inches high, weighing about 50 kilograms the pair, will be arriving in Montreal sometimes by the end of May 1970. They will be delivered by the Montreal Agents of the company. The Deities will be carried by the vessel "Jaladhan." So you may note this, and you have to prepare a bigger throne for accommodating the larger Deities.
I have received information from the Scindia Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. that the pair of Deities, 24 inches high, weighing about 50 kilograms the pair, will be arriving in Boston sometimes by the end of May 1970. They will be delivered by the New York Agents of the company. The Deities will be carried by the vessel "Jalapalaka." So you may note this, and you have to prepare a bigger throne for accommodating the larger Deities.
1974 Correspondence
In the western countries there have been many revolutions, in France, England, Germany and Russia, simply to change leaders of this ism to that ism. In India also since India's contact with the western countries, there have been certain types of revolutions, and they are now going on. Recently in our experience there was attempt to drive away the British. This revolution changed India from dependence to independence, but factually the situation has deteriorated from bad to worse. We are old friends, we know that in Allahabad when I was there, ghee was selling for 1 kg. per 1 rupee, and now its costs 20-25 rupees per kg. In this way, things have not improved, in so many ways. This is due to imperfect leaders.
It was pointed out to Srila Prabhupada that of all the temples in Mayapur our mangol aratik at 4:15 A.M. is the first of the day and that at Chaitanya Math it is suspected to take place after sunrise. When asked if he wanted to see the new temple for Bhaktivinode Thakur that has been constructed near the entrance at Yoga Pith, Prabhupada replied, "I do not want to see how he has made Bhaktivinode Thakur the gatekeeper."
Within our movement Mayapur temple is the first. "Nowhere do we have such a nice temple in such an open place," Prabhupada remarked on one morning walk. In Bombay a shipment of 2,000 kilos of Australian ghee has been sent by Madhudvisa Maharaj. It will be sold to the Indian temples and used for the festival for the opening of the Vrindaban temple to be held after the Gour Purnima festival in April. For the Mayapur festival ghee will be supplied by each and every devotee who comes. Everyone should bring one tin of ghee. It can be brought for personal use.
So the best thing is that Bali Mardan live with me. This is the only solution.
Regarding ghee for India, what is the price? Australia is also sending in exchange of books. We have received from Australia ghee for Rs. 10-per kg.
Yes, we must invest our money in books and land, but no there will be no collapse as you have anticipated. Everything will be adjusted by the grace of Krsna. From my own experience I have seen when first class rice was selling at 8np. per kg, and now that is being sold at Rs. 8. That means that it is 64 times higher, but still people are eating, and the man who lives in care of the footpath he is also eating. So the man in care of the foothpath, and the man on the 30th floor of the sky scraper, they are living and still the inflation is going on. Man-made laws cannot work any rupture in Krsna's plan. Better let us remain now under Krsna's shelter fully dependent, and we shall remain unaffected by all the man-made difficulties.
1976 Correspondence
Of the two types of paper which you sent me, the white paper (cost: Rs. 4.60 per kg.) is preferable.
Why Nitai should be attending lectures outside of our temple? If he is not satisfied with the standard of lectures in our temple, then he should be permitted to give some lectures himself, but this habit of going outside to here others should be stopped immediately. I am writing one letter to Nitai and the copy of this is enclosed for your reference.
| Page Title: | Kilo |
| Compiler: | Mayapur |
| Created: | 10 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=3, OB=0, Lec=42, Con=40, Let=7 |
| No. of Quotes: | 92 |