So Lord Kṛṣṇa, He descends, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7), just to establish the real purpose of life. When man forgets the real purpose of life, the mission of human form of life, then it is called dharmasya glāniḥ, the disturbance of the occupation of human being. So in that circumstances, out of many, many human being, who awakens, one who awakens the spirit of understanding his position, for him this Bhagavad-gītā is spoken. We are just like swallowed by the tigress of nescience, and Lord, being causelessly merciful upon the living entities, especially for the human being, He spoke Bhagavad-gītā, making His friend Arjuna as the student.
Merciful (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 1.21-22 -- London, July 18, 1973:
He is not agitating. "All right, if Kṛṣṇa likes, I will live." This is the position of sādhu. He is not disturbed. Titikṣavaḥ. In all circumstances, he is tolerant. That is sādhu. Sādhu does not become disturbed. Titikṣavaḥ. At the same time, kāruṇikāḥ. He is himself disturbed, but he is merciful to others.
Lecture on BG 1.21-22 -- London, July 18, 1973:
Just like Jesus Christ. He is being crucified, and still he is merciful: "God, these people do not know what they are doing. Please excuse them." This is sādhu. He is personally being disturbed by the demons, but still, he is merciful to the general people. They are suffering for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Lecture on BG 1.21-22 -- London, July 18, 1973:
So even up to the point of death, he is trying to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. "Let the people be benefited. Eh, what is this material body? Even if I am killed, I am not killed. This body is killed, that's all." This is sādhu. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ. In one side he is tolerant, and other side, merciful.
Lecture on BG 1.32-35 -- London, July 25, 1973:
In this age of Kali, people are so fallen, so degraded, that it is not possible to introduce systematically the whole Vedic principle; it is not possible. That is not possible. It is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's grace, mercy, that He has given us mercifully, vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti (CC Madhya 6.254), just to teach very short-cut method. What is that? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 1.37-39 -- London, July 27, 1973:
Everything is lost. Now, simply by chanting harer nāma, the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, you become again situated in the original position. Everything is adjusted because it is transcendental. So there is no other way. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so merciful that from the śāstras he has selected this process of saṅkīrtana movement: ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpanam (CC Antya 20.12). The human life is meant for extinguishing the blazing fire of material existence.
Lecture on BG 2.1-11 -- Johannesburg, October 17, 1975:
Madhusūdana is Kṛṣṇa's another name. So when Kṛṣṇa saw that Arjuna is unnecessarily disturbed, then, taṁ tathā kṛpayāviṣṭam aśru-pūrṇākulekṣaṇam (BG 2.1). Aśru-pūrṇa: his eyes was full with tears. "Kṛṣṇa, I have to fight with my relatives." So he was crying, that "This is not very good business." So why he was crying? Kṛpayāviṣṭam: being merciful upon them. They were so cruel upon the Pāṇḍavas that they insulted their wife, they tricked how to take away their kingdom.
Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:
Not by seeing any woman or man, one is disturbed. He's adhīra. She's adhīra. So dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau priya-karau nirmatsarau... The Gosvāmīs, they were equally respectable for the dhīras and the adhīras. So a, a spiritual master, a gosvāmī, should be equally merciful both for the dhīras and the adhīras. Otherwise, he cannot become a preacher. Preacher has to meet so many fallen souls. So he, if he becomes disturbed, then he cannot preach. Therefore dhīra. This word is here: anupaśyanti, tam ātma-sthaṁ ye anupaśyanti dhīra.
Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Hyderabad, November 21, 1972:
That is required. That is spiritual vision. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. Therefore a devotee is first-class paṇḍita. A devotee. Because he's sama-darśinaḥ. Sama-darśinaḥ means he's feeling for others. A Vaiṣṇava... Para-duḥkha-duḥkhī, kṛpāmbudhir yaḥ. Vaiṣṇava is very kind-hearted, merciful, because he feels for others. He feels for others in this sense that he knows what he is. He sees every living entity as part and parcel of God: "Now, here is a part and parcel of God. He would have gone back to home, back to Godhead, and danced with Him, and lived very nicely, eternally, blissfully. Now he's rotting here as a hog, or as a human being, or as a king.
Lecture on BG 2.19 -- London, August 25, 1973:
"All right, this body is for few years, it will be ended." And that's all right. It will be ended, but you'll have to accept another body. The body, accepting the (or) accepting another body, you have to because you have got desire, sense gratification. So sense gratification means you must have material senses to gratify. So Kṛṣṇa is so pleased, so merciful, not pleased, but He's very merciful, "All right, this rascal wants like this. Give him this facility. All right. This rascal wants to eat stool. All right. Let him have a body of pig." This is going on, nature's law.
Lecture on BG 2.19 -- London, August 25, 1973:
Don't be proud that you are scientifically advanced. You are all rascals. Give up this nonsense. Come to Me. I'll give you protection." This is Kṛṣṇa. How merciful He is. And the same business should be done by Kṛṣṇa's servant. Not to become a great yogi, magic player. No, that is not required. Simply speak what Kṛṣṇa says. Then you become spiritual master. Don't speak anything nonsense. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also said, yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Simply you preach the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, whomever you meet. Then you become spiritual master. That's all. Very simple thing.
Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:
Indian: That is correct, Swami. As you have told, he said we have no suffering. He suffered for others. We should not condemn them. We should pray to the Lord that we may take...
Prabhupāda: No. No devotee condemns anything. But when he does not... Just like when..., father always gives, always merciful to his son, but if the son is very obstinate, he gives him a slap.
Lecture on BG 2.39 -- London, September 12, 1973:
So we have to give up this "do not" and accept the "do," positive and negative. Then... Therefore, in the Tenth Chapter it is said, teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). By some way or other, who has become engaged in devotional service twenty-four hours, satata—satata means twenty-four hours—satata-yuktānām, with faith—"Now I am engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. Kṛṣṇa will be... Actually He'll be merciful upon me. He'll deliver me from this miserable condition of material life"—teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam... (BG 10.10). So Kṛṣṇa is within. You cannot deceive Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 2.58-59 -- New York, April 27, 1966:
You are now turned your face towards māyā, the illusion. As soon as you turn your face towards Him, oh, He will help you in every respect, every respect. He is so kind. He is so merciful. Just like father. However rebellious son he may be, as soon as comes to his father, "Father, forgive me. I shall now obey you," that father at once... He was always ready to forgive him. Father is so kind to the son that he wants that "If my son comes back, I shall forgive all his misgiving, if he comes back just like a good boy." That is a natural instinct.
Lecture on BG 3.18-30 -- Los Angeles, December 30, 1968:
Kṛṣṇa said that devotees, that you should not disturb them. But devotees are so kind that taking all risk. Just like Nityānanda Prabhu took all risk, Lord Jesus Christ took all risk. Therefore a devotee is more kind than God. A devotee is more merciful than God Himself. We should always remember this.
Lecture on BG 3.31-43 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1969:
Prabhupāda: Yes. So what is your question?
Madhudviṣa: People that are engaged in lusty acts during their life... I thought that Kṛṣṇa is merciful and He will provide them with the body which will have as much lust as they want. I can't see how a person could devolve into that body of a tree due to engaging himself in lusty activities during his lifetime.
Prabhupāda: I don't follow, what is...
Lecture on BG 4.12 -- Bombay, April 1, 1974:
There are advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). But we Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava or Madhva-Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, we are worshiper of Lord Kṛṣṇa mūrti. Lord Rāmacandra's mūrti and Kṛṣṇa's mūrti, there is no difference. But as I have already explained, Kṛṣṇa paraṁ brahma full-fledged, and Lord Rāmacandra is also paraṁ brahma, but He did not exhibit His full-fledged opulence. So these are very confidential things, but still, on the birthday of Lord Rāmacandra we offer our respectful obeisances at His lotus feet so that He may be merciful upon us to bestow His bhakti, devotional service.
Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:
So if we want to serve poor people, that's all right. That is a good business. You are merciful. That also we are doing when we distribute prasādam for everyone's benefit, not for the daridra-nārāyaṇa or rich nārāyaṇa, everyone, Kṛṣṇa's prasāda. So yadṛcchā-lābha, one who is advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he will be happy simply having a little morsel of Kṛṣṇa's prasādam.
Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:
Therefore Śrī Bhāgavata says that dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇām, vāstavaṁ vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2). Dharma... There are many religious systems. There is jealousy. So-called religious system, cutting the throat of the animals. Why? If you are so broadminded that if you see everywhere Nārāyaṇa, why you are cutting the throat of the goats or the cows or other animals? You should be merciful to them also. But that mercifulness cannot be exhibited without being a devotee, vimatsaraḥ. Nirmatsaraḥ.
Lecture on BG 4.27 -- Bombay, April 16, 1974:
So when one becomes enlightened, he offers himself to Kṛṣṇa. There is a verse like this. Kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśāḥ: "My Lord, I have spoiled my time in this way, becoming the godāsa or the servant of the senses." Kāmādīnām, kāma krodha lobha moha mātsarya. Therefore it is called, kāmādīnāṁ kati na. "I have tried to satisfy them to my utmost." Kati na katidhā. "What I have not done for them? Still, they are not satisfied. Neither they are merciful." Teṣāṁ jātā mayi na karuṇā na trapā. Na tṛpta. "They are neither satisfied; neither they are merciful, never."
Lecture on BG 6.11-21 -- New York, September 7, 1966:
So now, that desire, that "Kṛṣṇa will eat such nice cake and such nice rice," so the whole thing is prepared in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and when it is offered to Kṛṣṇa, you taste. So your kāma is already sacrificed because from the very beginning you're thinking that "It is being prepared for Kṛṣṇa." You have no desire for that. But Kṛṣṇa is so merciful that He gives you the foodstuff for your eating; so your desire is already fulfilled. You do not desire it, but Kṛṣṇa's mercy is so that He can fulfill your desire.
Lecture on BG 6.30-34 -- Los Angeles, February 19, 1969:
First of all our duration life is very short. If you study the statistics you can see your forefathers who lived for hundred years or eighty years, ninety years. Now sixty years, seventy years people are dying. Gradually it will decrease. In this age the memory, the duration of life, mercifulness, so many things will decrease. That is the symptom of this age.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971 University of Florida:
In your country it may be more than that, but actually, as your grandfather lived for one hundred years, you cannot live. The things are changing. Especially the duration of life will be reduced. There are prediction in the śāstras. In this age the duration of life, people's sentiment for becoming merciful, brain substance, in so many ways they are being reduced.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 13, 1972:
One should try to learn how to love Kṛṣṇa. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). That is first class. And tad, īśvare tad-adhīneṣu bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca, prema, prema, love for Kṛṣṇa, and maitrī, and to make friendship with the devotees. Prema-maitrī. And kṛpā: those who are innocent, one should be merciful. The devotee should be merciful, just to awaken their Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And dviṣatsu ca upekṣāḥ: and those who are envious, they should be rejected.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- London, March 9, 1975:
Therefore the śāstra says, athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi, jānāti tattvam (SB 10.14.29). Tattva means the Absolute Truth. "You are Absolute Truth. Who can understand the Absolute Truth without Your mercy?" Therefore Kṛṣṇa is merciful to Arjuna, and therefore He said... Śrī bhagavān uvāca, mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha: "My dear Arjuna, if you simply concentrate or meditate upon Me, Kṛṣṇa..." Mayy āsakta. Mayi āsakta. Mayi means "unto Me, Kṛṣṇa." Mayy āsakta-manāḥ, "Those who are attached to Me, that is perfect yoga." That is yoga.
Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Hyderabad, August 22, 1976:
Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo na medhayā. If one is very meritorious, great scientist, philosopher, it does not mean that he can understand Bhagavān. Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo na bahunā śrutena. If one is very highly educated, highly learned in Vedic knowledge, he also cannot. Bhagavān can be understood by the mercy of Bhagavān. That is the process. Therefore Bhagavān is mercifully explaining Himself. We have to take advantage of it. Then we can understand Bhagavān.
Lecture on BG 7.7 -- Bombay, April 1, 1971:
So if that man also thinks that "Whatever money I have got, it is Kṛṣṇa's money, Kṛṣṇa's mercy, Kṛṣṇa has mercifully given me this money," then what is his next duty? He should spend it for Kṛṣṇa. That is the proper utilization of money. Similarly, if one is famous, he should utilize his fame for Kṛṣṇa's service. Suppose I am trying to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, but if a very famous man tries for it, it will be very quickly spread.
Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Vrndavana, April 17, 1975:
Therefore a devotee is more merciful than Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa doesn't speak to the demons. Unless you are one who is bhakta... just like Bhagavad-gītā was spoken to Arjuna, bhakto 'si sakhā ceti. Kṛṣṇa never speaks. Kṛṣṇa was very strict. But the devotees, Kṛṣṇa has said, ya imaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ mad-bhakteṣu abhidhāsyati. About Bhagavad-gītā He says, "One who speaks this confidential knowledge amongst the bhaktas..." He recommends the bhaktas. But the devotees, they are so merciful, they go to the abhakta, transgressing the order of Kṛṣṇa because they are so merciful: "All right, Kṛṣṇa has rejected them. Let me try. Let me try." This is the position of a bhakta. They are not only unenvious to God, but they are also unenvious...
Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Vrndavana, April 17, 1975:
Therefore their name is kāruṇikāḥ, kāruṇikāḥ, most merciful. The describe... What is that? Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām (SB 3.25.21). Devotees are always tortured by the demons. They (the demons) are prepared to torture even Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and great devotees also. So they (the devotees) tolerate all these tortures.
Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Vrndavana, April 17, 1975:
A devotee should learn this śloka of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu that he should be tolerant more than the trees. Kāruṇikāḥ. And they take the risk of preaching amongst the demons, nondevotees, because they are kāruṇikāḥ, very merciful, more merciful than Kṛṣṇa. More merciful than Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Melbourne, April 19, 1976:
They were called brāhmaṇas. They used to receive knowledge from guru by hearing. They could memorize everything, once heard. In the Kali-yuga the memory is being reduced. The duration of life is being reduced. Peoples' mercifulness is being reduced. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga. Bodily strength—reduced. Therefore Vyāsadeva preferred it that the Vedic knowledge should be kept recorded in writing. So he first of all then wrote all this Vedic knowledge into writing, and the writings...
Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 8, 1972:
You cannot jump over Kṛṣṇa like monkey. That is not possible. Kṛṣṇa will not accept. If you think that "Without guru I shall jump over Kṛṣṇa, and He'll be merciful upon me," that monkey's business will not be accepted.
Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 8, 1972:
Therefore guru-kṛṣṇa kṛpāya pāya. If you are sincere, if you're sincere, that Kṛṣṇa will be merciful, first of all. Then Kṛṣṇa will guide you. If you're sincere, Kṛṣṇa will direct you that "Approach such and such guru," and if guru is pleased, then you'll get Kṛṣṇa, that guru-kṛṣṇa kṛpāya, both, parallel line.
Lecture on BG 9.7-10 -- New York, November 25, 1966:
Whatever I am speaking, I am not speaking something manufactured by me. I am speaking the simple words that is left by the merciful Lord in this Bhagavad-gītā. I am speaking to that. He says, mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10). Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram. Adhyakṣa means superintendence. "Under My superintendence..." Prakṛti means this material nature.
Lecture on BG 9.11-14 -- New York, November 27, 1966:
Even the demigods, even great saintly persons, they sacrificed everything; still, they were unsuccessful. You see? Now, for this age, Lord Caitanya mercifully has given you so much easier process for God realization. There is no comparison. Simply to sacrifice a little time. Śravaṇam. Simply hear. You haven't got to pay any charges. Śravaṇam. Simply you have to sit down a little patiently and hear. You'll realize it. It is such a nice thing. Lord Caitanya, therefore, recommended this process. In this age no process will help you for self-realization but this process.
Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Hyderabad, April 20, 1974:
But God's open declaration is that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). The Supersoul bird is always expecting when this individual soul bird will turn towards Him. He is so merciful. He is going, "My dear friend, why you are trying to become happy by enjoying this material fruit produced by your work in this body?"
Lecture on BG 13.15 -- Bombay, October 9, 1973:
But a man with poor fund of knowledge, they cannot understand that without material body, how there can be possible of possessing a body. Because we are accustomed to see the material things, we have no eyes to see spiritual, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136), therefore Kṛṣṇa, to benefit us, to become merciful upon us, He appears in this form, arcā-vigraha, so that we can see Him. Because we have learned to see wood, stone, earth, some solid materials. We cannot see subtle things.
Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:
There are so many different forms of life. That is in our presence. Before us there are so many examples. If you get a life of a tree, naked... Tree is naked. He's not ashamed to remain naked. And for ten thousand years you stand up. Wherefrom this life comes? It requires thought. Why the world is not full of one kind of forms of life? Why there are different types of life? Because different desires and nature's law. Nature's law, there is no excuse, the same thing, that if a child even touches fire, nature is not very merciful. It will burn. Similarly, at the time of death we have to think very rightly. That is required. That is human life. You have to train yourself in such a way that at the time of death you think of Kṛṣṇa.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 1.1.4 -- London, August 27, 1973:
So in this Kali-yuga the duration of life, the span of life will be gradually reduced. Memory will be reduced. Strength will be reduced. Mercifulness will be reduced. In this way... Now, it is a age of reduction. Not increasing. So prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ kalau asmin yuge janāḥ. People in this age are of short span of life. And manda. Manda means all faulty. All slow. Manda, two meaning. Either you take slow... Actually they are manda. Manda means faulty. So many faults.
Lecture on SB 1.1.4 -- London, August 27, 1973:
For himself he was denying to fight. But when he agreed to fight and kill on account of Kṛṣṇa, it is called yajña. This secret people do not know. They think that killing is very... Killing is very bad, that's all right. Killing, why killing? Even if you give charity, if you become munificent, merciful, that is also not good unless you do it for Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 1.2.2 -- London, August 10, 1971:
This is the unqualification of... Don't be sorry. (laughter) But Kṛṣṇa says... Kṛṣṇa says, striyaḥ śūdrās tathā vaiśyās te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim. By Kṛṣṇa's mercy, even if she's woman, striya... Woman is considered to be less intelligent, but Kṛṣṇa is so merciful that,
- māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya
- ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
- striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās
- te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim
- (BG 9.32)
"It doesn't matter whether he is woman or śūdra or a vaiśya. If he takes shelter of My lotus feet, according to the regulative principle, te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, they also go back to home, back to Godhead." Kiṁ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā (BG 9.33).
Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Aligarh, October 9, 1976:
After taking bath. There are so many rules and regulations. But this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra you can chant anywhere and everywhere at any time, without any regulative principles. Niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu regrets, etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi. "My Lord, You are so merciful upon Me, but still, durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ, I am so unfortunate that I am reluctant to chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra." So our this movement is teaching very simple thing, that whatever you may be, wherever you may be, there is no expenditure. There is no loss. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is our movement.
Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- New Vrindaban, September 5, 1972:
So He has appeared just like stone, because we cannot see except stone. Therefore He has appeared like stone, but He is not stone, He is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means we cannot perceive Kṛṣṇa by direct sense perception but He is so kind, so merciful that He appears before us as we can perceive Him directly.
Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Vrndavana, October 18, 1972:
This is meant for paramo nirmatsarāṇām, this dharma. Paramo nirmatsarāṇām. Paramo nirmatsara means Vaiṣṇavas. Vaiṣṇava is not envious. They are very merciful. Just like Gosvāmīs. Lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau, nānā-śāstra-vicāraṇaika-nipuṇau sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau, lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau.
Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Calcutta, September 27, 1974:
We shall not act according to the instruction given. And that is our misfortune. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore says, etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ: "You are so merciful that in this age You have incarnated, You have descended in Your name." Nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktiḥ. And in the name there is all potencies.
Lecture on SB 1.2.20 -- Los Angeles, August 23, 1972:
It's so made easy, but we are so unfortunate that we do not take advantage of this. Etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu laments, "My dear Lord, You are so compassionate and merciful upon us that in this age You have descended in Your, as Your name, and one can chant this name without any regulation, without any regulation." Niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ.
Lecture on SB 1.2.20 -- Los Angeles, August 23, 1972:
Any time, any circumstances, one can chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Kṛṣṇa has become so liberal. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi: "My dear Lord, although You are so much merciful upon me, still, I am so unfortunate." Etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi durdaivam īdṛśam, "I am so unfortunate," durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani na, "I could not be attached to chanting of mantra. Oh, I am so unfortunate." You see? The things have been made so easy, actually, but unfortunate class of men, they cannot take to it.
Lecture on SB 1.2.22 -- Los Angeles, August 25, 1972:
And the first class, he knows perfectly well that "Here is God." That is the, the sarva-saṁśayaḥ. Chidyante. They are beyond all doubts. "Yes, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Here is Kṛṣṇa. In this temple here is, my Lord is standing. He has very kindly, mercifully, He has come to accept my service." That is first-class devotee. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. As soon as He saw Jagannātha in the temple, immediately fainted. "Here is My Lord; I was searching after."
Lecture on SB 1.3.10 -- Los Angeles, September 16, 1972:
Everything is written there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. You consult Twelfth Canto. Beginning from Second Chapter you'll see, all these things are mentioned. People will decrease their span of life, their intelligence, memory, their propensity for mercifulness, and duration of life, so many things. That will be reduced. And you are seeing, they are being reduced. And people are becoming vagabonds.
Lecture on SB 1.3.26 -- Los Angeles, October 1, 1972:
God is within you, caitya-guru, the guru, or the spiritual master, within your heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). So this Paramātmā is also incarnation of God. And the same Paramātmā, when He comes before you, being very much merciful upon you, to teach you from outside, that is guru. Therefore it is said, sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ. Guru is the mercy incarnation of God.
Lecture on SB 1.4.25 -- Montreal, June 20, 1968:
We are thinking that we are making progress, but actually we are reducing. This is called māyā. We are making progress on the wrong side. That means reducing. Everyone, you know that people are not so much merciful at the present moment. If a man is attacked by some rogue, nobody is going to help him. If a man's apartment is, there is a burglar, thief, nobody is going to help him. Or if a man is very poor, nobody is going to help him. It is dwindling.
Lecture on SB 1.5.8-9 -- New Vrindaban, May 24, 1969:
These things happen simply by little merciful glance by Lord Caitanya upon us. Simply if Lord Caitanya approves our activity, "Well, this man is doing nice," oh, then you get all the success. Simply if He approves. Yat kāruṇya-katākṣa-vaibhavavatāṁ taṁ gauram eva stumaḥ.
Lecture on SB 1.5.24 -- Vrndavana, August 5, 1975:
Cakruḥ kṛpām. Then... Cakruḥ means "did," kṛpām, "mercy." Naturally... If anyone follows without any hesitation whatever the spiritual master says, naturally he becomes kind. Anyone will become kind. Why the spiritual master? Spiritual master is pledged to become kind, but anyone, if you follow, if you obey, then he becomes merciful: "This boy is very nice. He obeys orders. He serves very nicely." That is required. Cakruḥ kṛpāṁ yadyapi tulya-darśanāḥ. Tulya-darśanāḥ. Because saintly persons, they have no discrimination that "This man should be shown special favor." They have no such discrimination. They are merciful to everyone. Sama-darśinaḥ. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). So... But still, although they are equal to everyone, still, one who is very much inclined to render service, especially inclined. Therefore it is said, yadyapi tulya-darśanāḥ. It is not that saintly person is partial, showing somebody special favor and somebody no favor. No. They are open to everyone.
Lecture on SB 1.5.30 -- Vrndavana, August 11, 1974:
Here the, I mean to..., saintly persons, the mahātmās, gamiṣyantaḥ, when they were going, they confidentially said what was spoken by Kṛṣṇa directly. This is the secret of success. Try to understand. Anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ kṛpayā dīna-vatsalāḥ. Guru, or mahātmā, they are very merciful, merciful in this way that they know how a person can be elevated to the topmost platform of knowledge, and they can give him. And this is not very difficult. It is said here that yat tat sākṣād bhagavatoditam. This is mercifulness. A guru's business is to deliver the same message as Kṛṣṇa said. Then he's dīna-vatsala. Otherwise, if he says something else, he's a cheater. He's not guru. He must be, to the suffering humanity, being kind upon them.
Lecture on SB 1.5.30 -- Vrndavana, August 11, 1974:
Then He would have said "Through jñāna one can understand Me." No. Neither karma one can understand. Neither yoga. This is explained in many, various places of the śāstra. Only bhakti. Only bhakti. And it is the duty of the spiritual master, or mahātmā, to spread bhakti cult. That is the most confidential... That is the most merciful humanitarian activity.
Lecture on SB 1.7.49-50 -- Vrndavana, October 7, 1976:
So God or His devotee, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa devotee, you should always take that they're always good. God is good. And the devotee is good. Either we see that He's merciful... He's always merciful. Therefore devotees never take anything as not merciful. Tat te anukampām. They take everything from Kṛṣṇa as sympathy, anukampā. Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇaḥ (SB 10.14.8). One who can see this anukampā in reverse condition of life, the compassion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk.
Lecture on SB 1.8.19 -- Mayapura, September 29, 1974:
Similarly... The master may be a great millionaire, but still, he loves the dog so much that on the morning walk he takes his dog and the dog is passing urine... What, what business dog has got? To pass urine and stool and go this way and that way. But the master is attending. Similarly, God, or Kṛṣṇa, is so affectionate that we have come here in this material world simply to pass stool and urine, still He's attending. Still, He's attending. Just imagine what merciful is Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 1.8.23 -- Los Angeles, April 15, 1973:
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ: "I am seated in everyone's heart." Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: (BG 15.15) "From Me remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness is coming." So why that? Because Kṛṣṇa is so merciful, if I want to use my senses in a certain way, not my senses... It is Kṛṣṇa's, given. So Kṛṣṇa gives the chance: "All right, utilize it." Suppose I have got tongue. If I want, "Kṛṣṇa, I want to eat stool. I want to taste stool," "Yes," Kṛṣṇa will say. "Yes, you take this body of hog, and eat stool." The master is there, Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 1.8.26 -- Mayapura, October 6, 1974:
So I was afraid: "Oh, I have to give up my family. And I become... I have to become sannyāsī? And I have to go behind my Guru Mahārāja? No, no, it is horrible." I was thinking. But he forced me to it. He is so kind that he forced me, somehow or other. That is mercy. I can understand now that how much merciful was my Guru Mahārāja that he forced me to take this life.
Lecture on SB 1.8.28 -- Los Angeles, April 20, 1973:
So how God can be partial to one son and, better than the other son? That is not possible. That is our mistake. We write: "We trust in God," but we make discrimination. If you trust in God, then you must be equally kind and merciful to all living entities. That is God consciousness. So Kṛṣṇa says: "I have no enemies, neither I have got friends." Na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ.
Lecture on SB 1.8.28 -- Mayapura, October 8, 1974:
The Kuntīdevī is presenting his (her) conception of Kṛṣṇa, or God consciousness. Perfectly he's (she's) presenting that samaṁ carantaṁ sarvatra: "Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is present everywhere. And He is equal, equally merciful or... In everything He equal to everyone." Just like the sun. The sun is equally distributing the sunshine. Now, in some country, we find there is cloud; sun is covered. There is no sunshine. The sun is shining, but due to our misfortune or something else, the sun is covered, and we cannot see. It is not that the sunshine is stopped. Sunshine is there. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's mercy is equally there. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu (BG 9.29).
Lecture on SB 1.8.28 -- Mayapura, October 8, 1974:
In another verse in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, samo 'haṁ sarva bhūteṣu: "I am equal to everyone." Otherwise, how He can be God? God is not partial, that He is merciful upon me and not merciful upon you. God cannot be like that. Just like a state, government. Government is equal to everyone, all citizens. But why somebody is going to the university to take his M.A. degree, and why one is going to the prison house to be imprisoned and suffering for so many years and...? It is not the government's partiality, that somebody go to the prison house and somebody will go to the university and occupy responsible position. No.
Lecture on SB 1.8.28 -- Mayapura, October 8, 1974:
So samaṁ carantam... This God is equally kind, equally merciful, but we fight. We, I mean to say, disagree in religious principle. That is due to Kali. Not this Kali. Kali means due to our fighting spirit. It is not God. God is equal to everyone. We fight because we have got misconception.
Lecture on SB 1.8.43 -- Mayapura, October 23, 1974:
In the name, all the potencies... Kṛṣṇa is Yogeśvara, so all the potencies of Kṛṣṇa is there because the name is not different from Kṛṣṇa. So therefore, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, regrets, etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi: "My dear Lord, You are so kind, so merciful, that simply by chanting Your holy name, I get the full benefit of Your personal association. Still, I am so unfortunate. I have no taste for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa." Etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ. So you are so unfortunate that this, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, you are not taking part.
Lecture on SB 1.15.24 -- Los Angeles, December 3, 1973:
So we are creating our situation and serving a different type of desire. That's all. Kāmādīnāṁ katidhā na... And sometimes we are doing something which we should not do. Still, we are doing. But doing so, teṣāṁ karuṇa jāta. Although we have done so much for to serve the lust, greediness, but they are not merciful. They are still dictating, "Go on doing this, go on doing this, go on doing." He is suffering; still, he is following the dictation of lust and desire.
Lecture on SB 1.15.27 -- New York, March 6, 1975:
So Caitanya Mahāprabhu knew that "He is a perfect knower of Bhagavad-gītā." Still, He inquired, "Well, if you are not reading, then how you are crying? I see there are tears in your eyes. What is the meaning?" Then he admitted, "Yes, sir. Yes. That is." "Why you are crying?" "No, as soon as I take this Bhagavad-gītā in my hand a picture comes before me that Arjuna is sitting on the chariot ordering Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is carrying out his order and driving the chariot. So that makes me amazed. Therefore I am crying, that 'How Kṛṣṇa is merciful, that He accepted a menial service for His devotee. He is so kind.' " Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately embraced him: "Yes, brāhmaṇa, your reading of Bhagavad-gītā is perfect." So it doesn't matter whether one is illiterate or literate. Everyone has got these ears.
Lecture on SB 1.15.33 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1973:
So even though we cannot see God with our present eyes, but God is so merciful that He becomes present before us in a manner by which we can see Him. That is this vigraha, arcā-vigraha. God is beyond our sensual perception, adhokṣaja. But those who are neophyte, they may become atheist that "We cannot see God, that... How can I serve Him?" But those who are advanced, they can see God every moment, although physically others cannot see.
Lecture on SB 1.15.42 -- Los Angeles, December 20, 1973:
So that is the way. That is the way. You cannot speculate. Athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi jānāti tattvam (SB 10.14.29). Tattvam, that truth, one can understand, how has received the mercy of God. Therefore we sing "Guru, guru is the mercy of God." God is so merciful that He is within yourself. He is trying to teach you, and, internally, and externally he appears as guru, to teach you. Mercy. So therefore guru is considered as good as Kṛṣṇa. Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ. In all the śāstras, the guru is respected as Kṛṣṇa is respected. Sākṣād-dharitvena. Haritva. Hari means Lord.
Lecture on SB 1.15.46 -- Los Angeles, December 24, 1973:
So about the Kali-yuga, discussing, the Śukadeva Gosvāmī is describing the chief symptoms of this age. The first symptom he says, tataś ca anu-dinam. With the process of this age, Kali-yuga, dharma, religious principles; satyam, truthfulness; śaucam, cleanliness; kṣamā, forgiveness; dayā, mercifulness; āyuḥ, duration of life; balam, bodily strength; smṛtiḥ, memory... Just count how many. Dharmaḥ, satyam, śaucam, kṣamā, dayā, āyuḥ, balam, smṛti-eight. These things will gradually reduce to nil, almost nil.
Lecture on SB 1.15.46 -- Los Angeles, December 24, 1973:
So satyam, śaucam, kṣamā, dayā, mercifulness. Even if you see in your front somebody is being killed, you will not take interest. No mercifulness. It is happening already.
Lecture on SB 1.16.19 -- Hawaii, January 15, 1974:
So this chapter is on the subject matter, "How Parīkṣit Received the Age of Kali." We are studying this chapter at the present moment. In Los Angeles we were studying, and again, after that, we are presenting. So Kali-yuga is not very good age, simply faults. We have several times discussed that in this age, people's duration of life, mercifulness, bodily strength and so many things, eight kinds of things, will be reduced. The age is reducing; the bodily strength is also reducing. Now you American generation, you are not as strong as your father or grandfather.
Lecture on SB 1.16.19 -- Los Angeles, July 9, 1974:
The real religion is, as Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, is sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66). First of all surrender. Then talk of mercy and this or that. Also, although God is very merciful, even those who are simply asking from God, not prepared to give anything, God is merciful, even though he...
Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Los Angeles, July 10, 1974:
So it was published and very much appreciated by the public. So the idea is that one cannot be merciful unless he is a devotee. The so-called mercifulness showed by the philanthropists, humanitarians, that is all false. They are humanitarian, but they maintain slaughterhouse. What is this humanitarian? It does not appeal to you that animals are being killed? So the real fact is that without becoming a devotee of Kṛṣṇa or God, nobody can be qualified with good attributes. It is not possible.
Lecture on SB 1.16.23 -- Los Angeles, July 13, 1974:
That is Kṛṣṇa avatāra. Kali-yuge nāma-rūpe avatāra. So don't think that Kṛṣṇa, this vibration Kṛṣṇa, is different from that Kṛṣṇa. The same Kṛṣṇa. The same Kṛṣṇa. If you say that "Why has not come to kill the demons?" that is His great sympathy, mercy, that you are already killed. You see? What another killing? So we are already dead. Therefore we are so fallen that it does not require any more killing. Mercifulness. You see? The demons... Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa, merciful. Pāpī tāpī jata chilo hari-nāme uddhārilo. All the demons, full of sinful activities, they are to be delivered by this weapon, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, killing is going on.
Lecture on SB 1.16.25 -- Hawaii, January 21, 1974:
One must be merciful. Dayā means... When a man is suffering a fellow man, another fellow man must feel for it. That is called dayā. There are two things: dayā and sevā. Sevā means to give service to the superior, and dayā means to give service to the inferior. Both of them are service. Dayā, I mean to say... A man is suffering. He is in helpless condition. Just like in hospital, those who are patients, who are diseased, they go to the hospital There is also sevā.
Lecture on SB 1.16.25 -- Hawaii, January 21, 1974:
Prabhupāda: Yes?
Bali-mardana: Prabhupāda, you were speaking of the quality dayā, mercifulness, and you were saying that actually we could not apply this to the Supreme Lord. But I'm thinking perhaps that the cowherd boys, sometimes were they merciful to Kṛṣṇa by not being too rough with Him?
Prabhupāda: They were equal with Kṛṣṇa, therefore they could show mercy. You are not equal with...
Lecture on SB 2.1.2-5 -- Montreal, October 23, 1968:
It is the grace. Therefore, when Bhāgavata says, yad-apāśrayāśrayam... Apāśrayāśrayam means a devotee is already under the protection of God, and if one takes protection of a devotee, he also becomes a devotee and becomes purified. Therefore a devotee is more merciful than God. Even in God there is consideration-pious, impious. For a devotee there is no such consideration. "Everyone come." What is the purpose of opening so many centers? Just to give people opportunity to take advantage, without any consideration of his position. But if one does not take the advantage, it is up to him.
Lecture on SB 2.4.1 -- Los Angeles, June 24, 1972:
Bīja means seed. Guru-kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa and guru. When both of them are merciful, then you can get the seed of bhakti-latā creeper. Mālī hañā kare sei bīja āropaṇa (CC Madhya 19.152). When you get a nice seed... Just like you are growing, nursing the tulasī seed very carefully... Tulasī seed, that is the example of bhakti seed. Similarly, you have to nurse the bhakti seed by giving all protection, watering daily.
Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:
It is simply degraded. But this is māyā. Falsely they are thinking, "We are advanced." In this age, memory will be reduced, duration of life will be reduced, people's merciful tendency will be reduced, strength of the body will be reduced. In this way everything will be reduced. Now we do not find very strong men, very strong memory, living for a long time, bodily strength. No. These are reducing. Now people are not merciful. One man is being killed before you in the street; nobody takes care. This is the sign of Kali-yuga. Everything will be reduced. Memory also being reduced. There are eight kinds of things reducing.
Lecture on SB 3.25.3 -- Bombay, November 3, 1974:
So one has to learn how to describe the Absolute Truth, Bhagavān, how He's acting, how He's merciful, how He is so kind to the living beings that He comes personally. He's more anxious to give us education, enlightenment what is the goal of life. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). And He leaves the literature, He leaves His devotee, He leaves His follower, the paramparā system.
Lecture on SB 3.25.9 -- Bombay, November 9, 1974:
The more this age of Kali will increase, people will diminish in their bodily strength, in their memory, in their mercifulness, in so many ways. Eight kinds of diminishing, decreasing. Actually, we find, even in Western countries, the present generation, they are not as strong as their father or grandfather. Bodily strength decreasing. Memory is decreasing. There is no mercifulness. Now, at the present moment, if somebody is being killed and you are passing, nobody takes care. "Let him be killed." Because dayā, mercifulness, is diminishing. The duration of life diminishing. The bodily stature diminishing. The memory diminishing. Everything is diminishing.
Lecture on SB 3.25.21 -- Bombay, November 21, 1974:
Nitāi: ("The symptoms of a sādhu) are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime."
Prabhupāda:
- titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ
- suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām
- ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ
- sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ
- (SB 3.25.21)
In the previous verse Kapiladeva has recommended that sa eva sādhuṣu kṛtaḥ. What is that?
Lecture on SB 3.25.21 -- Bombay, November 21, 1974:
You have to remain sādhu. You cannot become asādhu. You have to tolerate. What can be done? Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ (SB 3.25.21). At the same time, you have to become merciful. You know what has happened in this place, Hare Krishna Land. So much attack by the police, by the Municipality, "Break this temple." So we could have gone, that "What is the use of taking so much botheration? We have got hundreds of temples outside India.
Lecture on SB 3.25.21 -- Bombay, November 21, 1974:
If Bombay people are not liking, let us go away." No. Kāruṇikāḥ. We have come to distribute Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We must tolerate and give this message to the people. Kāruṇikāḥ. Very merciful, in spite of all trouble. What is the use of...? These boys, these American boys, they have come to help me—not that they are hungry, they have come here. No. My mission is that "You American, your, you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa so that India, people of India will see, 'Oh, Americans, they are also chanting. Why not ourselves? It is our property.' " But unfortunately, so much dull brain. But that is not coming. But still, we have to do it. We have to tolerate and we have to become kāruṇikāḥ.
Lecture on SB 3.25.21 -- Bombay, November 21, 1974:
Therefore it is said that para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. Kāruṇikāḥ. Why kāruṇikāḥ? Why you should, one, you want to be merciful? Now, para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. Kṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye (CC Madhya 6.254). A Vaiṣṇava's business is para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. A Vaiṣṇava understands that "These people, they are engaged like cats and dogs in sense gratification.
Lecture on SB 3.25.21 -- Bombay, November 21, 1974:
There is no question of getting something, money. No. Money we have got sufficient. Just to become merciful upon these fallen, conditioned souls, who are suffering on account of becoming animalistic, without any Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore the preacher, the sādhus... These are the sādhus. Titikṣavaḥ, tolerant. "Never mind. Whatever hindrances and tribulations they are offering to us, never mind. Tolerate." Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ (SB 3.25.21). Suhṛdaḥ, means the heart is so nice. Su means nice, and hṛd means heart.
Lecture on SB 3.25.26 -- Bombay, November 26, 1974:
That is also true. But you cannot conceive of Kṛṣṇa in His virāḍ-rūpa and at the same time dress Him and give Him something to eat. That is not possible. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has become so merciful. Here, of course, the Deity is very big. Not very big. In Hyderabad we have got three times bigger Deity, like... But you can have a small Deity. Many Vaiṣṇava, they carry Deity with them, a small Deity in a small box, and they worship.
Lecture on SB 3.25.30 -- Bombay, November 30, 1974:
This is spoken by Śukadeva Gosvāmī after describing the faults of Kali-yuga. There are many, many hundreds and thousands of faults. People will suffer. They are all described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. People's intelligence, bodily strength, mercifulness—everything will be reduced. And so many things are described. Some of them are very prominent even at the present moment. Just like in the Kali-yuga, it is stated lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam: "People will think by keeping long hairs they will become beautiful." Lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam.
Lecture on SB 3.25.30 -- Bombay, November 30, 1974:
We cannot approach Kṛṣṇa directly. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). That is the statement in the Bhagavad-gītā. Paramparā. Guru, he offers the same respect to his guru, his guru. It goes. In this way, it goes to Kṛṣṇa, paramparā system. Therefore it is stated, bhavad-anugrahāt. Bhavad-anugrahāt: "Please kindly become merciful upon me."
Lecture on SB 3.25.30 -- Bombay, November 30, 1974:
Still, she is submitting because she happens to be woman, and although she is such exalted woman that she could give birth to the Personality of Godhead Kapiladeva—she was not ordinary woman—still, she thinks manda-dhīḥ: "I am less intelligence." Manda-dhīr hare: "My dear Kapila, You are Supreme Personality of Godhead, but I am manda-dhīḥ. My intelligence is not very sharp. Still, I want to understand the sublime subject matter, transcendental subject matter, from You. So it is possible." Bhavad-anugrahāt: "If You become merciful, then it is possible." This is the process.
Lecture on SB 3.25.30 -- Bombay, November 30, 1974:
Therefore His name is Ajita. Ajita. If you want to conquer over Ajita, then you simply... Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "Don't speculate." Sthāne sthitāḥ... Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. Be submissive: "Kṛṣṇa, I am very poor. Kṛṣṇa, I have no means to understand You. So if You kindly be merciful upon me, then I can understand something about You." Surrender. That is wanted. Kṛṣṇa is very merciful as soon as He sees that somebody is surrendered.
Lecture on SB 3.28.17 -- Nairobi, October 26, 1975:
When he first saw Caitanya Mahāprabhu he offered his respect in this way, namo mahā-vadānyāya: "the most munificent, charitably disposed incarnation." Why? Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te: "People cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, but You are so merciful, You are giving direct love of Kṛṣṇa." When there is question of love? Unless I understand you fully—what kind of man you are, what is your position—you also understand, when we find of the same category or same..., then there is question of love.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Vrndavana, October 25, 1976:
Please chant." When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu heard it, He immediately came, and He was so angry, that "I shall kill these two men immediately. Bring My cakra." Nityānanda Prabhu said, "My Lord, You have promised not to take weapon in this incarnation, so kindly be merciful upon them." "No! They have insulted Vaiṣṇava!" This is another example. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is teaching this humbleness: tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā. But when Nityānanda Prabhu was injured, did He stop punishing them? No. At that time He became fire: "I shall kill them!" Tṛṇād api sunīcena does not mean that if a Vaiṣṇava is insulted or Viṣṇu is defamed, you remain silent, "I am tṛṇād api sunīcena." No.
Lecture on SB 5.5.4 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1976:
So His business is that "This rascal wants like this," and still He's so merciful, He asks māyā, the material nature, "Give him a body like this. He wants like this." So therefore we have got varieties. Because we have got varieties of desires we have got varieties of bodies. This is the explanation. Otherwise who will explain why there are so many varieties of bodies? The varieties of bodies means varieties of desire.
Lecture on SB 5.5.16 -- Vrndavana, November 4, 1976:
So this is creating some feeling in me: 'Oh, Kṛṣṇa is so kind, so nice, that although He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is carrying the order of His devotee as servant.' When I feel this, I cry: 'Oh, how Kṛṣṇa is kind. How Kṛṣṇa is merciful.' " So immediately Caitanya Mahāprabhu embraced him: "You are reading Bhagavad-gītā. It is not the literacy or education or knowing grammar and putting jugglery of words. That is not reading. If one feels what is the purport of Bhagavad-gītā, that is reading Bhagavad-gītā."
Lecture on SB 5.5.17 -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1976:
Pradyumna: "If someone is ignorant and addicted to the path of saṁsāra, how can one who is actually learned, merciful and advanced in spiritual knowledge engage him in fruitive activity and thus further entangle him in material existence? If a blind man is walking down the wrong path, how can a gentleman allow him to continue on his way to danger? How can he approve this method? No wise or kind man can allow this."
Prabhupāda:
- kas taṁ svayaṁ tad-abhijño vipaścid
- avidyāyām antare vartamānam
- dṛṣṭvā punas taṁ saghṛṇaḥ kubuddhiṁ
- prayojayed utpathagaṁ yathāndham
- (SB 5.5.17)
So one person is utpathagam yathāndham, another person is vipaścid tad-abhijñaḥ. Two classes of men generally: one who knows the things as they are and one who does not know what is the value of life, how to make progress. So one does not know and one knows.
Lecture on SB 5.5.17 -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1976:
So by the disciplic succession, by the instruction of the Gosvāmīs, everyone can be purified because they will properly train up. Avidyāyām antare vartamānam. They will not misguide. Dṛṣṭvā punas taṁ saghṛṇaḥ kubuddhim. Merciful: "Never mind." But there is no disqualification because one is low born and high born. Everyone can take. But he must follow the direction of the proper guide. Just like we say, "No meat-eating, no intoxication, no illicit sex." If he follows the rules and regulation and chants Hare Kṛṣṇa under the guidance of proper spiritual master, then everything will be all right.
Lecture on SB 5.5.19 -- Vrndavana, November 7, 1976:
Therefore out of His causeless mercy He has appeared in a form which you can see, you can touch, you can dress, you can offer garland, you can offer food—to accept your service. That is God's mercy. Don't think that "Because God mercifully has come before Me in a form which we can perceive, which we can see, with which we can serve," not that "He is not God." That is rascaldom. God is there. Otherwise Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as soon as He entered the Jagannātha's temple, immediately He fainted. Does it mean He made a fun? No. He saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead present there.
Lecture on SB 5.5.25 -- Vrndavana, November 12, 1976:
Therefore, itareṇa teṣām akiñcanānāṁ mayi bhakti-bhājām. But one has to become akiñcana—nothing material, simply the lotus feet of the Lord. Just like Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura said, hā hā prabhu nanda-suta, vṛṣabhānu-sutā-yuta. He is praying, nanda-suta, "Kṛṣṇa," vṛṣabhānu-sutā-yuta, "along with Rādhārāṇī." Vṛṣabhānu-sutā is Rādhārāṇī. Karuṇa karaha ei-bāra: "Just be merciful upon me." Narottama-dāsa kahe, nā ṭheliho rāṅgā pāy: "I am fully surrendered unto You. You don't throw me away." Nā ṭheliho rāṅgā. Tomā bine ke āche āmāra. And this is wanted. "I have nothing except Your lotus feet." This is akiñcana, akiñcana, "no other thing except Your So how You can throw me away? Give me shelter." This is akiñcana bhakti-bhājām. If I think that "I have got another shelter except Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet," then I am not akiñcana. Kiñcana—I have got some other hope. No. Akiñcana means only hope: Kṛṣṇa. That is full surrender.
Lecture on SB 5.5.25 -- Vrndavana, November 12, 1976:
But I must be willing. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). If I do it, immediately... But that, I am not willing. We have seen so many persons. Kṛṣṇa says directly that "You surrender unto Me," sarva-dharmān parityajya. Still, he says, "When Kṛṣṇa will be merciful, then I shall do." What is this nonsense? Kṛṣṇa is directly asking you. Again He has to become merciful? What kind of mercy? These are all pleas, different pleas. Actually He doesn't want that "I shall not surrender unto You, sir. I shall place some pleas. That's all." In that way... When we become actually niṣkiñcana or akiñcana, then, as Caitanya Mahaprabhu advises, niṣkiñcanasya bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya.
Lecture on SB 5.5.26 -- Vrndavana, November 13, 1976:
This is nārakī-buddhiḥ. Arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇave jāti buddhir, nārakī buddhiḥ. Nārakī buddhiḥ. This is warned. Kṛṣṇa is here. Kṛṣṇa is here in the temple, but He has come mercifully to be seen by you. Otherwise you are blind; you cannot see Kṛṣṇa. But He has appeared as arcā-vigraha so that You are accustomed to see wood and stone, so He appears in your visible form, but He is Kṛṣṇa. You will understand He is Kṛṣṇa present when you have got enough love for Him.
Lecture on SB 6.1.1 -- Melbourne, May 21, 1975:
The purport of this verse is, "My dear Lord, I have served my senses in the form of lusty desires and anger and so many things, kāma, krodha, lobha, greediness, and..." My senses are, means, these things. "So I have served life-long, but neither they are satisfied, neither I am satisfied." Teṣām. "And they are not merciful. I have served them up to the age of eighty years, but still they want service from me. If I want to retire, they will not agree." If somebody says to his wife that "I have served so much in the family. Now let me go to the Kṛṣṇa conscious temple. I serve there," the wife will disagree, "No. What service you have done? You have got duty, duty, this duty, that duty."
Lecture on SB 6.1.7 -- Honolulu, June 15, 1975, Sunday Feast Lecture:
So in this Kali-yuga, (it is) especially Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy that you are chanting and dancing before Caitanya Mahāprabhu... So He is so merciful that if you continue this process, you are guaranteed that you will never go to the hellish planet. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy. Very simple thing. If you simply chant and dance before Caitanya Mahāprabhu Kalau saṅkīrtanaiḥ yajñaiḥ yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ.
Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- Honolulu, May 9, 1976:
They are so affectionate for the poor, suffering souls. Bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā. So Vaiṣṇava is very, very merciful. They are merciful to the fallen souls. Their only concern is how to deliver these fallen souls. They are under the clutches of māyā, suffering. So various means adopting, just try to save them. This is Vaiṣṇava business. Nānā-śāstra-vicā raṇaika-nipuṇau sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau.
Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- New York, August 1, 1971:
So all the godly or demigodly qualities will manifest. They are... Vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca. The Vaiṣṇava becomes the ocean of mercy to others. They're going door to door: "Please be Kṛṣṇa conscious. You'll be happy." Actually that is the fact. So who can be merciful than these Vaiṣṇavas? They are giving the right contribution to the society. They need it.
Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- Auckland, February 22, 1973:
The Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that "By the mercy of the spiritual master, one can get the mercy of Kṛṣṇa." Yasya prasādāt, "by whose mercy, Kṛṣṇa is merciful." Niṣkiñcanānāṁ pāda-rajo 'bhiṣekam. So this is also stated here, that surrender to Kṛṣṇa means surrender to Kṛṣṇa's representative. If you surrender to Kṛṣṇa, then also Kṛṣṇa's first mercy is that He will send His representative. If anyone is serious to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will help him from within and without.
Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- Denver, June 28, 1975:
The men are the local men, and the church is the same church. Why they are coming? Why they are taking interest? So this is the effect of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy. He is personally being merciful. He is distributing, Kṛṣṇa Himself. Therefore so quickly. So if we keep ourself in the right way of executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it will be possible—even in this very life we shall be perfect. Perfection means tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). This body, this material body, we have to give up.
Lecture on SB 6.1.17 -- Honolulu, May 17, 1976:
This is the definition of a sādhu. What is that? Titikṣava, very, very tolerant. Just see Christ, ideal character. How tolerant he is. He was being crucified; still he is merciful. Similarly, anywhere, those who are actually sādhu, saintly persons, they are very tolerant. Kṣamā-rūpa tapasvinām. That is the qualification of sādhu: titikṣava. At the same time kāruṇika, merciful. The others are torturing him, but still he is merciful.
Lecture on SB 6.1.17 -- Honolulu, May 17, 1976:
Even we eat vegetable, that is also killing. But because I have to kill somebody to eat, that does not mean that I can kill my child also. That is also going on. There is discrimination. Similarly, our principle is that we are kind, merciful, to everyone. But we have to eat, so we eat Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Because after all, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. So if He eats something, the responsibility is His. But we are not advocate of vegetarianism or nonvegetarianism. No. That is not our business. We are Kṛṣṇa-ites. What Kṛṣṇa said, we have to do.
Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Chicago, July 8, 1975:
The most junior, the small, the latest edition, they are very much fond, father and mother. It is said, bālo nārāyaṇo nāmnā pitroś ca dayito bhṛśam. Pitroḥ, pitroḥ means parents, father and mother, naturally, dayitaḥ, very merciful upon him than all other, bhṛśam, sufficiently. So the idea is that by God's grace, because in the beginning of his life he engaged himself to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, and he was initiated, but later on... But the first assessment of his life, that helped him that Kṛṣṇa gave him the advice, "All right, you keep your this youngest son's name Nārāyaṇa, because you will be naturally attached to this boy and you will call him, 'Nārāyaṇa, please come here.
Lecture on SB 6.1.26-27 -- Philadelphia, July 12, 1975:
Again Vyāsadeva says that "This rascal was situated in that, absorbed in the service of his son, Nārāyaṇa, of the name." He did not know... "What is this nonsense Nārāyaṇa?" He knew his son. But Nārāyaṇa is so merciful that because he was constantly calling his son, "Nārāyaṇa, please come here. Nārāyaṇa, please take this," so Kṛṣṇa was taking that "He is chanting 'Nārāyaṇa.' " Kṛṣṇa is so merciful. He never meant that "I am going to Nārāyaṇa." He wanted his son because he was affectionate. But he got the opportunity of chanting the holy name of Nārāyaṇa.
Lecture on SB 6.1.31 -- San Francisco, July 16, 1975:
So you have got big, big stock. That is required. There may be scarcity at times, but if you keep stock, then there is no trouble. This one, no foolish rascal should be worshiped, food grains should be nicely stocked, and the third thing, most important, dampatyoḥ kalaho nāsti: "There is no disagreement between husband and wife." If these three things are there, then you haven't got to pray to the goddess of fortune, "Kindly be merciful." She will automatically come. "Here is a very nice place. I shall stay here."
Lecture on SB 6.1.31 -- San Francisco, July 16, 1975:
So this man married a prostitute, duṣṭā-bhāryā, and he learned how to cheat, how to become fraud, so many. We have already discussed. That was his business. And he was very nicely... He was thinking, "I am very nicely situated." In this way he was little attached to the youngest child. That was his fortune, that he was named Nārāyaṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa's kindness. Kṛṣṇa is so kind, so merciful to His devotee, that Uddhava says that "Kṛṣṇa is so kind that Pūtanā came to poison Kṛṣṇa..." She smeared poison on her breast. She made a policy that "I shall take this child very affectionately and push the nipple in His mouth, and as soon as the child will drink the poison, He will die." And Kṛṣṇa is so kind that although her motive was to kill Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa took the bright side.
Lecture on SB 6.1.33 -- San Francisco, July 18, 1975:
What is that activities? That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā... (break) ...janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). You try to understand Kṛṣṇa. Simply try to understand. Don't conclude that "Kṛṣṇa is like us, ordinary human being, maybe little learned more than us, or little power..." No. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By His merciful or causeless mercy, He descends to exhibit His form, His activities, so that he can see. Just like in the Buckingham Palace in London, many people are standing. Sometimes the queen comes and stands on the corridor, and everyone can see.
Lecture on SB 6.1.42 -- Los Angeles, July 23, 1975:
So that death is God. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś ca. One who does not see God during lifetime, so he will see God at the time of death. So there is no question of not seeing God. Here is God, Kṛṣṇa. He is standing. He is so merciful. He has come to this temple so that we can take the advantage of seeing Him, But we are seeing Him still idol or something, stone or wood. He does not know that because we cannot see now at the present moment without being wood or stone or something material, so Kṛṣṇa has very kindly come to me so that I can see Him in a form which I can see. That is His mercy. We have repeatedly said this.
Lecture on SB 6.1.50 -- Detroit, August 3, 1975:
Although the limit is hundred years, nobody is living hundred years. It is reduced, reduced, more and more. In the Kali-yuga the memory will be reduced, the duration of life will be reduced, the strength of the body will be reduced, people's sense of mercifulness will be reduced. In this way there are eight items mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it will be reduced.
Lecture on SB 6.1.50 -- Detroit, August 3, 1975:
So this is the age of Kali, and we are in darkness, and a mode of life just like animals. So this is our position. But the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, He is sympathetic. He comes, therefore. He comes... He came in the Dvāpara-yuga, by the end of Dvāpara-yuga, and He left behind Him this Bhagavad-gītā, being merciful upon these conditioned soul, that "You make your life perfect by reading this Bhagavad-gītā. I am leaving behind him. Arjuna is My friend."
Lecture on SB 6.2.3 -- Vrndavana, September 7, 1975:
That means there is a balance of 427,000's of years to finish this Kali-yuga. And gradually, with the advancement of Kali-yuga, people's duration of life, memory, mercifulness, religious propensities, in this way eight items—they are described in the Śrīmad Bhagavatam—will reduce. We can see practically at the present moment. People are not very strong in body. They are lean and thin. And not only in India—we are poverty-stricken—but in Europe, America, also I see.
Lecture on SB 6.2.15 -- Vrndavana, September 18, 1975:
So that is not possible in the age. Everything is diminishing. The strength, bodily strength, is diminishing. The memory is diminishing. The duration of life is diminishing. Man's propensity to be merciful is diminishing. At the present moment, even in the civilized world, so-called civilized, if one man is being killed on the open street, nobody will go and help him because the tendency for showing mercy to others, that is diminishing. And bodily strength is diminishing. Memory is diminishing. Dharma, the principle of religion, that is diminishing. This is calculated. Therefore brahma-jijñāsā.
Lecture on SB 7.5.31 -- Mauritius, October 4, 1975:
That is the maximum. And in the Kali-yuga they can live up to one hundred years. That is also not completed. With the advancement of Kali-yuga the duration of life, bodily strength, memory, mercifulness, religious sense—in this way everything will be reduced. And the duration of life will be reduced so much so that it is stated in the Bhāgavata that "If a man lives for twenty to thirty years he will be considered as a grand old man." And there will be not available especially rice, wheat, milk, sugar. These are stated. This is Kali-yuga.
Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Toronto, June 19, 1976:
That time is coming gradually. If one lives from twenty to thirty years, he'll be considered a very old man. So alpa-āyuṣaḥ. This is the effect of Kali-yuga. Duration of life, mercifulness, bodily strength, memory, these things will be reduced gradually. You won't find nowadays very fertile brain. It will reduce. Not very strong man, bodily very strong, and mercy, there is no question. On the street, in your front, if somebody's being killed, nobody will take care; he'll go on. There is no mercifulness. Even the mother has no mercifulness, killing the child. This is Kali-yuga. So just imagine what is the duration of this Kali-yuga. That is all described. Mandāḥ. Everyone is bad. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo (SB 1.1.10). And if one poses himself that he is intelligent, then that is a, also a bad way of life. Sumanda-matayo. Manda-bhāgyā. Everyone is unfortunate.
Lecture on SB 7.6.7 -- Vrndavana, December 9, 1975:
Means they'll not understand. But still, the devotees, they take the risk that "All right, let me try to convince this person that 'Take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.' " Even Kṛṣṇa says that "Don't try, because they will not be able to understand," still, they try. That is a devotee. Therefore devotee is more merciful than Kṛṣṇa. Devotee is more merciful. Even there is no hope to understand, still, he goes door to door: "Please take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Please take to Kṛṣṇa, and you'll be happy." It is not always... Just like you are trying to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness with so much endeavor. It's not that cent percent people of the world will take. That is not possible. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kono bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). Only the fortunate persons will be able to take it.
Lecture on SB 7.6.16 -- New Vrindaban, June 30, 1976:
God is kind to everyone, merciful. But one who has engaged himself in the service of Kṛṣṇa, He takes special care for him. So we should not miss this opportunity of life and deviate from devotional service and make our life cumberous, again fall into the same material existence, ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8), "This is mine." No. Everything is Kṛṣṇa's. I am Kṛṣṇa's, everyone is Kṛṣṇa's, everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Let us behave in that way, then our life is successful.
Lecture on SB 7.9.5 -- Mayapur, February 25, 1977:
Athāto brahma jijñāsā. What is Brahman? Brahman means the original source of everything. That is Brahman. Bṛhatvāt bṛhanatvāt. So if this feeling is not there in God, then how He can be God, this feeling? Just like if one innocent little child comes and offers some respect to us, immediately we become feelingly merciful: "Oh, here is a nice child." So Lord Kṛṣṇa, Nṛsiṁha-deva, He also became pariplutaḥ, feelingly merciful, not ordinary merciful, feeling that "How innocent this child is." So feelingly, utthapya: immediately got him up. "My dear child, get up." And immediately put his hand on the head. Utthāpya tac-chīrṣṇy adadhāt karāmbujam. Karāmbhuja, lotus hand, lotus palm. So these feelings are there. And He wanted... Because this boy was bewildered that such a big mūrti came from the thumbs(?), the columns and the father, gigantic father, is dead, naturally he is little disturbed in mind.
Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Seattle, October 21, 1968:
That is the difference. When we become angry, there is no mercy. Mercy is far away from it. But God, Kṛṣṇa, because He is absolute, either He is angry or He is merciful, He's the same. The word God is good. He's good when He's angry and He's good when He's merciful. That is difference. In the material contaminated state, not only God, even God's devotee, they also acquire the same quality.
Lecture on SB 7.9.22 -- Mayapur, February 29, 1976:
So anyway, if by reading all these literatures, explanation, given by God Himself, we come to our senses that He is so great and so merciful, then it becomes possible to surrender unto Him. So for a fortunate person it takes even a second, because God Himself says,
- sarva-dharmān parityajya
- mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
- ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
- mokṣayiṣyāmi...
- (BG 18.66)
So if one is intelligent, he takes immediately: "Oh, it is so nice. He'll give me all protection? Let me surrender." Business finished in one second. But if he's a rascal, he wants to search out, make research work, then bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). After many many births it will take... So best thing is, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, prapannam. Arjuna says, prapannam, śādhi māṁ prapannam. This is wanted. Be surrendered to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, and be saved from these clutches of māyā.
Lecture on SB 7.9.26 -- Mayapur, March 4, 1976:
They belong to the nasty rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa quality. So it is not possible that You'll touch my body, but You have done it. You have placed Your lotus hand on my head. It is simply Your causeless mercy. Otherwise I am not fit for this. So, and I... You are so merciful that this mercy You did not offer to Lord Brahmā even." Brahmā is supposed to be the supreme creature within this material world, Brahmā. He's the first created creature, and he's called Svayambhū. He's not born of any material father and mother but directly came through the lotus stem which is growing from the navel of Viṣṇu. So he's not ordinary person.
Lecture on SB 7.9.30 -- Mayapur, March 8, 1976:
So we have got this opportunity of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's merciful movement, Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. So take it very seriously and chant śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda, śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhatka-vrnda. Kṛṣṇa-varṇam tvisakṛṣṇam (SB 11.5.32). That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, but now He's chanting Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 7.9.42 -- Mayapur, March 22, 1976:
So Kṛṣṇa can do anything. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. He can do anything. We cannot do without His favor. So Prahlāda Mahārāja requests that "If You kindly become merciful upon us, it is not a great task for You, because You can do whatever You like. Because You are the cause of creation, maintenance and destruction, so it is not difficult for You." Besides that, mūḍheṣu vai mahad-anugraha ārta-bandho. Generally, those who are ārta-bandhu, friend of the suffering humanity, they specially show favor to the mūḍha, to the rascals.
Lecture on SB 7.9.43 -- Calcutta, March 23, 1976:
Therefore we have to become a dog to Vaiṣṇava. Chādīyā vaiṣṇava sevā, nistar payeche kebā. Without serving Vaiṣṇava, nobody can be delivered, because he is so merciful, he can demand to Kṛṣṇa, "Please, on my sake please excuse him. I'll take him with me." So Kṛṣṇa grants him, "All right, you take them." That Vaiṣṇava is such...
Lecture on SB 12.2.1 -- San Francisco, March 18, 1968:
Now here, Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, tataś ca anudinam. Anudinam means "as the days will pass." Then what will be the symptoms? Now, naṅkṣyaty. Naṅkṣyaty means gradually diminish, will diminish. What will diminish? Dharmaḥ, religiosity; satyam, truthfulness; śaucam, cleanliness; kṣamā, forgiveness; dayā, mercifulness; āyuḥ, duration of life; bala, strength; and smṛtiḥ, memory. These eight items, just try to know. First thing is religiosity. As the age of Kali will make progress, people will become more and more irreligious. And they will become more and more liars. They'll forget to speak what is true. Śaucam, cleanliness, that will also diminish.
Lecture on SB 12.2.1 -- San Francisco, March 18, 1968:
So four items: religiosity, truthfulness, cleanliness, and forgiveness. Four. Then dayā. Dayā means mercy. What is dayā? Who is, I mean to say, less strong. Just like animals, birds, beast, you should be very merciful. Just like children: you should be very merciful to children. According to Vedic injunctions, children, woman, brāhmaṇas, old men, and cows. How many? Children, women, brāhmaṇa, cow, and what else?
Lecture on SB 12.2.1 -- San Francisco, March 18, 1968:
Children's protection is very important. Of course, nowadays there is protection for children, of course, from the state. But that is also artificial. There is killing process also. So many children in the womb are killed. But according to Vedic civilization, they are greatest offense. So dayā. Dayā means you should show your mercifulness those who are weak. So this will reduce, dayā. And āyuḥ, duration of life. Duration of life. In the Satya-yuga the duration of life was 100,000's years. A man used to live for 100,000's of years.
Lecture on SB Lecture Excerpt -- Los Angeles, June 8, 1972:
A living entity has got this independence. Just like Kṛṣṇa asking Arjuna, yathecchasi tathā kuru (BG 18.63). "I have spoken to you about things as they are. Now it is up to you to make your choice. Whatever you like, you can do." So Kṛṣṇa is so merciful, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante... (BG 4.11). If you want from Kṛṣṇa that you want to become a tree, so it is not very difficult for Kṛṣṇa to make you a tree. He's all-powerful. He can do that. But if you want, "Kṛṣṇa I want to be with You personally," that also Kṛṣṇa can give you. So now make your choice.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.2 -- Mayapur, March 26, 1975:
So Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Nityānanda, They came, descended again, being merciful, same Kṛṣṇa. Vrajendra-nandana yei, Śacī-sūta hoilo sei. Same Kṛṣṇa. In a different way they canvassed the same principle. (aside:) You can sit down there. You are sleeping. Don't sleep. Don't show that sleeping. Go there. So this is the darkness. And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared to drive away this darkness—same Kṛṣṇa, the same Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's preaching and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu's preaching.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.4 -- Mayapur, March 28, 1975:
We should pray to Rūpa Gosvāmī for his blessings so that we can understand what is the actual position of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the most merciful incarnation to bestow upon us Kṛṣṇa-prema. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī understood it, Śrīla Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya understood it, and we should take their viewpoint of view, what they have studied about Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says... In the beginning Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was appreciated by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī as mahā-vadānyāvatāra.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.15 -- Dallas, March 4, 1975:
Nitāi: "Glory to the all-merciful Rādhā and Madana-mohana! I am lame and ill advised, yet They are my directors, and Their lotus feet are everything to me."
Prabhupāda:
- jayatāṁ suratau paṅgor
- mama manda-mater gatī
- mat-sarvasva-padāmbhojau
- rādhā-madana-mohanau
- (CC Adi 1.15)
This is the surrendering process of the author, Kavirāja Gosvāmī. Before beginning to write Caitanya-caritāmṛta, he submitted himself to the lotus feet of Madana-mohana. (aside:) That child may be... So he is submitting that Rādhā-Madana-mohana... Those who have gone to Vṛndāvana, they have seen the temple of Rādhā-Madana-mohana. That was established by Sanātana Gosvāmī, the first disciple of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.15 -- Mayapur, April 8, 1975:
Devotee: "Glory to the all-merciful Rādhā and Madana-mohana! I am lame and ill-advised, yet They are my directors, and Their lotus feet are everything to me."
Prabhupāda:
- jayatāṁ suratau paṅgor
- mama manda-mater gatī
- mat-sarvasva-padāmbhojau
- rādhā-madana-mohanau
- (CC Adi 1.15)
That is sambandha. Sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana. At the present moment, in our conditioned stage of life, we have forgotten our relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is our conditional life. Just like a son has forgotten his father, rich father, opulent father, and loitering in the street, that is our condition. We are all sons of Kṛṣṇa, part and parcel, and Kṛṣṇa is full of six opulences. Richness, strength, influence, beauty, knowledge, renunciation—Kṛṣṇa is complete.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.4 -- Mayapur, March 4, 1974:
This is the grace of Nityānanda Prabhu. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura explains, āra kabe nitāi-cānda, karuṇā ha-ibe. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is aspiring for the day when Nityānanda Prabhu will be pleased upon him. Just like Jagāi-Mādhāi was delivered by the mercy of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, so we have to pray Nityānanda Prabhu. He's very merciful. He's so kind, Baladeva, He gives spiritual strength. Then we can approach the Supreme Lord. Therefore we chant "Nitāi-Gaura." This is the process. We cannot change this policy. Pañca-tattva must be worshiped; otherwise wherefrom we shall get...? The spiritual master... Nityānanda Prabhu is the spiritual master. Or spiritual master is the replica, representation, of Nityānanda Prabhu. So when Nityānanda Prabhu is pleased, then we become detached from this material attraction.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.66-76 -- San Francisco, February 6, 1967:
"In this age of Kali..." Kali means disagreement, quarrel and misunderstanding. This is Kali-yuga, misguiding and, I mean to say, less intelligence, less merciful, living for short period. There are so many disqualifications in this age. So therefore, in the Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa it is explicitly stated that,
- harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam
- kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
- (CC Adi 17.21)
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.91-2 -- Vrndavana, March 13, 1974:
Not even for the kṣatriyas, or what to speak of vaiśya. Vaiśya, śūdra and woman, they have been classified in the Bhagavad-gītā as less intelligent. Striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdras te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim. But Kṛṣṇa is so merciful. If you take the shelter of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, whatever you may be... You may be scholar or not scholar. You may be rich or poor; women, śūdra, vaiśya, or pāpa-yoni. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. In Bhāgavata also, Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbha yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ ye 'nye ca pāpā (SB 2.4.18). Pāpā means born in low-grade family. They are called pāpā. Śuddhyanti: they become purified.
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.149-171 -- San Francisco, March 18, 1967:
Caitanya Mahāprabhu excused all these offenders. Anyone who is godless, he is offender. So when they chanted Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa and accepted the Vedānta philosophy according to the explanation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He excused them. That is the significance of Lord Caitanya. He is very merciful. He excuses. Without excuse, how He can deliver the fallen souls of this age? Their condition is very precarious. Their duration of life is very small and they are not very intelligent, very slow to understand their importance of spiritual life. And even they are little advanced, they are under the clutches of so many so-called bogus societies. So therefore their condition is very precarious and... So there is no other alternative than to excuse them.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 6.154 -- Gorakhpur, February 16, 1971:
And when he first met at Allahabad, he offered this prayer: namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). "My dear Lord, You are so munificent, You are so liberal than all incarnations. You are liberal, you are merciful than Kṛṣṇa also." So namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te: "You are offering love of Kṛṣṇa. It is so difficult to understand Kṛṣṇa, but You are so kind that You are directly offering love of Kṛṣṇa." Not only understanding, but also developing your dormant love for Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 8.128 -- Bhuvanesvara, January 24, 1977:
In the Tretā-yuga it was ten thousand years. In the Satya-yuga it was hundred thousand years. It is reducing. Kali-yuga means the duration of age will reduce, the memory will reduce, the bodily strength will reduce, mercifulness will reduce. In this way everything will reduce. This is Kali-yuga. Supply of foodstuff will be reduced. This is Kali-yuga. So mandāḥ. Everyone is bad, not full strength. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo. And everyone has got a sumanda-mata. Mata means opinion or system which is also sumanda.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 8.128 -- Bhuvanesvara, January 24, 1977:
Prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ. People are living not as they used to live formerly. In this age, Kali-yuga, the maximum years one can live: hundred years in this Kali-yuga. Hundred years. In the Dvāpara-yuga it was one thousand years. In the Tretā-yuga it was ten thousand years. In the Satya-yuga it was hundred thousand years. It is reducing. Kali-yuga means the duration of age will reduce, the memory will reduce, the bodily strength will reduce, mercifulness will reduce. In this way everything will reduce. This is Kali-yuga. Supply of foodstuff will be reduced. This is Kali-yuga.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.66-96 -- New York, November 21, 1966:
Don't think that Kṛṣṇa is in want of your capātī. But if you offer Kṛṣṇa and take the capātī, you are benefited. Kṛṣṇa bada dayāmaya, karibāre jihvā jaya. I sing this. Perhaps you do not know the meaning, that Kṛṣṇa is very merciful. Because my tongue is always hankering after some good, tasty food, this or that, this or that... But if I eat Kṛṣṇa's prasāda, then my tongue will be controlled. And as soon as your tongue is controlled, your all other senses will be controlled. These are the philosophy.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.100-108 -- Bombay, November 9, 1975:
The Bhagavad-gītā was not meant for any third-class man. Rājarṣi. Rājarṣi, great kings, at the same time saintly. Not kings of the present day. Saintly kings, rājarṣi. So these Vedic literatures, they are meant for the high-class men, brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so kind, so merciful, that He has made a process that anyone can take it. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy. Therefore His name is Patita-pāvana. In this age everyone is fallen, everyone is fallen, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu is called "the deliverer of the fallen," patita-pāvana.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.103 -- Washington, D.C., July 8, 1976:
Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.) "Translation: Actually I do not know how to inquire about the goal of life and the process for obtaining it. Being merciful upon me, please explain all these truths."
Prabhupāda:
- 'sādhya'-'sādhana'-tattva puchite nā jāni
- kṛpā kari' saba tattva kaha ta' āpani
The injunction in the Bhagavad-gītā is that tad viddhi, try to understand. Not try, but must try. The human life is meant for understanding tattva, the Absolute Truth. That is the special advantage of the human life. If a human being does not inquire or he's not trained up to inquire about it, it is a great disadvantage and it is enviousness. In the human life, the chance is there to make a solution of the whole problem, struggle for existence, survival of the fittest.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.119-121 -- New York, November 24, 1966:
And the primary qualification of spiritual master—that he is completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, completely Kṛṣṇa conscious person. These are the things. So Lord Caitanya said, sādhu-śāstra-kṛpāya yadi kṛṣṇonmukha haya. Now, the sādhu's qualification is he's merciful, friendly... So the sādhus, they take the risk of becoming friendly and merciful to the fallen, conditioned souls, and they preach the message of Godhead. Therefore their mercy is required. They are merciful, by nature. By nature, they are merciful. One who is sādhu, one who is devotee, by nature, he has developed that merciful quality, friendly quality. So their business is to enlighten those who are ignorant, those who are fully absorbed in this material concept of life. Therefore they preach. And we have to take that mercy.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.119-121 -- New York, November 24, 1966:
So one has to accept. Sādhu-śāstra-kṛpāya. They are always merciful. But one has to accept them and become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Sādhu-śāstra-kṛpāya yadi kṛṣṇonmukha haya. And as soon as he agrees to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then his path becomes clear. He'll get rid of these material clutches and this always full life full of anxiety and problems, he'll kick.
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.29 -- San Francisco, January 21, 1967:
So one of the chief disciples of Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, he very much appreciated Caitanya Mahāprabhu's presentation of Vedānta-sūtra and excellent presentation of harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21), that "In this age there is no other alternative for self-realization than chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare," harer nāma, the holy name of God. So considering the fallen age at the present moment, God is so merciful and kind that He presents Himself as sound, sound vibration, which everyone can produce by his tongue and can hear, and God is present there.
Sri Isopanisad Lectures
Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 6 -- Los Angeles, May 8, 1970:
He cannot discriminate. Na tad-bhakteṣu cānyeṣu sa bhaktaḥ prākṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ. That neophyte devotee is almost material. Then next stage is to make friendship, to love God, and to make friendship with devotees, and to be merciful to the innocent and to reject the atheist. Four classes of men. You have to offer all your love for Kṛṣṇa and you have to make friendship with the devotees of Kṛṣṇa. And those who are innocent, just preach this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and try to attract them to Kṛṣṇa. And another class, atheists, don't go there. Don't try there. Hopeless. Not hopeless. For a person who is not very much elevated, for him it is hopeless.
Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures
Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 33 -- New York, July 27, 1971:
So this is Kṛṣṇa's merciful pastime, that He becomes very easily available to the devotees. Otherwise it is very difficult to find out where is Kṛṣṇa, how is Kṛṣṇa. So our process is therefore to go through the devotees, not directly. Directly one cannot understand what Kṛṣṇa... Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (Bs. 5.33). We worship Govinda, the original Personality of Godhead. That is our business.
Festival Lectures
Ratha-yatra Lecture at The Family Dog Auditorium -- San Francisco, July 27, 1969:
The author's name is Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. He is singing. He had many songs. We are gradually translating them into English, and we will have them in our paper, Back to Godhead. The purport of this song is, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu, doyā koro more: "My dear Lord Caitanya, please be merciful upon me."
- śrī-kṛṣṇa caitanya prabhu doyā koro more
- tomā binā ke doyālu jagat-saṁsāre
"I do not find anyone as merciful as You are." Yes. Śrī Caitanya Prabhu... You have seen the picture of Lord Caitanya. Yes, it is on the altar, Lord Caitanya dancing. He, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appeared as a devotee. You have heard the name of Bhagavad-gītā. In that Bhagavad-gītā the last instruction is Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is asking everyone, "My dear sons, God is higher." That is accepted in every religion.
Ratha-yatra Lecture at The Family Dog Auditorium -- San Francisco, July 27, 1969:
In so many ways He is always canvassing, "My dear sons, do not suffer in this abominable condition of material existence. Come back to Me. Come back to home. You enjoy life, eternal life, and blissful life, and life of knowledge." That is God's business. Therefore He is all-merciful. In spite of our being disobedient, in spite of our forgetting, he does not forget. He says, "Whenever there is discrepancy in religious processes, and when there is predominance of irreligiosity..." What is religion and what is irreligion? That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, "I come to establish religion," and again He says, "Give up all sorts of irreligion." That means surrendering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Sri Vyasa-puja -- New Vrindaban, September 2, 1972:
Every one of you can understand very easily. Formerly if somebody is attacked by another man, many persons will come to help him: "Why this man is attacked?" But at the present moment if one man is attacked, the passersby will not care for it because they have lost their sympathy or mercifulness for others. Our neighbor may starve, but we don't care for it. But formerly the sympathy for other living entities, even for an ant... Just like Mahārāja Parīkṣit, while he was touring on his kingdom, he saw that one man was trying to kill a cow.
Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 30, 1968:
So on behalf of the pure devotees of Kṛṣṇa, Rūpa Gosvāmī is praying, karuṇāṁ kuru mayi karuṇā-bharite. "Oh, my worshipable Rādhārāṇī, You are full of mercy. So I am begging of Your mercy because You are so merciful, very easily You offer, bestow Your mercy. So I am begging Your mercy." Karuṇāṁ kuru mayi karuṇā-bharite, sanaka-sanātana-varṇita-carite. Now somebody may say, "Oh, you are so great, learned scholar, you are so great saintly person, and you are begging mercy from an ordinary girl? How is that?" Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī says, "Oh, this is not ordinary girl." Sanaka-sanātana-varṇita-carite. "This girl's description is possible to be made by great saintly persons like Sanaka-Sanātana. She is not ordinary."
Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- Bhagavad-gita 18.5 -- London, September 5, 1973:
So this is our philosophy, to please Kṛṣṇa through Rādhārāṇī, and just today is the auspicious day of Rādhārāṇī appearance. So we should offer puṣpāñjali and pray to Rādhārāṇī that "Rādhārāṇī, kindly be merciful and tell about me to Your Kṛṣṇa. To Your Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is Yours." Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not independent. Kṛṣṇa is Rādhārāṇī's property. So you have to approach Kṛṣṇa through Rādhārāṇī. That is, today is the auspicious day. Worship Rādhārāṇī very nicely and be happy.
His Divine Grace Srila Sac-cid-ananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Appearance Day, Lecture -- London, September 3, 1971:
If your immediate officer, boss, is pleased, that means the proprietor of the firm, he's also pleased. Although you do not see him. This is fact. Your immediate boss, if he's pleased. So similarly, we, our business, this spiritual line, is guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpā. We have to first receive the merciful benediction from the ācārya, and then Kṛṣṇa will be pleased and He'll also give His blessings. Mad-bhakta. There is a version in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, mad-bhakta pūjyābhyadhikā. He says, Kṛṣṇa says, that "If anyone worships Me directly and if anyone worships Me through the ācārya, he's better devotee who is coming to Me through ācārya." Mad-bhakta pūjyābhyadhikā.
Varaha-dvadasi, Lord Varaha's Appearance Day Lecture Dasavatara-stotra Purport -- Los Angeles, February 18, 1970:
At that time the only weapon will be to kill them. And one who is killed by the Lord, he also gets salvation. That is God's all-merciful quality. Either He protects or He kills, the result is the same. So that will be the last stage of this Kali-yuga, and after that, again Satya-yuga, the age of religiosity, will begin. These are the statements of Vedic literature.
His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, SB 6.3.24 -- Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971:
Just go under My plan; you'll be happy. You are making plan, you are unhappy; I am also unhappy. I am also unhappy. (laughter) So many plans are coming daily, and I'll have to fulfill." But He's merciful. If a... Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs... (BG 4.11).
Jagannatha Deities Installation Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.13-14 -- San Francisco, March 23, 1967:
That is the, I mean to say, process of Caitanya philosophy. It is called viraha. Viraha means separation. Separation. "Kṛṣṇa, You are so good, You are so merciful, You are so nice. But I am so rascal, I am so full of sin, that I cannot see You. I have no qualification to see You." So in this way, if one feels the separation of Kṛṣṇa, that "Kṛṣṇa, I want to see You, but I am so disqualified that I cannot see You." These feeling of separation will make you enriched in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Feeling of separation. Not that "Kṛṣṇa, I have seen you.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Arrival Address -- London, July 7, 1973:
So if anyone wants to know actually what is Kṛṣṇa... Of course, it is not possible to know Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa reveals to the devotee, svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ, revelation. Just like Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā. People should know. Why they are searching unnecessarily? Rascaldom. You cannot search out Kṛṣṇa, God, by speculation. If He reveals Himself by His causeless mercy, being merciful upon you, being pleased upon you, then you can understand Kṛṣṇa.
Arrival Conversation -- Los Angeles, June 20, 1975:
When they will read, then they will get. Nowadays in the Sixth Canto, Fourth Chapter, the soul and how the soul is covered, that is being described wonderfully. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam. Vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām. It is written by the most learned Vyāsadeva, vidvāṁs, and sātvata-saṁhitām. How merciful he was. He is still living, Vyāsadeva. He is still existing.
Arrival Conversation -- Los Angeles, June 20, 1975:
So that is for his good. One who is surrendered, he'll get the result. Kṛṣṇa is self-sufficient. Similarly, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is self-sufficient. But if he said that "I (am) keeping unfinished," that means he gave us the chance, the opportunity. So we should always pray to Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura to be merciful upon us so that we can execute his unfinished task. That should be our... And never we should think that "What Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura could not finish, I have finished." Don't think like that. It is not like that. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, eka ki āmāra nāhi pāya. (pause) You have not given index. That I have instructed. You should now prepare index.
Arrival Address -- Denver, June 27, 1975:
Prabhupāda: Who sang this song? You sang. You know the meaning?
Devotee: "O venerable Vaiṣṇava, O ocean of mercy, please be merciful unto your servant. Please give me one drop of mercy. I pray for the shade of your lotus feet."
Prabhupāda: Yes. So Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has also said, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā, nistāra pāyeche kebā. Our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for nistāra. Nistāra means to be liberated from the capture of māyā. That is called nistāra, release, release from the capture of māyā.
Arrival -- Philadelphia, July 11, 1975:
Brahmānanda: Mercy killing.
Prabhupāda: Mercy killing. It will be merciful if one is killed. So this is coming. But the point is that if you have come to show me the mercy of killing, but I am not prepared to be killed. Why? You have come to show me mercy, but I am not prepared to take your mercy. Why? What is the psychology?
Kīrtanānanda: No one wants to die.
Initiation Lectures
Initiation Lecture -- Los Angeles, July 13, 1971:
In the śāstra it is said that if you commit some offense to Kṛṣṇa, He excuses, but if you commit offense to His devotee, He never excuses. Personal offense to Kṛṣṇa can be excused by Kṛṣṇa. He is so merciful. The Durvāsā Muni, he offended Mahārāja Ambarīṣa and he went up... He was so powerful that he went to Viṣṇuloka to see Viṣṇu for being protected because the sudarśana cakra was after him. So Viṣṇu said, "Oh, this is beyond My power.
Gurudasa Sannyasa Initiation -- San Francisco, July 21, 1975:
So popularity, born in high family, having good wife and good mother, everything complete—still, He took sannyāsa. Therefore it is said, pūrvatamair mahadbhiḥ. Why? Now, just to show mercy to the fallen souls. Māyā-mṛgaṁ dayitayā (SB 11.5.34). Just to show mercy to the fallen souls. This the the meaning of sannyāsa. One must be very merciful. Vaiṣṇavas, they are merciful. All devotees of God, Vaiṣṇava, they are merciful. You know Lord Jesus Christ, how he was merciful.
Initiation Talk Excerpt -- Vrndavana, April 4, 1976:
Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared to deliver all the sinful men. Pāpī tāpī yata chilo, harināme uddhārilo, tāra sākṣī jagāi and mādhāi. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura said that "Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu (is) so merciful that He delivered all kinds of sinful men," pāpī tāpī, "all types of suffering from material disease." And what is the medicine? Pāpī tāpī yata chilo, harināme uddhārilo. And evidence? Tāra sākṣī jagāi and mādhāi. You see Jagāi-Mādhāi.
Wedding Ceremonies
Initiation of Sri-Caitanya dasa and Wedding of Pradyumna and Arundhati -- Columbus, May 14, 1969:
So this merciful benediction was given by Lord Kṛṣṇa, er, by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam (SB 11.5.32). He is Kṛṣṇa. Categorically, He is Kṛṣṇa, or chanting Kṛṣṇa. But by complexion He is akṛṣṇa. Tviṣākṛṣṇam. So He gave us this greatest benediction, that you simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and you get all knowledge.
Address at Wedding of Bali-mardana -- Los Angeles, December 4, 1973:
Locana dāsa Ṭhākura, he sings that "This Nitai-Gaura incarnation, parama karuṇa—very, very merciful." Parama karuṇa, pahū dui jana: "Two lords, Nitai-Gaura." Parama karuṇa, pahū dui jana. Dui jana means two. Parama karuṇa, pahū dui jana, nitāi gauracandra: "Nityānanda and Caitanya Mahāprabhu, or Gaura Hari." Saba avatāra, sāra śiromaṇi kevala ānanda-khanda: "There are many incarnation, but Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda—simply ānanda, bliss." Ānanda, bliss, kevala ānanda-khanda. Now, for spiritual advancement, generally according to the Vedic system, so one has to accept the order of renounced life.
General Lectures
Lecture on Maha-mantra -- New York, September 8, 1966:
The God's name, God's form, God's quality, God's paraphernalia, God's entourage, like that, and anything in relation to God cannot be realized with our present senses. But when we are in service attitude, then God is so merciful, He is so pleased, that our tiny efforts to realize Him attracts Him, and He becomes manifested gradually as we make our progress in spiritual service or devotional service.
Lecture -- Montreal, June 26, 1968:
Now the question is why one is in forgetfulness and why one is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Is it a fact that Kṛṣṇa is dealing with different persons differently, that one is being fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and another is in different consciousness, or forgetting Kṛṣṇa? Apohanam. That is also due to Kṛṣṇa. Why? Because Kṛṣṇa is very merciful. The why answer can be given that Kṛṣṇa is very merciful. How merciful? One is given forgetfulness. How Kṛṣṇa is merciful? Yes, He's merciful. How is it? Because he wanted to forget Kṛṣṇa. He wanted to forget Kṛṣṇa, so Kṛṣṇa will give him such sources of forgetfulness that he'll never be able to understand what is Kṛṣṇa. "You enjoy. You want to forget Kṛṣṇa, or God? All right. I'll give you intelligence so that you will never be able to understand what is God." Not exactly memory... Because living entity, sometimes by good association will come...
Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Seattle, September 25, 1968:
Girl: " 'I do not know how to question You about the advancement of spiritual life, but I beg that You kindly, mercifully, let me know everything that I should know.' This is the process of acceptance of a spiritual master by the disciple. One should approach a spiritual master and humbly submit to him and then inquire from him about one's spiritual progress. The Lord was pleased by Sanātana's submissive behavior, and He replied as follows. 'You have already received benediction from Lord Kṛṣṇa.' "
Prabhupāda: Here... Here is another point, that Sanātana Gosvāmī approached his spiritual master, Lord Caitanya, and he submitted himself in such a way that his spiritual master, Lord Caitanya, was very pleased. So that should be the point of disciples, how to please the spiritual master. And Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, he has composed eight stanzas as prayers of spiritual master.
Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, January 19, 1969:
Their memory was so sharp that once heard from the spiritual master, they remembered. But in this age, in this Kali-yuga, memory, duration of life, mercifulness, stature of the body, and so many things, they are reducing. They are reducing. We are not advancing. That is wrong idea. For example, in your country the stature is also reducing.
Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, January 19, 1969:
So in this way the age, duration of life, will reduce in this age. And it is also said that at the ultimate stage, at the end of this age, if a man lives for twenty to thirty years, he'll be considered a grand old man. So because our human assets are reducing... Practically there is no mercifulness now, dayā. Formerly a man was very charitable, but here, at the present moment, where is the question of charity? He cannot maintain oneself. So these things are reducing. Therefore Vyāsadeva thought it wise to give the Vedic knowledge in writings so that we can read, we can hear, and we can utilize, we can take benefit out of it.
Srila Prabhupada and Disciples Speak -- New York, April 9, 1969:
Life after life, I was frustrated and baffled. Now, this life I am dedicated unto You." Hā hā prabhu nanda-suta, vṛṣabhānu, karuṇā karoho ei: "Now You become merciful. You are already merciful, but due to my forgetfulness, rebellious condition of life, I did not surrender unto You. Now I have come to my senses." Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). "After many, many births, so I surrender unto You. Please give me Your protection." This much. That's all.
Lecture at International Student Society -- Boston, May 3, 1969:
But gradually, the duration of age in this period will decrease so much so that it is stated that if a man lives for twenty to thirty years, he'll be considered a very old man. That is also predicted. So we are gradually declining in our strength, in our duration of life, in our memory, in our merciful activities, so many things. So in this age there is no time for meditation, there is no money for offering great sacrifices, neither people are very much interested in temple worship or church worship.
Lecture at Engagement -- Columbus, may 19, 1969:
So, memory is decreasing also. People's sentiment for doing good to others, or to become merciful, that is also decreasing. Strength is decreasing, stature is decreasing. So this is one side. Another side, mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā (SB 1.1.10). One side they're decreasing so many nice things, another side they're very slow for self-realization.
Lecture at Engagement -- Columbus, may 19, 1969:
This is the symptom of this age, practically. And it is said that at the end of this millennium, that if somebody lives from twenty to thirty years, he will be considered as very old man. So, memory is decreasing also. People's sentiment for doing good to others, or to become merciful, that is also decreasing. Strength is decreasing, stature is decreasing.
Lecture with Allen Ginsberg at Ohio State University -- Columbus, May 12, 1969:
In this age... As poet Ginsberg has explained to you, this is called Kali-yuga, or very degraded age. From the spiritual point of view, from material point of view also, people are reducing their duration of life and their merciful tendency, their strength, their stature. If you study scrutinizingly, you will see that your stature is reducing, your memory is reducing, your duration of life is also reducing in this Kali-yuga. There are many symptoms.
Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 7, 1971:
These associates, they are Kṛṣṇa-varṇam always. The Lord Himself, Kṛṣṇa, He is always describing about Kṛṣṇa as devotee. He is teaching us how to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Just see how much merciful is Kṛṣṇa upon us. He is coming personally, instructing Bhagavad-gītā, and asking us, "Surrender unto Me. Give up all other business, all other so-called occupations. You surrender unto Me. I shall give you protection from all sinful reactions." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣa..., mā śucaḥ: (BG 18.66) "Don't be worried. I'll take charge of you." But still, we do not surrender unto Him.
Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 10, 1971:
So that determination means utsāhā, "I must." That is necessary. Not that "When Kṛṣṇa is merciful, then I shall do." Kṛṣṇa is already merciful. But if we do not take it, then what Kṛṣṇa will do? Kṛṣṇa does not touch on your little individuality or little independence. So therefore we have... Just like when we earn money, we are very enthusiastic, similarly, if we want Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if we want to earn that position, go back to home, back to Godhead, we must be very much enthusiastic, utsāhān. And dhairyāt. Dhairyāt means patience.
Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:
Prabhupāda: God.
Woman (1): Your Divine Grace, I would like to ask you. I know that Kṛṣṇa is very merciful, and He has allowed us many, many births. Do we take these births in a human form all the time, or perhaps do we take a birth in perhaps an ant or a rat or a dog, or will it always be in the human form if we believe in Kṛṣṇa consciousness now?
Prabhupāda: If you believe in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even if you are not successful to finish the business of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this life, next life your birth is guaranteed as human being, either in a very rich family or in a very pure family. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo sanjāyate (BG 6.41). Yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ. Just like every one of us, we are trying to be successful in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Lecture -- Tokyo, April 29, 1972, (with interpreter):
The cloud means a process which collects water from the sea and distributes all over the surface. And the same water again glides down through the river unto the sea. Similarly, this movement means taking mercy from the ocean of mercy of Kṛṣṇa and distribute it all over the world, so that again the merciful water goes down to the sea. So those who actually want peace or mercy of God, they should kindly try to understand the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Lecture Excerpt -- Los Angeles, June 8, 1972:
Just like Kṛṣṇa asking Arjuna, yathecchasi tathā kuru: (BG 18.63) "I have spoken to you about things as they are. Now it is up to you to make your choice. Whatever you like, you can do." So Kṛṣṇa is so merciful, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante... (BG 4.11). If you want from Kṛṣṇa that you want to become a tree, so it is not very difficult for Kṛṣṇa to make you a tree.
Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972 'The Present Need of Human Society':
He's called Veda-vyāsa. Vedic knowledge was already there by tradition, by hearing, but he chronologically wrote all these Vedas. So there are so many symptoms. I may explain some of them. Kālena balinā rājan naṅkṣyaty āyur balaṁ smṛtiḥ: "These things will be reduced: dharma, truthfulness, cleanliness, and forgiveness, and mercifulness." People are not very merciful now. Especially in the Western countries, if one is attacked by another, people will pass. Nobody will care for that. He may be killed. People do not show any mercy. And kṣamā. Kṣamā means forgiveness. That is also being reduced. Memory reduced, merciful reduced, span of life reduced, bodily strength reduced, health is reduced. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga.
Lecture -- Jakarta, February 27, 1973:
And what to speak of one who is always engaged in the service of the Lord. He must be a sādhu. Sadhava sarva-bhūtānām. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām..., sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ (SB 3.25.21). Sādhu means he's tolerant. He's tolerant, titikṣavaḥ. At the same time, kāruṇikāḥ, very merciful. Now these persons, because they are sādhus, they are so much tolerant. Anyone who's preaching about God, they're sādhu, because they have to meet so many dangerous people. Just like Lord Jesus Christ. He was killed, but he faced... Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he was so much (indistinct), he was a Muhammadan, and he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.
Lecture at St. Pascal's Franciscan Seminary -- Melbourne, June 28, 1974:
Madhudviṣa: Umāpati. Umāpati.
Umāpati: We would like to introduce His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who is the ācārya of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement and who has mercifully come and delivered us with the blazing torchlight of transcendental knowledge to deliver us from this disease of material existence. I think he is going to lecture from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Thank you very much. (applause)
Prabhupāda: (chants maṅgalācaraṇa prayers) Father Greene and all other Fathers and Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly participating in this movement. So I will try to explain some of the verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is considered to be the essence of Vedic literature. Vedic literature means the four Vedas: Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg, Atharva, then Upaniṣad, 108 Upaniṣad, and eighteen Purāṇas, Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata. It is an immense treasure-house of literature. So this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is one of the eighteen Purāṇas, and in this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there are eighteen thousand verses. So I am just trying to explain one or two verses.
Lecture Engagement at Birla House -- Bombay, December 17, 1975:
This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission, para-upakāra. It is not the business of the Indian people to exploit others. The mission is they must be very, very merciful to all outsiders, born in, out of India. That is India's mission. Because they are in darkness, they do not know. So instead of enlightenment, giving them jyotir gamaḥ-tamasi mā: "Don't remain in darkness"—so we are imitating them. This is not India's good fortune. We should not imitate. That is not very good civilization.
Subha Vilasa Home Engagement -- Toronto, June 19, 1976:
He doesn't see that these are living entities, spirit souls. So this activity of the human beings, killing the cows, helpless cows by the thousands daily, is causing the..., or is an indication that there is no merciful quality in the human beings. They are simply interested in their own aggrandizement and welfare. If they don't surrender to Kṛṣṇa, that is the only alternative.
Address to Rotary Club -- Chandigarh, October 17, 1976:
Our grandfather or father lived for so many years, but we are not living for so many years. Our sons will not live so many years. In this way the duration of life, the memory, the mercifulness, the bodily strength—everything will be reduced. This is already foretold in the śāstras. So therefore in this age we are all short-living, mandāḥ, very slow or bad, and sumanda-matayo. Everyone has got a obnoxious opinion about philosophy, about the goal of life. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo, and manda-bhāgyā, unfortunate also.
Philosophy Discussions
Philosophy Discussion on William James:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Practical we can see from the verse of Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, that anyone who has got a slight merciful glance of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he thinks that Brahman liberation is as good as hell. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. And the heavenly planets, they are phantasmagoria, and yoga-siddhi, that is not a very important thing. And people are suffering on this material condition.
Philosophy Discussion on William James:
Prabhupāda: Everywhere he goes he feels pleased, while others seeing full of anxiety. Devotees, they are seeing everything pleasing. So these things happen simply by a fragment of the merciful glance of Caitanya Mahāprabhu upon His devotees. Viśvaṁ pūrṇam, they do not care for any big scholar or many exalted personalities, just like we challenge anyone, even we don't care for Dr. Radhakrishnan, who is so much exalted. So this is practical. Because one has become Kṛṣṇa conscious, therefore these things happen. (to guest:) Please sit down.
Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:
Prabhupāda: That is pleasure, serving God. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī, just see, in the cottage. They are minister. They are ministers. Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīm. They are living most aristocratically, and now they are taking the place of mendicants living in the cottage, no bodily comfort, no servants, nothing of the sort. Does it mean they are suffering? There is one... That is stated in the, that vande rūpa-sanātana, that they, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tuccha-vat. They gave up as most insignificant this society, this aristocracy. Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tuccha-vat. It is... What is the value of this? Give up. And bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau. And in order to become merciful to the mass of people, they accept simply loincloth, any way covering, that's all. That is a suffering? No. They are not suffering. Then people may say that that is suffering. But for them, there is a... Gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdi-laharī-kallola-magnau muhur. Then he merged into the ocean, in the thought that how gopīs, gopī-bhāva, they are transacting their business with Kṛṣṇa. Gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛta.
Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Hobbes:
Prabhupāda: So according to the contact with material nature, the living entity is desiring something, and God is so merciful that He is giving him facility. But actually, because God is friend, when he is prepared to understand from God how he will be happy, He says that "You give up all this nonsense plan. You just surrender unto Me." Then he is perfect.
Purports to Songs
Purport to Nitai-Pada-Kamala -- Los Angeles, December 21, 1968:
Then he says, nitāiyer koruṇā habe, braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pābe. He says that "If you actually want to approach the association of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, then try to achieve the mercy of Lord Nityānanda. When He will be merciful upon you, then you will be able to approach Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa." Dharo nitāi-caraṇa duḥkhāni. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura advises us that "You firmly catch the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda." Then again he says, nitāiyer caraṇa satya. One may not misunderstand that as he has caught hold of this māyā, similarly, the lotus feet of Nityānanda may also be something like that māyā, illusion.
Spelling of Prayers to the Six Gosvamis -- Los Angeles, December 26, 1968:
Priya-karau means they were doing things which is very pleasant to everyone. Nirmatsarau. Nirmatsarau means without any enviousness, no discrimination, that "Kṛṣṇotkīrtana or the songs, saṅkīrtana, shall be given to the gentle class of men, not to the ruffians." No. They were equally kind and merciful, without any enviousness. Priya-karau nirmatsarau pūjitau. Pūjitau means worshipable, adored by everyone. (sings) Kṛṣṇotkīrtana-gāna-nartana-parau premāmṛtāmbho-nidhī dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau priya-karau nirmatsarau pūjitau.
Spelling of Prayers to the Six Gosvamis -- Los Angeles, December 26, 1968:
Vande-rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva, s-r-i j-i-v-a, śrī-jīva, gopālakau, g-o-p-a-l-a-k-o-u. Śrī-caitanya-kṛpā-bharau bhuvi bhuvo bhārāva-hantārakau, b-h-a-r-a-b-a, hantārakau, h-a-n-t-a-r-a-k-o-u. (sings) Śrī-caitanya-kṛpā-bharau bhuvi bhuvo bhārāva-hantārakau vande rūpa-santanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau. Kṛṣṇotkīrtana-gāna-nartana-parau. So śrī-caitanya-kṛpā-bharau: "They were so kind and merciful because they actually received the blessings and mercy of Lord Caitanya." Śrī-caitanya-kṛpā-bharau bhuvi. Bhuvi means "on this world, on this earth." And bhuvo. Bhuvo means "on this earth," bhuvo, and bhuvi, "they became." Bhuvi bhuvo, bhārāva-hantārakau. Bhara, b-h-a-r-a, bhara means burden. Hantārakau, "just to take out the burdens." When people become too much sinful, the earth becomes overburdened, and just to make it lighter... If it becomes too much heavy, then it will fall down. So these great souls, they come to make it lighter.
Purport to Sri-Sri-Gurv-astakam -- Los Angeles, January 2, 1969:
The spiritual master has two kind of symptoms in his activities. One kind is called constant, and other kind is called temporary. So the first verse says that the constant symptom of the spiritual master is that he can deliver his disciples from the blazing fire of this material existence. That is the eternal qualification of spiritual master. Trāṇāya means for deliverance, and kāruṇya means compassionate, very merciful. The spiritual master comes to the deliverance of the fallen souls out of his causeless mercy. Nobody has any business for the sufferings of others. The best example is Lord Jesus Christ, that he suffered for others. And it is the principle in the Bible that he accepted all the sins of others.
Purport to Sri-Sri-Gurv-astakam -- Los Angeles, January 2, 1969:
They are planning to be very comfortable in this material existence, but they are still more being confused and failure. That peace movement, that United Nation movement, everything is failure. Why? These miseries of this material existence cannot be stopped by any material means. One has to take shelter of spiritual means. Just like the blazing fire in the forest has to wait for the cloud in the sky, similarly, one has to wait for the merciful cloud as the spiritual master.
Purport to Sri-Sri-Gurv-astakam -- Los Angeles, January 2, 1969:
The spiritual master, bona fide spiritual, means he has to receive the power from authority. Otherwise it is useless. No It is not that one can become spiritual master overnight. He has to take the power from his spiritual master. Therefore it is called prāptasya. Prāptasya means one who has obtained, one who has got the merciful blessings of his spiritual master.
Purport to Parama Koruna -- Los Angeles, January 4, 1969:
Who are the two lords? Nitai Gauracandra. One is Lord Nitāi, Nityānanda; another is Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So he says that "These two Lords are very merciful." Parama koruṇa, pahū dui jana. Parama koruṇa means very merciful. Nitai Gauracandra. Saba avatāra, sāra śiromaṇi. Avatāra means incarnation, and saba means all. "They are the essence of all incarnations." Saba avatāra, sāra śiromaṇi, kevala ānanda-kanda: "And the specific significance of these incarnations is that to prosecute their ways of self-realization is simply joyful," ānanda-kanda. They introduced chanting and dancing.
Purport to Gauranga Bolite Habe -- Los Angeles, January 9, 1969:
Kṛṣṇa consciousness under the mercy of Lord Caitanya. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa Himself and He is teaching people how to become Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Lord Kṛṣṇa, He personally spoke about Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā, but people who are not very intelligent, who are described in the Bhagavad-gītā as mūḍha... Mūḍha means rascal. And duṣkṛtina, miscreant, and narādhama. Narādhama means lowest of the mankind. Such persons cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. But still, Kṛṣṇa was so merciful that in order to claim all these people, means the lowest of mankind, miscreant, and fools, and rascals, rejected, so He came in the form of Lord Caitanya to reclaim them.
Purport to Gauranga Bolite Habe -- Los Angeles, January 9, 1969:
So God is so merciful that even some persons cannot understand Him... First thing is people cannot understand actually what is God, but God comes Himself to explain Himself. Still, they commit mistake. Therefore Kṛṣṇa comes as a devotee to teach us about Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Purport to Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu -- Los Angeles, January 11, 1969:
Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu doyā koro more, tomā binā ke doyālu jagata-māyāre. This is a song composed by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. He is praying Lord Caitanya that "My dear Lord, please be merciful upon me because who can be more merciful than Your Lordship within these three worlds?" Actually, this is the fact. Not only Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, but also Rūpa Gosvāmī, he also prayed for Lord Caitanya when both of them met at Prayāga, Allahabad, in the first meeting of Lord Caitanya and Rūpa Gosvāmī at Prayāga.
Purport to Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu -- Los Angeles, January 11, 1969:
He made condition that "First of all you surrender." But here, in this incarnation, Lord Caitanya, although He's Kṛṣṇa Himself, He makes no condition. He simply distributes, "Take love of Kṛṣṇa." Therefore Lord Caitanya is approved as the most munificent incarnation, and Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that "Please be merciful upon me. You are so magnanimous because You have seen the fallen souls of this age, and You are very much compassionate upon them. But you should know also that I am the most fallen. Nobody is a greater fallen than me." Patita-pāvana-hetu tava avatāra. "Your incarnation is just to reclaim the conditioned souls, fallen souls. But I assure You that You will not find a greater fallen than me. Therefore my claim is first."
Purport to Parama Koruna -- Los Angeles, January 16, 1969:
So he says that "These two Lords," nitāi gauracandra, "Lord Nityānanda and Lord Gaurāṅga, or Lord Caitanya, They are very merciful incarnations." Saba avatāra-sāra śiromaṇi. "They are essence of all incarnations." The incarnation is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that whenever there is discrepancies in the prosecution of religiosities and there is prominence of impious activities, at that time the Lord incarnates, or He descends on this material world, for protecting the pious and annihilating the impious.
Purport to Parama Koruna -- Los Angeles, January 16, 1969:
They would be... Of course, anyone who is killed by incarnation he also gets salvation. But not to the spiritual planets, but they merge into the Brahman effulgence as the impersonalists desire. In other words, the impersonalist's goal of salvation is as good as the goal of salvation of the enemies of God. That is not a very difficult job. So Lord Caitanya is very merciful because He is embracing everyone by bestowing love of Kṛṣṇa. Rūpa Gosvāmī has described Lord Caitanya as the most munificent of all the incarnations because He is giving Kṛṣṇa to everyone, without any qualification. So Locana dāsa Ṭhākura says that parama koruṇa, pahū dui jana, nitāi gauracandra, that They are essence of all incarnation.
Purport to Parama Koruna -- Los Angeles, January 16, 1969:
Dekho dekho bhāi tri-bhuvane nāi. Then he says, "Just see that there is nobody else so merciful." Paśu pākhī jhure, pāṣāṇa vidare. By His mercy even the birds and beasts, they are also maintained. Actually, when Caitanya Mahāprabhu passed through the forest known as Jhārikhaṇḍa in central India, He was only accompanied by his personal attendant, and He was alone, and when He was passing through the forest He touched one tiger. He was sleeping, and the tiger answered roaring.
Purport to Parama Koruna -- Atlanta, February 28, 1975:
So these prabhu two, two prabhus, Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu... Caitanya Mahāprabhu is addressed as Mahāprabhu, Mahā-puruṣa. And others, they are addressed as prabhu. So these two prabhus, Nityānanda Prabhu and Caitanya Mahāprabhu, are very merciful, parama koruṇa. Parama koruṇa means extremely merciful. Extremely merciful because Kṛṣṇa is also merciful, but because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His original feature... Caitanya Mahāprabhu is also Kṛṣṇa, but He is acting as devotee. He is not acting as Kṛṣṇa. He is acting as devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
Purport to Parama Koruna -- Atlanta, February 28, 1975:
There was no scarcity. And He was God Himself. Why there will be any scarcity? There is no question. But in spite of, He took sannyāsa for the benefit of the whole world. That Caitanya Mahāprabhu has come here in Atlanta. So you worship this Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Parama koruṇa, pahū dui jana, They are very, very merciful, and little service will enhance your devotional service to a larger scale.
| Page Title: | Merciful (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, JayaNitaiGaura |
| Created: | 10 of Jun, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=213, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 213 |