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Materialism (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Radio Interview -- March 12, 1968, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Anywhere there is spiritual conception, sex life is not indulged. Anywhere, either it may be Christianity or Hinduism... Sex life is materialism. That is opposite number of spiritualism. So people are trained gradually to refrain from sex life. And in the sannyāsa life he's completely trained. Therefore he's allowed to move in the society for preaching spiritual education.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation and Interview with Ian Polsen -- July 31, 1972, London:

Prabhupāda: Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Our renouncement means we renounce our personal sense gratification, that's all. That is renouncement. Materialism means personal sense gratification, and spiritual life means no personal sense gratification, all Kṛṣṇa's sense gratification. That's all.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Anna Conan Doyle, daughter-in-law of famous author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- August 10, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: People are suffering for lack of spiritual knowledge. They have become materially like animals. Materialism means animalism. Yes. Materialism means animalism. Animalism means in the lower grade of existence. What is the difference between dog and a human being. He has got a lower grade body, and the human being has got a higher grade body. So the more we become materialistic, we get lower grade body.

Room Conversation -- September 1, 1973, London:

Guest: And in this time, modern science, you know, physics, chemistry, mathematics; is this all materialism?

Prabhupāda: All materialism.

Guest: All materialism.

Prabhupāda: They do not know what is spiritual.

Room Conversation with Indian Ambassador -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Ambassador: It is Marxist materialism.

Prabhupāda: But Marxist materialism, does it mean a congregation of some fools and rascals?

Ambassador: I think so, true.

Prabhupāda: Does it mean they like that some congregation of fools and rascals? Such a big professor, he does not know, he cannot understand even that there is life after death.

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Although the same thing, but action is different. If you become devotee of Lord Śiva, you'll get opportunity of material opulences. Because Lord Śiva is the husband of Durgā, and Durgā is the superintendent of this material world. So Durgā is under control. If one becomes a devotee of Lord Śiva, then Durgā gives him, eh? Dhanaṁ dehi rūpaṁ dehi rūpavatī-bhāryāṁ dehi yaśo dehi. So you'll get all this, nice position, nice wife, nice power, famous... All this material, not spiritual. So to worship any other demigod than Kṛṣṇa is materialism. That is not spiritualism.

Guest (1): Worshiping Viṣṇu is also material?

Prabhupāda: No. Viṣṇu is not. Viṣṇu is Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu the same, expansion. That you have to understand.

Room Conversation -- September 19, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Viṣaya means materialism. There is no spiritualism. Kṣurasya dhārā, kṣurasya dhārā. Kṣura means sharpened razor. If you are careful, you cleanse very nicely. If you are not careful, immediately blood. Immediately. So the spiritual life is like that. As soon as you become little inattentive, immediately māyā captures, "Yes, come on." Then everything failure.

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: A Vaiṣṇava's first qualification that he's unhappy by seeing others unhappy. Vaiṣṇava cannot be unhappy. That Prahlāda Mahārāja says, that "I have no problem. I am unhappy seeing these people who are simply engaged in false activities and they do not care for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore I am unhappy." This is Vaiṣṇava's qualification. Not that "I am saved. That's all right." That is materialism. "Let others go to hell. I am saved." That is materialism. A Vaiṣṇava should think always, "Oh, so many people are suffering. What I am doing for them?" That is Vaiṣṇava. Para-duḥkha-duḥkhī.

Morning Walk -- December 17, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: No. Why ordinary men? Even those who are going to church, they are also praying God, "God, give us our daily bread." These rascals, they have made God as agent for their sense gratification. This is their philosophy. Even from the priest down to the rogues, they have made God as the agent of their sense gratification. That is materialism." God must supply whatever I want. That is God. Otherwise I don't care for God." This is their philosophy.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 23, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: So the vartas (?) also get it, these śakti-vartas. They get this by tantric yoga. I can't still understand how tantras, by following, I mean, drawing particular figures and writing down those figures, you can get powers. This is very common in Bengal side, this tantra. No? I read a book on tantra by Sir Arthur Avalon, and he described so wonderful powers come by this and that. I don't know whether it is a fact or not.

Prabhupāda: No, no. That is materialism. Anyone who is after powers, that is materialism.

Morning Walk at Villa Borghese -- May 26, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...devotees, they do not want any opulence of this material world. They are, what is called, pessimistic. They do not give any value to the opulence of this material world. And it is very good philosophy. But fools and rascals, they are attracted. Now, these buildings were constructed, very highly intellectual men undoubtedly, but they enjoyed, say, for hundred years. That's all. Then their bodies changed, and nobody knows what kind of body he has got. This is materialism.

Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: So the sky is one. Sky is one. So in the sky, in the atmosphere, where God is forgotten, that is called material sky. And the sky where God is not forgotten, that is spiritual sky. Just like the sky is one, and the sun is one. But when your eyes are covered by cloud, you say the cloudy sky. The sky is not cloudy. The sky is one, it is always clear. But some portion of the sky there is cloud, and you say, "This is cloudy." (break) Similarly, materialism means when you forget Kṛṣṇa, that is material. And when you know Kṛṣṇa and act for Kṛṣṇa, that is spiritual.

Room Conversations -- September 10, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: We are pushing this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement for the benefit of the whole world, not that for our individual person. Vaiṣṇava, whatever he does, he does for the whole world, not for his person. Bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī, they do for their own person. Karmīs, jñānīs, yogis, for their personal benefit. That is also materialism. Vaiṣṇavism, lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau tri-bhuvane mānyau. Therefore, honored all over the three worlds, their activities and their person.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: We have got scientists. Let them protest. Save the people from this ignorance. Mūḍhā. That is our mission. Give them chance. They have got human body. Let them become Kṛṣṇa conscious and give up all this nonsense thing. Hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svarūpena avasthitiḥ. Mukti, this is mukti. They are mad after something wrong. So they should be saved, and they should give up this so-called materialism and come to service to the Kṛṣṇa, his eternal job. Then that is mukti. He is liberated.

Room Conversation with Canadian Ambassador to Iran -- March 13, 1975, Iran:

Ambassador: And what is left in the East is so often just the materialism imitated from the West among many young people now.

Prabhupāda: Where, in the East? Yes.

Ambassador: In the East. So there's been a crossover taking place.

Prabhupāda: Hm, yes.

Ambassador: Do you see it like that?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. In Western countries they are now fed up with this materialistic way of life. And I think it will very soon collapse, the Western way of life. And naturally the next enquiry is spiritual.

Morning Walk -- June 25, 1975, Los Angeles:

Dr. Judah: There isn't any objection. I think the great problem, of course, in the western world is that the western world has always been involved in materialism and...

Prabhupāda: The western world... That means they don't want to know God. So this is very horrible condition.

Morning Walk -- November 10, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda:The Americans and the Russians, they are enemies and friend only on this principle. Prahlāda Mahārāja was astonished, "What is this enemy and friend?" because he is maha-bhāgavata. This is materialism. This is materialism. (aside:) Jaya. Why one should be treated as enemy and as friend? Everyone is servant of God.

Conversation on Roof -- December 26, 1975, Sanand:

Prabhupāda: This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The synthesis of the covering and the thesis of the soul should be synthesized by arrangement. That we are teaching.

Harikeśa: Dialectical spiritualism.

Prabhupāda: Ye.... Not dia.... Dialectical means keep spiritualism or materialism. It is dialectic. Two sides there are, the material and the spiritual. These ignorant rascals, cats—and dogslike men, they have no information of the thing which is covered. They're simply dealing with the covering. Therefore their knowledge is imperfect, and they're not successful by so many theses. They do not know the real problem.

Conversation on Roof -- December 26, 1975, Sanand:

Harikeśa: So now if they're actually interested in the scientific method, they must accept our thesis for discussion.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Dialectic.

Harikeśa: And then they can put...

Prabhupāda: They have accepted dialectic. They.... Marx says that this should be the conclusion of materialism: ultimately the worker shall enjoy.

Harikeśa: Fruitive, it's very fruitive.

Prabhupāda: That is good idea. But who is the worker, he does not know. Write small pamphlet. Just like our Svarūpa Dāmodara has written small pamphlet.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1976, Nellore:

Prabhupāda: This is idea. Mano-rathena, by mental speculation, asato dhavato, they will come to materialism. As soon as they will hover over mental concoction, they will remain in the material pool, because mind is subtle form of matter.

Morning Walk -- January 20, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: The materialism and spiritualism is explained by Rūpa Gosvāmī. There is bird, cātaka. So they drink water when the rain falls, and otherwise they will starve. They will never accept any water from this earth.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There is actually such a bird.

Prabhupāda: A devotee will never accept materialism, even if he dies of starvation. You'll see so many still. They are sticking to this principle. There are still many saintly persons in India. They do that. They don't care for any bodily care. "Some food comes; I shall eat. Never mind." Still you'll find. They are sitting in their place and chanting or meditating without any concern for bodily necessities.

Morning Walk -- February 18, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Bhṛtyasya-bhṛtya, servant of the servant (CC Madhya 13.80). Everyone, if he wants to become a master, that is materialism.

Morning Walk -- April 15, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Unless they change their very principle on which they are working. That is why I say we must spread the spiritual communism, sir, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the only way. The other day I talked about the dialectical materialism. That is the crux of the whole communism.

Prabhupāda: The communism will be immediately perfect as soon as it is connected with Kṛṣṇa.

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Materialism means capitalism.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: Well, they want communistic materialism. In other words, by creating, forming communes, everyone will get equal portion of food and bedding and clothing and medicine.

Prabhupāda: No, that is not the fact. A man's tendency is that everyone wants to get more. So how they will check it? This is already proved in Russia.

Garden Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: We are publishing one book, Dialectic Spiritualism: Vedic Views of Western Philosophy. We are just going to publish one book, Dialectic Spiritualism. Marx's theory is dialectic materialism (laughs). We are going to establish dialectic spiritualism.

Interview and Conversation -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Janice Johnson: Another question I have is, if materialism is not so important as the...

Prabhupāda: No, it is important, but not at the sacrifice of spiritual understanding.

Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:

Ali: All right. I was thinking about the material platform that you mentioned last night, and I could not figure out how vast this platform is, what does it consist of, how do we define this platform. Is nature materialism? I mean, there are many things which are obvious, such as money, greed, etc. But how about nature, love?

Prabhupāda: We have got three platforms, generally. Material platform divided into two-gross and subtle, and there is spiritual platform. The body is material platform, divided into two, gross and subtle. And then if you are fortunate enough to come to the spiritual platform, then your life is successful.

Room Conversation -- September 6, 1976, Vrndavana:

Hari-śauri: The thing is how to distinguish between what's a good idea...

Prabhupāda: You have to take ideas from your guru.

Akṣayānanda: From intelligence.

Prabhupāda: Therefore gurum evābhigacchet. Why do you manufacture yourself? Consult the authority. Then do it. That is intelligence. Why do you think that you are very intelligent? That is materialism. The more you remain that "I am a fool," that is good. And as soon as you become over-intelligent, then, that's finished. So Europeans, Americans, they are over-intelligent. They have intelligence, over-intelligence. Unnecessarily. They manufacture a machine for shaving. Gnowgnowgnow gnowgnow (makes machine sound). (Laughter) And they have wasted so much time. So much time. But people like it.

Morning Walk -- December 29, 1976, Bombay:

Devotee: The thing is, Prabhupāda, in India they know that materialism is wrong because they've been educated.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But they are being educated that materialism is good, and this so-called spiritual... They do not recognize the spiritual movement. Our government do not recognize any spiritual movement.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Darsana -- May 13, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: So if we do not try to understand the real purpose of Bhagavad-gītā, and if we theorize, "Bhagavad-gītā means nonviolence. Bhagavad-gītā means to become patriot," these are materialism. We should avoid this wrong interpretation, misguiding direction of blind leaders. We'll not get any benefit out of it. So we are trying to rectify this. That's all. Everything is there. Any question is solved by Kṛṣṇa. Politics, economics, religion, culture, philosophy—everything is discussed very thoroughly. Simply one has to understand. Then he becomes fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Page Title:Materialism (Conversations)
Compiler:Labangalatika, ChandrasekharaAcarya, Visnu Murti
Created:08 of Mar, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=30, Let=0
No. of Quotes:30