Expressions researched:
"mental"
|"mentally"
Notes from the compiler:
VedaBase query: "mental" not "mental speculat*" not "mental concoction*" not "mental platform*"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
Radio Interview -- March 12, 1968, San Francisco: Interviewer: To join Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a total commitment, then, to your way of life.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is total commitment to the way of life as it is prescribed in the Bhagavad-gītā, the science of God.
Interviewer: Must one renounce his present religion?
Prabhupāda: No, not necessarily. Religion is a kind of faith. So naturally, if you go to the higher standard of life, the stereotype faith does not act there. So this understanding, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is transcendental to all religious faith. Faith you can change. But this you cannot change. Your constitutional position as part and parcel of God is never to be changed. You may accept a faith as Christianity or accept a faith, Mohammedanism. That is a mental situation. But this is your actual constitutional situation that you are part and parcel of the Supreme. That cannot be changed.
Interviewer: What happens in your temples. Do you have services like other religions?
Prabhupāda: Yes, generally we chant this mahāmantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and then we deliver speeches from Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and then there are questions, we answer, and in that way the audience and the disciples they become enlightened and they advance.
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- May 10, 1969, Columbus, Ohio: Prabhupāda: Just like a patient. A doctor says, "You cannot take it." So he has the desire to take it, but doctor says that "you cannot take it." Therefore he
mentally thinks that "Doctor has restricted this. I am suffering." Actually he is curing, but he thinks that "I am suffering." And when he's cured, he sees, "Oh, doctor is good friend. He told me not to indulge in this. Now I have done it. I am now cured." So tapasya means voluntarily one has to accept some so-called suffering. That is required to make advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, voluntarily acceptance, some so-called suffering. Tapaḥ divyam. That suffering is for transcendental realization. That is good. Tapo divyaṁ yena sattvaṁ śuddhyet (
SB 5.5.1). Śuddhyet means your existence will be purified. And existence purified means you advance to realize unlimited happiness.
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad: Prabhupāda: That is material. Past certain form, that is material. But you have got an original spiritual form.
Guest (1): Spiritual form is there but due to the bond man has taken this form.
Prabhupāda: This form is being developed according to your mental condition.
Guest (1): Mental conditions are due to want.
Prabhupāda: Subtle form, subtle form.
Guest (1): Those are again due to want.
Prabhupāda: Due to want? Yes.
Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London: Dr. Weir: That's where your line is so very good in saying that the real evolution of man's mind has been his ability to produce more and more the functions of whatever the mind may be. But the mind is just as indivisible as God. We know what the brain is, but we don't know what the mind is. Yet more and more of it under conscious control instead of being irrationally eruptive(?).
Prabhupāda: But there is the summum bonum of that realization. That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). After many, many births of this mental evolutionary process, when actually he becomes wise he becomes God conscious and surrenders to God. That is real evolution(?). That evolution will go on. But when it comes to the summit, that is God realization. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). God is cause of all causes. That is final realization. Unless one comes to that point he has not come to the perfection of evolutionary process of the mind and intelligence.
Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London: Prabhupāda: Yes. So therefore if one comes to God consciousness, he becomes more active.
Dr. Weir: The whole evolution, I think I may have said it before you came in, the whole evolution to the human mind, is to become more and more in conscious control.
Prabhupāda: So mind, mind, activities of mind, activities of intelligence and activities of spirit, the spiritual activities more greater than the mind's mental activities.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura: Prabhupāda: One who has no devotional love, from his hand... Therefore we do not allow anyone to cook who is not a devotee. Kṛṣṇa does not accept anything from the hands of a nondevotee. Why should He accept? He's not hungry. He does not require any food. He accepts only the devotion. That's all. That is the main point. So one has to become a devotee, not a good cooker. But if he's a devotee, then he'll be a good cook also. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. Automatically he'll become a good cook. Therefore one has to become devotee only; then all other good qualification will automatically be there. And if he's a nondevotee, any good qualification has no value. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā mano-rathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ (
SB 5.18.12). He's on the
mental plane. So he has no good qualification.
Room Conversation with Kenneth Keating, U.S. Ambassador to India -- October 14, 1972, New Delhi: Prabhupāda: Just like we have seen in Calcutta when there was a (indistinct) during the transition state. Britishers are going on. There was a great Hindu-Muslim riot. Now they fought, Hindus and Muslims, and they died. After death, they're lying piles of dead body. No more Hindu and Muslim. It is simply lump of matter. But because they got a type of body, a type of mental situation, consciousness, they fought with one another, and then after death, no more claiming "Hindu" and "Muslim." This is called illusion. "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am this," "I am that"—these are all designation. Really what I am? I am pure soul, part and parcel of God. That is my identity. So people should be taught this science. As soon as one understands his constitutional position, his actual situation, then he says, "Oh, I am not this. I was struggling so hard under some misidentification."
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation With David Lawrence -- July 12, 1973, London: Prabhupāda: Prabhupāda: It is a soul-killing civilization. We have to fight against it, to save at least a few men. So you are thoughtful young man. You try to understand this philosophy, and you try to spread. You have got good field for teaching students.
David Lawrence: I feel that students need to be able to see that somebody who is God conscious can really, really enjoy life.
Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Certainly. That is life. This is not life. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. Life means with high qualities. So one who is not God conscious, they cannot have any good qualities. It is not possible. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. He's simply hovering on the mental plane. Asati dhāvato bahiḥ. And he has to come to these non-permanent things, material things. Asati. Asati mā sad gama. The Vedic injunction is, "Don't stick to this asat. Try to come to the sat, eternal." Tamasi mā jyotir gama. These are the... "Don't remain in the darkness. Come to the light."
Room Conversation -- London, August 24, 1973 : Prabhupāda: Suffering another way. Nobody is, is free from suffering. I have already explained. There are three kinds of suffering. So who is free from this suffering? You may not be suffering from any bodily disease, but you may be suffering from mental agony. You may not be suffering from mental agony, but you may suffer, suffering imposed by others. There are so many suffering. This place is suffering. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. This place is for suffering. Duḥkhālayam. Duhkha means suffering, alayam means place. Asasvatam. And still you cannot make adjustment. You, if you say "All right, let there be a little suffering. Let me stay here," that also will not be allowed. You will be kicked out: "Get out!" Then you have to accept another body. You do not know what kind of body. So these things are there. Don't think that a little happy life for ten years or twenty years is the solution of your problem. That is not solution. Real solution is different.
Room Conversation with French Journalist and UNESCO Worker -- August 10, 1973, Paris: Yogeśvara: Anything beyond these four basics is...
Prabhupāda: That is necessities of life. Because you have got this body, so you must supply the necessities of the body. That we supply. Not only that. We want to keep men in so peaceful condition that he's not disturbed by mental anxieties, bodily disease, natural disturbances and fighting or quarreling with other living entities. So when he's perfectly in peaceful condition of life, he can save time for advancement in spiritual consciousness.
Room Conversation -- September 2, 1973, London: Prabhupāda: First of all, gross understanding. This body means the senses. Indriyāṇi. Those who are animals, they are thinking this is all. But they do not understand that these indriyas are being controlled by the mind. If one's mind is, what is called, distorted, then the indriyas cannot work. That is madman. You try to cure the mental disease just to bring him in proper position to control the senses. Otherwise, he does not know how to control the senses. Therefore the controller of the senses is the mind. And above the mind there is intelligence. And above the intelligence there is soul. So we cannot see even the mind, intelligence and ego. And how we can see the soul? The soul has got his magnitude. And without understanding, without education about the soul, about the spirit soul, any other understanding, that is animal understanding.
Room Conversation -- September 2, 1973, London: Guest (2): I have taken quite a lot of your time, if you'll excuse me.
Prabhupāda: No, my time is for this purpose, provided you kindly take it. But if you don't take it, then of course, that is a different thing. My time is spent for... I have dedicated my life for this purpose. I am touring all over the world giving this knowledge. It is sound logic. If you don't accept, you must give better logic, what you know. Don't think we are going under sentiment. Don't think like that. We have got sound logic.
Guest (2): I won't say that, but I'm not mentally prepared to that extent.
Prabhupāda: That's all right, but if you are not prepared, then you learn how to become prepared. Then the same conclusion comes, that logic, you can give to the animals, but he cannot take it.
Guest (2): I don't think that logic can explain anything.
Prabhupāda: No, logic cannot. But still as much logic you require, that logic is there.
Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay: Prabhupāda: That is my..., that this experience... You have got some experience, I have got some experience and another has experience. But so far you are talking of Bhagavad-gītā... Because you say that Aurobindo has written on the Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā says, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, Kṛṣṇa says:
- mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat
- kiñcid asti dhanañjaya
- mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ
- sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva
- (BG 7.7)
Like that. He says that mattaḥ parataram: "There is no more superior, supramental or Supreme Personality..." As you say supramental, it is with reference to a person. Just like Aurobindo, supramental. That means it is with reference to the Aurobindo person. Is it not? Any mental. As you say, "mental," it is with reference to a person.
Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay: Prabhupāda: Both are true, but both are not the same thing. Then why higher and lower?
Guest (1): Because of his evolutionary stage.
Prabhupāda: That's all. Then higher must be taken as higher, lower must be taken as lower. Just like a child's mental condition and his father's mental condition, they are not the same thing.
Guest (1): Sir, then today's lower, lower, higher, will be tomorrow's lower. Because tomorrow will be another unfolding.
Prabhupāda: But, but then you have to admit... Tomorrow he may be higher, but there, there is always the same thing, higher and lower. That you have to admit.
Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay: Guest (1): It's a manifestation of (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: That's all right, but you have to accept... Just like your son, your son. Tomorrow he'll be grown up like you, but at the present moment, his mental condition, your mental condition, there are different.
Guest (1): He's in evolution.
Prabhupāda: Yes, evolution. That, I understand. But these two things will continue.
Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay: Guest (1): ...because we are individualized.
Prabhupāda: But do you think that Aurobindo's mental condition or your mental condition, the same?
Guest (1): No.
Prabhupāda: Then here is higher and lower.
Guest (1): No, no.
Prabhupāda: Why "no"? One time you say, "No..." No, no, this is contradictory.
Guest (1): Yes, sir, this is part (indistinct) higher and lower.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Guest (1): Gradations, you can use words.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes, that will exist always.
Room Conversation with Indian Guest -- October 4, 1973, Bombay: Prabhupāda: There is Brahmā, and there is ant also. Both of them are living entities. But the status quo of the ant, and the status quo of Brahmā is not the same, higher consciousness or
mental... So they're all in the material world. None of them are perfect. Between Brahmā and ant, there are millions of other living entities, eight million. Not only one million. Millions. 8,400,000 forms of life. They're all imperfect because they have accepted this material body, either Brahmā or ant, but your perfection will come when you do not accept this material body. That is the, I mean to, the destination of Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti: (
BG 4.9) "After quitting this body, he does not accept any more this material body." This, that means he, he becomes perfect. That is stated in another place.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- February 23, 1974, Bombay: Prabhupāda: No, it is not spiritual. That is also subtle. Just like mind, the speed of mind. The mind is material. By mind speed, you can... Just imagine. You are here. Immediately, within a second, you go to Calcutta.
Dr. Patel: Because you think of the thing.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Dr. Patel: First going is mind going.
Prabhupāda: So this is the mind. Similarly, mental, then intellectual,... You are going?
Dr. Patel: No, no. You are going ahead. We have to come to that...
Prabhupāda: That's all right. Mind is also material. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ kham. khaṁ manaḥ (BG 7.4).
Morning Walk -- April 1, 1974, Bombay: Dr. Patel: Adhi-ātma. That is the...
Chandobhai: That is real bhāva.
Prabhupāda: Adhyātma. Adhyātma means bodily and mentally.
Chandobhai: Ah, bodily and mentally, yes.
Dr. Patel: Adhyātma? Bodily and mentally?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Chandobhai: Mentally. Spiritually... Inner existence.
Prabhupāda: No. Adhyātmam. Adhyātma. Ātma means body, mind and the soul, but here adhyātma means the body and the mind. That is material nature. The body and mind is made of material nature. (break) ...creation.
Morning Walk -- April 1, 1974, Bombay: Dr. Patel: Therefore at the last moment you... But you can't get that last moment in this position because you have, whole life, you have...
Prabhupāda: Yes, you have spoiled your life simply in material activities. How you can remember?
Dr. Patel: But even if you are doing material activities by your body, and by your mental activities you are bhaja kṛṣṇa...
Prabhupāda: But you are under the body... Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). Body and mind is working... Unless you practice to be above body and mind... That is bhakti-yoga. Māṁ cāvyabhicāriṇi-bhakti-yoga..., sa guṇān samatītya. You cannot expect that you go on doing all these material activities and at the time of death you'll remember Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible.
Morning Walk -- April 7, 1974, Bombay: Girirāja: "This body is exactly like one of the bodies which we always see in dreams. During our dream of sleep we create so many bodies according to mental creation." (break)
Prabhupāda: ...the psychologically whatever mental condition we prepare throughout this life, that means you are preparing next life, and in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvam tyajanty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). The situation of the mind at the time of death will carry you to the similar body. Just like one who likes to eat some special foodstuff, so... Suppose the meat-eaters... So the mentality is "How to eat meat, how to eat meat." So they are given next life the canine teeth to give facility for eating meat. Canine teeth means dogs, cats, tigers, like that.
Girirāja: "Unless we have a particular type of body, we cannot enjoy or suffer according to our mental proclivities inherited from the previous life."
Morning Walk -- April 12, 1974, Bombay: Prabhupāda: Just like this boy Girirāja, he is very rich man's son. His father gave him a special car. His father is a big lawyer in Chicago. So he gave up everything. Now he is begging daily, although he is earning at least fifty-thousand rupees per month. But he has no... He is just like beggar. He doesn't care for his father. There are many like this. Bhaktiḥ pareṣānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (
SB 11.2.42). These are the test. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (Hindi) (break) ...devotee. Then all the good qualities will be manifested in his person. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ mano-rathena asato dhavato bahiḥ. And if one is not a perfect devotee of Kṛṣṇa, of Hari, then he cannot possess any mahad-guṇa. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. Why? Mano-rathena: "He is simply hovering in the
mental plane." He is not fixed up. Therefore asato dhavato bahiḥ. Then he will have to do something which is asat. Asato maṁ sad gama. That is the Vedic... "Don't remain in the asat; just make progress to the sat." That is wanted. That cannot be done unless one is fully situated in unalloyed devotional service of the Lord. That is not possible. One must go to the asat, because he is hovering on the
mental plane.
Mental plane is not secure. Anyone who is in
mental plane, he may fall down at any moment. So we have to transcend the
mental plane. Intellectual plane. Jñana-karmady-anavṛtam.
Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad: Prabhupāda: Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ: If one is not a devotee of the Lord, he has no good qualification. He cannot possess any good qualification. Why? Mano-rathena. He is simply hovering on the mental plane. Therefore mind's business is to accept and reject. There cannot be any permanent thing. So one has to transcend above the plane of mind and fixed up in the spiritual platform. Then he can have all the good qualities.
Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris: Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: And a devotee is acting, but he's not getting any mental impression? From his activities?
Prabhupāda: His mind is being... His mental expression is Kṛṣṇa. He's always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma. We have got some propensity to create. Just like this beautiful place. We have got creative energy. Therefore it is advised that nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe. Make it for Kṛṣṇa. You'll find in India, they have also created big, big temples, four flight, but for Kṛṣṇa. Then the energy spent for creating this park, in relationship with Kṛṣṇa will be utilized as service to Kṛṣṇa. And if it simply meant for sense gratification, then you are under the laws of nature, contaminated. Just like if a man is very powerful, he's creating this park, but he is contaminated with some infection, he, will he not suffer?
Room Conversations -- September 11, 1974, Vrndavana: Prabhupāda: When we exchange rasa, transcendental mellow, (Sanskrit), then we get transcendental bliss. As the materialist has centered around the sex, this way or that way, similarly the transcendentalists, they are..., their center is Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference. So if you want to enjoy life making Kṛṣṇa as the center, that is eternal happiness. And this life means it is not eternal. Now you enjoy sex as human being, next as dog, next as monkey, next as flies, next as this, next as that. The center is sex, but you have to change according to your
mental condition at the time of death in different body. That is not eternal. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (
BG 8.19). You accept one type of body, enjoy sex according to that body, then you can accept another body. Sex life is there. As human being, sex life; and as a dog, there is sex life; as a fly, sex life. Fly also enjoys sex life. You have seen?
Brahmānanda: Yes, in (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: The center is sex. The birds.
Room Conversations -- September 11, 1974, Vrndavana: Prabhupāda: Yamunacarya, he was a great king. So his.... As king, his life was sex. But when he became a devotee, he admits, yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravinde: "Since I have learned how to enjoy association with the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and I get more and more eternal transcendental bliss, since that time," bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne, "even if I think of sex life with woman," bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ, mukha-vikāraḥ, "I taste that (indistinct)," suṣṭhu niṣṭhīvanaṁ, (makes spitting sound). This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When the mind will be fixed up, (spitting sound), these things, then you enter Kṛṣṇa's (indistinct). Otherwise, it is mixed up. You have to purify. When this attitude, we (spitting noise)—"What is this?"—then Kṛṣṇa consciousness is beginning. This is the proof, Yamunacarya. Tadavadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne. So not actually doing, simply by thinking, "Oh, I was doing this. (spitting noise). What I was?" this is liberation. Even if I think mentally, that means I will have to take birth again. Again and again. This is the criteria. They think mentally. They read so many novels, fiction. The same thing—the sex life. And these ordinary men, they read Bhāgavata, hear Bhāgavata, rasa-līlā. They think, "Here is the same thing. Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs do like this, the same thing. So why not hear this?" But actually, śāstra says if one hears rasa-līlā, then that lusty desires will be finished.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Professors -- February 19, 1975, Caracas: Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He's saying that in European history many, many people, in the name of looking for transcendence, there have been so many wars, hatred between men, and, you may know, in Spain they had what is called the Inquisition where they burned so many people. And so he's saying, psychologically, that his brain tells him that in the name of searching after transcendence there has been so much bad, so how is this different?
Prabhupāda: The difference is transcendence is beyond our mind, bodily activities, mental activities or intelligence. The European philosophers and transcendentalists, they do not know actually what is transcendence. They understand that there is something, but they do not know what it is. Therefore they speculate by their imperfect senses. Gradually it becomes craziness. Therefore you find that defect.
Room Conversation with Psychiatrist -- February 22, 1975, Caracas: Prabhupāda: Yes. That is very good. So what is the human problem in their understanding?
Psychiatrist (Hṛdayānanda): To some extent they see that when there's something wrong with the physical body, it causes a manifestation of a mental disease.
Prabhupāda: When there is something wrong in the physical body, there is mental disease. That we accept also. But that mental disease is there basically, that he is thinking that he is body.
Room Conversation with Psychiatrist -- February 22, 1975, Caracas: Prabhupāda: The physical defect... Just like a driver of the car, and when his car is damaged, the driver becomes very sorry that "My car is now broken, damaged," but is the driver the carriage? Sometimes a valuable car is damaged and the proprietor or the driver, he becomes very sorry, almost half-dead, "Oh, my car is lost." So this is due to his too much attraction for the car. When the machine car stops (it) does not mean the driver is damaged. But he thinks, "Now, I am finished. My car is damaged." But although he is not the car, he thinks that he is damaged. So that is mental disease. He is different from the car, but he thinks that he is damaged by the damage of the car. And if he knows correctly, that "What is that? I will get another new car," what is the cause of suffering? The driver is not the car, but on account of his too much absorption, identifying the car with him, he suffers. So if the psychiatrist informs him that "Why you are sorry? You are not the car," then he is cured. So the modern civilization defect is that he is not this body, but he does not know it. Therefore, in the Vedic literature it is said, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke: (SB 10.84.13) "Anyone is identifying himself with this body which is made of material element," yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu, "and in bodily relationship he is thinking his family is protector, his nation is protector, in this way, one who lives, he is no better than the animal." Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā... You find out this verse, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase.
Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta: Prabhupāda: There is no body. They are reserved in the Viṣṇu's body. And again, when there is creation, they come out. And therefore matter comes from the spirit. Matter is there, creation, matter. So take advantage of the matter. Just like the cloth is there. You cut it according (to) your body, and there is a coat. The spiritual body is already there. Now the matter is there. Now, from matter, you take. You make your body like a dog, like a ant, like a fish, like a tree, like this.
Rūpānuga: So all the different species are created again simultaneously.
Prabhupāda: That is... He died with that mentality. It is there. Just like we go to sleep, but all your mental activities are reserved. In the morning again you begin.
Conversation with Devotees on Theology -- April 1, 1975, Mayapur: Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) It will take some time. But our line of action...
Devotee (2): Generally these type of people are... They're so mentally puffed-up that a process like chanting doesn't appeal to them. They want something for their minds to speculate on.
Prabhupāda: Why not process? Eh? Eh?
Devotee (2): The books are what actually attracts them. It attracts their minds.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We have got two process. One process is chanting. Another process: read books. That is also chanting.
Morning Walk -- May 12, 1975, Perth: Prabhupāda: They do not know what is spiritual life.
Paramahaṁsa: They consider spiritual life as simply a department of philosophy.
Prabhupāda: Yes, psychology.
Amogha: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Spiritual life is reality they do not understand. They take it as something mental position.
Room Coversation with Psychiatrist and Indian Boy -- May 12, 1975, Perth: Prabhupāda: No. Our viewpoint is that in the material world, who has accepted this material body—anyone, but we specially take the human society—they require treatment, everyone. Everyone is mentally diseased, and therefore he is unhappy. Everyone. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahād-guṇa (SB 5.18.12). Anyone who has no sense of God consciousness, he is diseased mentally. He requires treatment. The whole human society, especially at the present moment, they have given up God consciousness. They are not interested. That is their disease. And everyone requires treatment. So the whole Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the mass treatment of the materialistic persons who are mentally diseased. That is our proposition. It is... In India there was a case. A man committed murder, and he pleaded in the court that... His pleader, his lawyer, pleaded that he was mad at that time. We also accept unless one becomes mad, one cannot commit murder or suicide. So the civil surgeon was brought to give evidence whether this man is actually mad. The civil surgeon said that "So far my experience is concerned—I have treated so many persons—in my opinion everyone is mad. So if on account of madness one should be excused from the law, then it is Your Honor's discretion, but so far I have studied, more or less, everyone is mad." Similarly, our study is that unless one is mad, he cannot remain in this material world. So everyone is mentally diseased, and they are concocting their ideas, different ideas. And they are overlapping, my idea, your idea overlapping. Therefore there is clash, unhappiness, violence, individually, socially, familywise, nationwise. This is going on.
Room Coversation with Psychiatrist and Indian Boy -- May 12, 1975, Perth: Prabhupāda: Just like anyone who is in the prison house, it is to be accepted that he is a criminal. Without any study, without any exception we can accept all the prisoners as criminals. (break) ...gradually appreciate. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ (
CC Antya 20.12). This treatment is in the beginning just cleansing the mirror of the heart. That is the treatment. Just like a mirror, when it is overcast with dust, it requires cleansing. So the
mental mirror is covered with material dust. So it has to be cleansed. That is the treatment. And when it is cleansed, you can see your real face in the mirror. Similarly, as soon as our heart disease, contaminated by the modes of material nature, is cleansed, you can understand what is your real position. That is the success of psychiatric treatment. One comes to know, "What I am." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am spirit soul; I am not this body." That is called brahma-bhūtaḥ stage. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (
BG 18.54). He becomes immediately happy.
Room Conversation with Justin Murphy (Geographer) -- May 14, 1975, Perth: Prabhupāda: Yes. No, if this kind of man will understand—they are in position—that will be a great... He is better than so many clergies.
Paramahaṁsa: (laughs) Yes. I invited someone for Friday. I can't guarantee that he'll come. But anyhow, his name is... He's from the local government Alcohol and Drug Authority. And they are... They have hospitals to treat people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. He is a social worker who has worked in a mental hospital, and he wants to bring a psychologist and a psychiatric nurse. And I hope he comes because he sounded intelligent like that also. These people are looking... They have problems on their hands, and they don't know what to do...
Prabhupāda: This world is full of problems. I have said. If you go this way, sense gratification, then you will have only problem. And if you go this way, towards God, there will be no problem. Because nature will put forward so many obstacles if you go. Because this is not the way of life, human life. Animal life, that is another thing. But they do not know. But human life, he is given the opportunity to go towards God, but he does not take this opportunity. He goes towards animal. Then there will be problem. Nature will not excuse. "So you are given the opportunity, and you are again becoming animal? You must suffer." This is nature's way. Therefore they are suffering problems. So many directors, so many government, the problem cannot be solved. That is nature's way. These foolish persons, they should know how nature is working.
Room Conversation with Two Lawyers and Guest -- May 22, 1975, Melbourne: Prabhupāda: First bodily concept, gross, then mental, then intellectual, then spiritual. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is on the spiritual platform, above body, mind and intelligence. But actually, we should come to that platform. Because we are spirit soul, we are neither this body nor this mind nor this intelligence. So one who is on the platform of spiritual consciousness, they have got everything, intelligence, proper use of mind, proper use of the body. Just like a millionaire, he has got all the lower grade possession. Ten rupees or hundred rupees or hundred pounds—he has got all, everything. Similarly, if we try to make an attempt to bring people on the platform of God consciousness, then he is possessing all other qualities: how to take care of the body, how to use the mind, how to use intelligence, everything. But it is not possible that everyone should become God conscious.
Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu: Prabhupāda: In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that beyond the senses, the mind is there. Beyond the mind, the intelligence is there. Beyond the intelligence, the soul is there. So they are studying the mind. They are not even on the intelligence platform, and what to speak of spiritual platform? Mano-rathena asato dhavato, bahiḥ. These rascals, those who are on the mental plane, they will remain materialists. That's all. They will not know, understand anything spiritual.
Harikeśa: So even if someone were to read the results of such a test, it would not convince them.
Prabhupāda: What...? What you...?
Siddha-svarūpa: They're testing after a material thing. Try to understand it. They're testing the mental plane and they're thinking that that's the spiritual plane.
Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu: Harikeśa: This psychologist has become a devotee.
Prabhupāda: That is another thing. He might have failed in his mental working in the mental plane. Then he has come. That is another thing.
Harikeśa: But still he wants to try and prove Kṛṣṇa consciousness through this psychological testing.
Prabhupāda: No, what he will prove, psychological...? Psychological means mental plane. How he will understand soul from the mental platform? That is not possible.
Garden Conversation with Dr. Gerson and devotees -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles: Dr. Gerson: ...beginning of a two-year study on the devotees trying to demonstrate to the people in the material world the psychological benefits that come over the devotees as they become more and more involved in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Prabhupāda: Yes. A vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18). first of all we have to change our mental activities into Kṛṣṇa activities. Then everything will be all right. The mind is engaged always, so the engagement should be with Kṛṣṇa. And if we read these books, our mind is always engaged in Kṛṣṇa. The same thing, our mind is engaged in material activities. The same mind is engaged in Kṛṣṇa's activities, then the whole thing changes.
Garden Conversation with Dr. Gerson and devotees -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles: Prabhupāda: Ostrich. When there is danger, it closes eyes: "No danger." But that does not mean no danger. The danger is there. You may close your eyes. This is going on. The whole education system is foolish. Because they are thinking independent.
Bahulāśva: Now we can change that, Śrīla Prabhupāda, with this college. We can get our men in all religious departments.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is our duty, to give them knowledge. The knowledge is there. The candidates are there. Only the guardians should be sane, that "Save the children." Otherwise they will produce only hippies. That's all. (break) So long you will work on the mental plane, then the tendency will be that "Let me refute you, and I become prominent." And he will think that "Let me refute him. I become." This business will go on. But there will be no end of philosophy.
Morning Walk -- July 9, 1975, Chicago: Prabhupāda: ...that requires complete overhauling. This religion, that religion will not help. They have no idea what is spiritual knowledge. Everyone is hovering on the mental plane. (break) ...the principle of Ba'hai religion?
Jayatīrtha: It was founded in Persia. It's a hodge-podge principle. (Prabhupāda laughs)
Jagadīśa: They think that everyone is evolving, that after taking this human life, you have to go to heaven. That's the next stage, even if you're the most sinful of all sinners.
Prabhupāda: Oh. Even one is sinful, he will also go?
Morning Walk -- July 16, 1975, San Francisco: Prabhupāda: Then why they find difference in having soul?
Brahmānanda: Well, that is the Christian. But these modern psychologists, they don't even think that the human being has soul. That he's the same as the animal.
Bahulāśva: Actually psyche means soul.
Prabhupāda: Psyche means mental activities, thinking, feeling, and willing. (break) ...keeping building department different.
Room Conversation with Bill Faill (reporter) -- October 8, 1975, Durban: Faill: If you've been bad enough, you might finish...
Prabhupāda: No, that... This I have already told you. There are 8,400,000 different forms of life. So you can enter any one of them according to your mental condition. We are under the control of the material nature. The material nature is being conducted in three modes: goodness, passion and ignorance. So just like three colors: yellow, red, and blue. Now you mix-three into three equal to nine, nine into nine equal to eighty-one. So these modes of material nature is being mixed up. Therefore there are so many varieties of life. So if we transcend this coloring platform of material nature, we come to the pure consciousness. Then we stop this repetition of birth and death in different forms of life. And if we do not that, then there is chance of going down or going up. There are different planets.
Room Conversation with Bill Faill (reporter) -- October 8, 1975, Durban: Prabhupāda: This saffron robe is not very essential, or cut the hair, but it creates some good situation, mental. You see? Just like a military man, when he is dressed properly he gets some energy to feel like a military man. But it does not mean that unless you are dressed, you cannot fight. It does not mean. So God consciousness can be revived in any condition, without any check. But these conditions are helpful, helpful. Therefore it is prescribed that "You live like this," "You dress like this," "You eat like this," "You do like this." These are convenient. These are convenient. So they are not essential. At the same time, if we take to these processes, then it will be helpful.
Room Conversation with Bill Faill (reporter) -- October 8, 1975, Durban: Faill: Is it vital to follow certain eating habits? I mean...
Prabhupāda: Yes. The whole process is how to purify ourself. So by... according to eating, the purification also... I think Mr. Bernard Shaw, he wrote one book that "You Are What You Eat." And that's a fact. We constitute our bodily atmosphere and mental atmosphere according to eating. So our Kṛṣṇa conscious movement recommends... Not the movement recommends. It is recommended in the śāstra that to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, you eat the remnants of foodstuff left by Kṛṣṇa. Just like opposite way: if a tuberculosis patient eats something and if you eat the remnants, then you will be infected with the tuberculosis bacillus. Is it not? So similarly, if you eat kṛṣṇa-prasādam, then you infect Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is our process. We don't take anything directly. We offer to Kṛṣṇa. Then we take kṛṣṇa-prasādam. That helps us. We do not take anything... We cannot take anything from the restaurant or from the shop. No. We prepare everything, offer to Kṛṣṇa. Then we take.
Room Conversation -- October 15, 1975, Johannesburg: Prabhupāda: Then why do they propose, "Prolong life"? What is the use of such prolonged life, stand up in a place without any power to move an inch and suffer all climatic disturbances? Is that very good life? Everyone is... Even if he lives for more years, the bodily, mental and external sufferings will be there. What is the use of living such prolonged life? Prolonged life, does it guarantee that these three kinds of miseries-bodily, mental and external, natural; there are so many disturbances—he will be free from all these disturbances? Simply dog's obstinacy, that's all.
Morning Walk -- November 4, 1975, Bombay: Prabhupāda: Bhavantam eva caran nirantaraḥ: "Simply abiding by the orders of Your Lordship." Bhavantam eva caran, "acting," nirantaraḥ "twenty-four hours," and prasanta-niḥśeṣa-mano-rathāntaraḥ, "and finishing all this mental business, mental concoction, making plans." Niḥśeṣa-mano-rathāntaraḥ. Bhavantam eva caran nirantaraḥ prasanta-niḥśeṣa-mano-rathāntaraḥ, kadāham aikāntika-nitya-kiṅkaraḥ: "When I shall be unalloyedly devotee of Your Lordship, and," praharṣayiṣyāmi, "I shall be jubilant, living," sa-nātha-jīvitam, "that I have got my master. I have got my master. I have no cares and anxiety."
Morning Walk -- November 19, 1975, Bombay: Prabhupāda: Foolish thinking has no value. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhya para mana manasas tu parā buddhir (BG 3.42). So thinking should be under the direction of intelligence.
Dr. Patel: Buddhi, buddhimān, and ahaṅkāra, all are the internal apparatus, what you call antaḥ-kāraṇa. They work together in reason. One thing does not act separately from the other, as we know.
Prabhupāda: There are separate arrangement, although they are one.
Dr. Patel: They are the different facets of the same internal organ as a whole.
Prabhupāda: (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (break) ...set is there, but beyond that mental stage there is intellect. Beyond intellect there is soul.
Conversation on Roof -- December 26, 1975, Sanand: Prabhupāda: And experiment means, those who are making experiment, they do not know where is the perfect thing. The same example, that if you make experiment about understanding who is your father, it will all fail. How long you'll go on inquiring, ask any old man, "Sir, are you my father?" Or will this process be successful at any time? Without consulting your mother, if you simply go on asking all old men, "Sir, are you my father?" And if somebody falsely says, "Yes, I am your father," is that successful inquiry? This is going on.
Harikeśa: Well, it gives mental satisfaction, and that, that...
Prabhupāda: That is rascaldom. Mental satisfaction. Just like a child. You can cheat him by mental satisfaction, giving him one lozenges and take from him hundred rupees note.
Harikeśa: But he's satis...
Prabhupāda: That is also mental satisfaction.
Conversation on Roof -- December 26, 1975, Sanand: Harikeśa: But happiness is a state of mind. So the child is happy...
Prabhupāda: Such mind is imperfect. What is this satisfaction? If mind is imperfect, so mental satisfaction is never complete satisfaction. That is also another illusion. It will be changed again. Again revolution. This is going on. So in the dialectic process, try to bring this thesis, that within this body there is the real enjoyer, and try to convince them in that way. That will be great service.
