Prabhupāda: So if we take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness that is the proper utilization of our energy given by God. Just like if I'm healthy the finger is also healthy. Then what is the duty of the healthy finger? To serve this body. Similarly, we have got this energy from Kṛṣṇa, from God. So if you utilize this energy from Kṛṣṇa then it is proper utilization. If you utilize the energy for your sense gratification then you are misusing it. So anyone who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's spoiling his time, wasting his life and subjecting himself in so many laws of nature.
Misuse (Conversations)
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
Interview -- September 24, 1968, Seattle:
Prabhupāda: And according to our Vedic scripture, Lord Buddha is also incarnation of God. So we interpret in this way, that Lord Buddha preached among the atheists by cheating them. Oh, how it is? That they did not believe in God, and Lord Buddha said, "Oh, yes, there is no God. But you love Me." So they are loving Lord Buddha. Similarly, there are many persons. They do not believe in family life, they do not believe in so many things, but love is there. He is sleeping with a cat, with a dog. So in no circumstances you can avoid love, but they are suffering because the love is misplaced and misused.
1969 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 14, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:
Prabhupāda: If you disagree, then you are placed within the prison house. Similarly, jīva, independent, not fully independent, but they have got. Because part and part of God, therefore that independence quality is there. So when that independence quality is misused, then his place is in the material world. Kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vāṅchā kare. When we forget Kṛṣṇa and try to lord it over something... And Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. When we try to imitate His lordship, then our place is in the material world.
1970 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- December 12, 1970, Indore:
Prabhupāda: Of course, by nature they follow regulative principles. Still, but human being, having advanced consciousness, so instead of using it properly, they misuse the advanced consciousness and thus they become lower than animals. The animals, for want of advanced consciousness, cannot follow any regulative principles. But by nature they have got some regulative principle. A human being, advanced consciousness, instead of using it for advance in spiritual life they use it for sense gratification and thus they become lower than the animals.
Room Conversation -- December 12, 1970, Indore:
Prabhupāda: Śāstra-vākya-pramāṇa. And it should be known through the spiritual master. Just like nowadays Bhagavad-gītā is being interpreted in so many foolish ways because they do not accept explanation from the authority. They become themselves authorities. Therefore misused. That is not explanation. Somebody is explaining that Kurukṣetra means this body, pañca-pāṇḍava means the senses. These are all nonsense. You have to accept Bhagavad-gītā as it is.
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, -- November 25, 1971, Delhi:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like śūdra. In the Western countries, they are all śūdras. They are getting money and misusing on wine and women. They cannot use money (indistinct), simply for sense gratification. That is the śūdra. And brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, especially kṣatriya, as soon as they get money, they would make a big sacrifice to satisfy viṣṇu-yajña.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation and Interview with Ian Polsen -- July 31, 1972, London:
Indian: Prabhupāda, I may be wrong here, but Lord Kṛṣṇa has given man brain, mind...
Prabhupāda: But misuse it.
Indian: No, if we use it properly.
Prabhupāda: But he does not know. That is... Therefore we call these rascal. Why we are calling these scientists, philosophers, politician rascal? Because they have got brain but they're misusing. Therefore they have been called duṣkṛtinaḥ. You have got brain, you can utilize it for smuggling and you can utilize it also how to understand Kṛṣṇa. The same brain.
Indian: But the development of my economy...
Prabhupāda: Development... If you become miscreants by utilizing your better brain, then what is the use? You are going to hell. This brain has no meaning. Misuser brain. Brain means to understand Kṛṣṇa. That is brain.
Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: They are working hard because they are hogs and dogs. There is no need of working hard. Nature's arrangement is so perfect that if you live natural life, there is no need of hard work. This tree is standing in one place; it is not at all working. How it is standing and living? It is also living entity. The birds and beasts, they have no scientific laboratory. How they are living happily? So your advanced brain means you are spoiling, you do not know how to utilize the brain. The brain wants to be utilized for searching out Kṛṣṇa, but instead of Kṛṣṇa, you are searching out ashes, that's all. Brain is being misused.
Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: That I explained last time, that they are simply misusing their advancement, and they are satisfied when they have got a motorcar instead of bullock cart. That's all. They think, "Now I am advanced. We had bullock cart, now we have got motorcar with three hundred thousand parts. And every part will give me trouble as soon as it is (indistinct)," (chuckles) and that is advancement. As soon as one part is broken, the bullock cart is called for.
Morning Walks -- October 1-3, 1972, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is always merciful. He comes Himself also and demands surrender, but we do not do that. That we cannot do.
Jayatīrtha: As you were saying last night, if we had no independence, then there wouldn't be any question of... We'd be just like dull matter. There'd be no difference. So we have that independence.
Prabhupāda: By our misuse of independence, we do not surrender. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa says, "You surrender!"
Jayatīrtha: The spiritual master teaches how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation -- February 25, 1973, Jakarta:
Prabhupāda: Just like one man is very meritorious, he's planning to form a party how to plunder. This requires merit. Without merit you cannot form a party. But the merit is being used for plundering, for harassing, for so many other sinful activities. So that is called duṣkṛtinaḥ. Merit is there but the merit is being misused for sinful activities. Therefore duṣkṛtiḥ. Just like modern scientist. It is meritorious that they have discovered the atomic bomb. The merit is used for killing. If you just use your merit so that man may live; that they're dying. Everyone is dying. So you have discovered a bomb which will accelerate death. Death, everyone is going to die.
Room Conversation -- February 25, 1973, Jakarta:
Prabhupāda: Because in the human form of life, it is the chance to understand what is God, but he's misusing it. He's using this body just like cats and dogs. They eat, sleep, have sex intercourse, and die. So these things are there. But if somebody argues that you are saying lowest of the mankind but we see so many Dr. Radhakrishnans, they also do not admit. Therefore the word is used, māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ. They appear to be very highly learned scholars but their real knowledge has been taken by māyā. Māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ. Āsuri- bhāva. Why he can remain so? Because āsuri-bhāva, there is no God. That is their determination. There is no God. Therefore their merit is being misused, they have become the lowest of the mankind.
Morning Walk -- May 14, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: We are taught like this, how to see everything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious. We cannot therefore see anything wasted, anything misused. Why you are preaching? Why we are after so many rascals? That his life is being misused. Let us give him some enlightenment. This is our mission. Or let him go to hell. Just like Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they're engaged in meditation or in the Himalayas, but we have come to Los Angeles. Why? This is our mission. Oh, these things, these people are being misused under māyā, let him gain some enlightenment. This is our mission. We are teaching that, how to utilize everything for Kṛṣṇa. How to understand Kṛṣṇa in everything. That is our mission.
Conversation with Mr. Wadell -- July 10, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: Yes. So that He does not do. Otherwise, otherwise, there is no meaning of being part and parcel of God. God is fully independent, and we are minute part of God. Therefore we have got independence. That independence is minute, but there is. So if God interferes with your independence, then you are no longer part and parcel of God. Therefore God says that "You do this." Now, I misuse my independence. I do not do it. Therefore I am bad.
Mr. Wadell: Our positions do not differ on this point. We think exactly the same.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We do not do it. Just like your father says, "My dear son, do like this," but you disobey. Therefore you are bad son. So my badness is creation of my misuse of independence.
Room Conversation with Father Tanner and other guests -- July 11, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: You are free to some extent, because you are part and parcel of God. God is completely free. So because you are part and parcel of God, therefore you have got that minute freedom. That minute freedom, when you misuse for other purposes, then you fall down. But if you use that freedom for the service of the Lord... You have got freedom. You may serve the Lord, you may not serve. That is your freedom. But if you serve the Lord, then you become happy. If you do not serve the Lord, then you become unhappy.
Room Conversation with Father Tanner and other guests -- July 11, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: When you misused your freedom. You have got little freedom.
Father Tanner: But at what point did I... No. Or, a child lose its contact with its Creator?
Prabhupāda: It is said... Suppose I am serving my master. I can think of, "Oh, why shall I serve him? I shall become independent." That is my freedom, little freedom. So I cannot become independent. That is not my healthy stage. Just like... Take for example, a dog. A dog is healthy when he has got a good master. And if he hasn't got a good master, he's a street dog, neglected.
Room Conversation with Father Tanner and other guests -- July 11, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: That misuse of little independence. That I have already told. He has got little independence. So so long he's engaged in the service of the Lord, he remains in a spiritual body along with the Lord.
Father Tanner: No, I'm saying is it possible for any spirit not ultimately, after his various transmigrations through bodies, is it possible for any spirit never to regain contact with the Lord?
Prabhupāda: Yes. If he comes in contact with a servant of God, then he revives his old consciousness, original consciousness.
Room Conversation with Malcolm -- July 18, 1973, London:
Prabhupāda: They have no starvation. They have no nuclear warfare. Because they live as they're, as Kṛṣṇa has meant them to be, as their karma dictates. But in our situation we are meant to understand Kṛṣṇa. This, the goal of human life, is to use our developed consciousness to serve God. But unfortunately, since we misuse this for selfish motives, therefore we have descended lower than animals. Therefore we have not even the simple harmony that animal life has. Therefore we have mass warfare. Therefore we have greed, economic distress and pollution. All these things are caused simply because we have not used our human life for understanding Kṛṣṇa.
Room Conversation -- August 11, 1973, Paris:
Prabhupāda: Then? It is a common sense affair. The God has given you independence. If you do something wrong, against the will of God, then you must suffer. Therefore we find so many varieties of living entities. In different grades of life. That is due to misuse of independence.
Yogeśvara: Very popular today is the idea that if we are use, misusing our independence, it's because of our upbringing, our childhood, our society, something is wrong in our psychology. Not that it's the soul, not that it's a question of spiritual problem, but material one, that our parents were cruel or our society, our education was imperfect or something. But not spiritual problem.
Room Conversation -- August 11, 1973, Paris:
Prabhupāda: Not lost. Misused.
Haṁsadūta: Fallen into māyā. Or misused.
Prabhupāda: Not lost. Independence still there. He can go back again to father, go back to home, back to Godhead. God says that: sarva-dharmān... "You have come here to enjoy your independence, but you have created a havoc, entanglement. Now, if you simply surrender unto Me, abide by My orders, I give you all concessions. Immediately you are free from all reaction and come back to Me." Therefore, God comes to canvass, He sends His devotee to canvass, that: "You give up your misuse of independence and become happy." That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness program. But if you still stick to the independence, misuse of independence, you remain here.
Room Conversation -- August 11, 1973, Paris:
Prabhupāda: That, that is independence. That is also independence. You accept: "Yes, what you say, it is right. But I'll not accept." That is also independence, misuse of independence.
Yogeśvara: Like Dhṛtarāṣṭra, when he heard the arguments from Vidura.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So God's creation is perfect. There is no imperfect.
Guru-gaurāṅga: Does there come a time Śrīla Prabhupāda, when one misuses his independence, the independence is taken away? For example, if...
Prabhupāda: Now why shall He take away. What He has given to you, why He shall take?
Room Conversation -- August 11, 1973, Paris:
Prabhupāda: You say. They say, all rascals say. But actually this is independence, but because they're animals, they are directed by nature, more or less. Just like they do not... My point is they do not misuse independence as much as a human being does. You see. Just like a tiger. He is to eat animals, killing animals. He does not come to your orchard to steal your fruits. But you, rascal human being, you eat fruits and animals both.
Room Conversation -- August 11, 1973, Paris:
Guru-gaurāṅga: So the rascal thinks that independence, the manifestation, the symptom of independence is to misuse independence.
Prabhupāda: What?
Guru-gaurāṅga: He thinks the symptom... I am independent. I will show you I am independent. I will misuse my independence.
Prabhupāda: No. There's... Just like you are a citizen of French government. You are also independent. If the government says that if you do this, then you'll be punished. So when you do that, that is misuse of independence. Otherwise you are independent.
Guru-gaurāṅga: So real independence means to surrender then.
Prabhupāda: Yes. To authority. Because you have to surrender. If you don't surrender to God, then you have to surrender to māyā. Just like you don't surrender to government, then you have to surrender to the superintendent of jail. That's all. If you misuse your independence, you'll not be happy. This is the fact. But you have got the independence. You can misuse it. That is your prerogative. That is your freedom.
Room Conversation -- August 11, 1973, Paris:
Prabhupāda: Similarly such gigantic universal manifestation, millions and millions of living entities are there. They have to be trained up. They have to be provided with all necessities of life. This responsibility's there. And actually God is doing that. He's giving food. He's giving necessities. Why? There is some aim. The aim is that they have misused their independence. Try to reform them again (indistinct). This is the aim. All these living entities in the material world, the have misused their independence. Therefore, they are in the material world. Otherwise why should they remain in the material world? Anyone who is in this material world, it is to be understood that he's misused his independence.
Room Conversation with Indian Ambassador -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:
Prabhupāda: This is going on. We want to stop this nonsense. If you have got opinion, you write different book.
Ambassador: Yes. But not...
Prabhupāda: Why you should misuse Bhagavad-gītā.
Ambassador: The devil can quote the scripture for his purpose.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Ambassador: That's what Shakespeare said, sir, "The devil can quote the scripture for his purpose."
Prabhupāda: That's it. Yes. That's a fact. Yes, why you should try to introduce your philosophy... Now, say, for Gandhi's non-violence. Where is non-violence in Bhagavad-gītā.
Morning Walk -- December 4, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: They can repair their nest with some stick, and that's all. That much they can do. But you can big, big beams, you can... That is the difference.
Yaśomatīnandana: Because even the most powerful birds we can control.
Prabhupāda: But, but there is no benefit. You are misusing your intelligence by skyscraper building, and they're using their intelligence to make a nest; but the benefit derived is equal. Therefore, in that sense you are less intelligence.
Morning Walk -- December 6, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Why you should dictate God? God has created perfectly. He has given you independence. You fall down. It is your fault. God has made you perfect, given you independence. But if you misuse your independence, you fall down. Just like government gives everyone opportunity. Why do you become criminal and go to the jail? That is your fault.
Hṛdayānanda: They say that God should have created us so that we...
Prabhupāda: Why "Should have created"? He has created already perfect. Because you are perfect, therefore you have got the independence to misuse. You are not a dead stone. That is perfection. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). You can go anywhere, sarva-ga. You can go to the Vaikuṇṭha. Yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25).
Morning Walk -- December 6, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: God has given you all perfection. Pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate (Īśopaniṣad, Invocation), everything is complete, perfect, and because you are perfect, you have got the independence. But misusing that independence, you are imperfect. Again, reviving your independence, you can become perfect, although you are imperfect now. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means raising the imperfect to the perfect platform. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Morning Walk -- December 6, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: He's imperfect. Our movement is perfect. But he becomes imperfect by his misuse of independence. He thinks that "This is nice," and goes to hell. What can be done? That independence is there. That is perfectness.
Hṛdayānanda: So in other words, these, uh, the people that argue like that, they, they actually are lazy. They don't want to surrender to God. Then they blame God.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Because they have become imperfect, therefore they are blaming God. "God is good;" they forget this. That is their imperfectness. One side, they say, "God is good." Still, they're blaming God. What is this nonsense? If He's God, God is good, how can you blame Him? God is good; in all circumstances, He's good. That is the meaning of good. Good does not mean that one time you are good and next time you are bad.
Morning Walk -- December 6, 1973, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes, that is natural. Yes. Surāśū-sākṣimat. Surāśū-sākṣimat. In the liquor shop so there was some trouble. So he went to court. He went to court. So the court asked him, "Where is your witness?" So he brought one witness, drunkard. You see? Surāśū-sākṣimat. So that is māyā, ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8), misusing power and blaming God, "Why God...?" God has made everything. Just like here. It is made not to move. Stay. But we are better than this.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- April 11, 1974, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Even they accept, but they cannot control nature. Now, how he is God? You control nature. Suppose behind the nature there is no God. All right, you control the nature. Suppose behind this stick my hand is working. You cannot see my hand. But you control this stick, which is beating you, which is kicking you. Control that. So you cannot control anything and you have become God. So 'ham, tat tvam asi. These slogans misused, simply misused.
Room Conversation with Catholic Cardinal and Secretary to the Pope -- May 24, 1974, Rome:
Prabhupāda: So the human form of life is meant for understanding God, and according to our philosophy, if human body is not utilized for understanding God, then it is misused. If we simply spoil our life like the animals, eating, sleeping, sex life and defending, then the human life is spoiled like animals. The real necessity of human life is to understand God. Not only to understand God superficially, but to understand our eternal relationship with Him, and then prayojana, the ultimate goal of life, is to go back to home, back to Godhead.
Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:
Prabhupāda: Ahiṁsā, because at that time people were killing animals in the name of yajña. Just like in the Christian world the order is not to kill, but still, they are killing. So this misuse of scriptural injunction is always going on. A class of men there are who abuse the scriptural injunctions and go on with their own motive. So there was a period when people, under the protection of Vedas... Because Vedas, animal sacrifice is recommended for certain purpose, to test the proper chanting of Vedic mantras.
Room Conversation -- June 11, 1974, Paris:
Prabhupāda: The yoga system is there. It is to learn the regulative principles, yamena niyamena vā. The yoga system is very strict regulative principle. I do not know what they are doing. Generally, they misuse also that, but yoga means indriya-saṁyama, controlling the senses. That is real yoga system. Because as the animals, they cannot control their senses, similarly... So the human being, having higher intelligence, they should learn how to control the senses. This is human life. Human life means controlling.
Morning Walk -- June 12, 1974, Paris:
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is your little independence. God does not want to touch any... By your independence, go to hell or go to heaven. That's your choice. God says that "Don't use your independence by malpractice." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām... (BG 18.66). God, that is God's statement. "You surrender to Me. I'll guide you." But if you misuse your independence, that's your business. You go to hell or heaven. That's your business.
Morning Walk -- June 14, 1974, Paris:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa says, "Don't do it. Do this." Because He knows your future, therefore He comes to request you, "You rascal, don't do this. Do this." That is His knowing feature. "If you don't this, then I know you'll do simply sinful activities. So therefore I come to save you. Don't do this. Do this." What is the wrong there? Kṛṣṇa says, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham: (BG 4.7) "When they misuse their independence, then I come to check them." Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa... (break)
Room Conversation with German Women Philosophers -- June 17, 1974, Germany:
Pṛthu: She thinks that she doesn't want to answer to your point. She says that the man has got his intelligence by God, but he misuses his intelligence.
Prabhupāda: But God has given intelligence for this bad work? (German)
Pṛthu: She says that God has not given this intelligence for this bad work, but that is due to the faulty mankind.
Prabhupāda: Therefore misuse of intelligence will cause his suffering. Now suppose a tiger kills an animal, and a man kills thousands of animals in a day in the slaughterhouse. Is he not sinful? (German)
Pṛthu: She says that this is the evil in mankind.
Prabhupāda: Therefore the conclusion is that the so-called intelligent man is simply misusing his intelligence. So when he misuses his intelligence he is less than the cats and dogs. Yes. (German) And then, after death, how he'll be in peace?
Room Conversations -- September 10, 1974, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Even in communistic country, this Khrushchev was driven away. He was taking all advantages for his family, for himself. As soon as he got the post, he misused it. He gave his son-in-law very big post, his family members. That was detected, and he was charged that "You are using your influence, nepotism." Therefore, he was driven away. So this natural tendency, as soon as one gets power, he will try to utilize it. This psychology you cannot stop in the material world.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Room Conversation with Professors -- February 19, 1975, Caracas:
Prabhupāda: No, God has created perfect, but you have become imperfect by misusing your independence. God is fully independent. You are part and parcel of God. Therefore you have got that quality, independence. When you misuse that, you become bad; when you use it properly, you remain good.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): Yes. How do we make ourselves bad?
Prabhupāda: Therefore the Bible is there: "You become good like this." If you don't do, then you become bad. The Bible says that "Thou shall not kill." If you don't kill, then you are good. If you kill, you are bad.
Room Conversation with Professors -- February 19, 1975, Caracas:
Prabhupāda: Therefore the Bible is there: "You become good like this." If you don't do, then you become bad. The Bible says that "Thou shall not kill." If you don't kill, then you are good. If you kill, you are bad.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He said there is no guarantee of perfect knowledge because at one time we had perfect knowledge, but as you said, we threw it away. So therefore...
Prabhupāda: No, no, you misused the perfect knowledge. Just like here is perfect knowledge: Bible says, "Thou shall not kill." You are misusing, you are killing. That is your fault.
Room Conversation with Metaphysics Society -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:
Prabhupāda: So we are in this human form of dress. We have got developed consciousness. If we miss the opportunity to understand God, then again we are put into the cycle of this evolutionary process. We should not therefore misuse this form like other forms. We should utilize it properly to understand the unlimited God and our relationship with God and act accordingly. That is perfection of life.
Room Conversation with three Trappist Monks, Psychologists from the University of Georgia, and Atlanta Lawyer, Michael Green -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:
Prabhupāda: But we are disobeying the orders or the rules given by God. Instead of producing food, we are producing motorcars. And motor tires, motor parts. And so many other things. And therefore people are starving. The manual labor is being misused. We are disobeying the orders of God. Therefore we are unhappy. I have seen all over the world. There are enough space for producing food grains. And if we actually produce food grain, we can maintain ten times of the present population of the whole world.
Room Conversation with Press Representative -- March 21, 1975, Calcutta:
Prabhupāda: Because they have denied the existence of God, therefore they are blind and they are engaged in sinful activities without knowing what is going to happen next in his life. Therefore mūḍha, rascal. And narādhamāḥ. Narādhamāḥ means lowest of the mankind, because in the human form of life one could understand what is God, but he is misusing his intelligence for something else, narādhamāḥ. But if you say, "They are educated. They have got so much education.
Morning Walk -- April 19, 1975, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: That is... Because Kṛṣṇa is everything, his independence is also Kṛṣṇa. The man's independence is also Kṛṣṇa. So he is misusing his independence. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). He is using his independence not to do this. Therefore he is suffering. (Greeting someone:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (break) ...says, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: (BG 15.15) "From Me there is remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness." So why Kṛṣṇa is interested to induce one to forget? Why?
Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth:
Prabhupāda: Nobody takes care. The man also grows very small. There is no food, there is no soil. Poverty lives. Daridra-doṣa guṇa-nāśe, when a person becomes poverty-stricken, all his quality goes away. He might have very good qualification but if... (break) Unfortunately, being misguided, this position of opulence, they are misusing it, and therefore becoming hippies. Simply misusing it. Instead of utilizing the position for development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are misusing it.
Morning Walk -- May 10, 1975, Perth:
Prabhupāda: That is fortunate and unfortunate. Just like one inherits father's property. Many millions of dollars, and he has become a poor man by his misusing the money. Like that. He is unfortunate. He got the money, but he could not utilize it.
Jayadharma: Does fortune mean it's the mercy of Kṛṣṇa?
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa's mercy is always there. It is your misuse of free will. You are given the opportunity—that is fortune. But you do not accept the fortune. That is your misfortune. That is stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛita.
Morning Walk -- May 10, 1975, Perth:
Prabhupāda: Even if he falls down, still he is fortunate, because the injection is there. It will act, some day or another. Still he is fortunate. As fortunate man he took it, but he fell down. That does not mean he's unfortunate. Still he's fortunate, because the poison is already there. It will develop. That is called ajñāta sukṛti. Therefore he is not loser. He continues to be fortunate. It will take some time.
Amogha: So he became weak because he misused his individual will.
Prabhupāda: He misused the instruction of his spiritual master. Therefore he became unfortunate, or he fell down.
Discussion -- May 15, 1975, Perth:
Prabhupāda: Nobody is independent. And still, everyone is thinking independent, "I can do anything I like." Yesterday morning we were talking. You are independent. That is, means, misuse of independence. Just like in a state every citizen is independent but dependent on the state laws. If he forgets that, that "I am not dependent on the state laws," then he is foolish. Similarly, if one does not know that "The nature's law is the God's law, state laws; I cannot violate it," (sic:) then he is sober.
Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: That is his independence.
Dr. John Mize: Independence.
Prabhupāda: Instead of using independence properly, when he misuses independence he falls.
Dr. John Mize: I'm sorry, he what?
Prabhupāda: He falls down.
Dr. John Mize: He falls.
Prabhupāda: He falls down on account of his independence. Just like you have got independence. You are sitting here. You can go immediately. You may not like to hear me.
Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: So therefore, as I am directing the finger, as being machine, it is working, but if somebody else, a friend or servant, I may direct him to do something, he may not do it. So when the soul misuses the independence, then he falls down. That is material life. Material life means misusing the independence of soul. Just like a son. A son's duty is to obey the father. But he may not obey. That is his madness. So when the soul, misusing the independence, becomes mad, he is sent in this material world.
Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Now if you say, "Why the soul should become so foolish?" So that is misuse of independence. Intelligent father has got intelligent son, but sometimes he becomes a fool. So what is the reason? He is the part and parcel of the father. He should have become exactly like the father. But he does not become like the father. I have seen. In Allahabad was a big lawyer, barrister, Mr. Bannerjee. His eldest son was also barrister and his youngest son, on account of bad association, he became a ekala wala. Ekala means... In India there is a carriage drawn by one horse. So he liked to be an ekala. That means he fell in love, a low class of woman, and by her association, he became an ekala. There are many instances. The Ajamila upakhyana. He was a brāhmaṇa and then he fell down very low. So this misuse of independence is always there.
Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like Jaya-Vijaya. They committed offense. They did not allow the four Kumāras to enter. That was their fault. And the Kumāras became very sorry. Then they cursed him that "You are not fit to remain in this place." So we sometimes commit mistake. That is also misuse of independence. Or we are prone to fall down because we are small. Just like small fragment of fire.
Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Not all the time. But there is the tendency of fall down, not for all, but because there is independence... Everyone is not liking to misuse the independence. The same example: Just like a government constructing a city and constructs also prison house because the government knows that somebody will be criminal. So their shelter must be also constructed. It is very easy to understand.
Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Tendency means the independence. So everyone can know that independence means one can use it properly, one can misuse it. That is independence. If you make it one way only, that you cannot become fall down, that is not independence. That is force. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, yathecchasi tathā kuru (BG 18.63). "Now you do whatever you like."
Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Yes. Unless he has got mind, how he misuses intelligence?
John Mize: But he misused that intelligence in his freedom, his independence.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Mind is there also. That is spiritual mind. Everything is spiritual. There is nothing material. Body spiritual, mind spiritual, intelligence spiritual, he is spiritual, the land spiritual, water spiritual—everything is spiritual. That is spiritual world. Here in the material world, except the spirit soul, everything is material.
Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Because unless there is anger in God, how there is anger in me? But we, as we misuse our independence, we misuse our anger. And God does not misuse his independence; He does not misuse His anger. But the anger quality is there. Otherwise, how I have got anger? This is the Vedānta philosophy. Janmādyasya yataḥ: "Everything is emanating from the Supreme." So if the anger is there, it must be there.
Morning Walk -- June 25, 1975, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Anyone who is not God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is immediately grouped amongst the miscreants, duṣkṛtinaḥ. Kṛti means very meritorious. Just like these scientists. They have got good merit, but that merit is being applied for sinful activities. Just like expert thief, rogue. He has got merit, but he is applying the merit for sinful activities. And next word is mūḍha. Why they are misusing in this way? Because they are rascal, mūḍha, ass. You have seen yesterday film, the ass?
Morning Walk -- July 8, 1975, Chicago:
Prabhupāda: Just see so many fruits for the birds. They are so sumptuously supplied, they are thrown. Pūrṇam idam (Īśo Invocation). Everything is sufficient. But these rascal blind, they do not know. They are trying to adjust. What adjustment? It is already sufficient. You are misusing that. Sufficient land, sufficient intelligence. Everything is sufficient. They are misusing. In Africa, in Australia, sufficient land, and they are raising cattle to kill them. This is their intelligence. And growing coffee and tea.
Morning Walk -- July 8, 1975, Chicago:
Prabhupāda: That's all. (break) ...condemn running by car, but utilize it for Kṛṣṇa. That we want. If the purpose is same, like dog, then what is the use of running by car? (break) ...by car to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (break) ...not after that philosophy, that jagan mithyā brahma satya, no. We say jagat is also satya because brahma satya, the jagat is also satya. It is mithyā because it is improperly utilized. Let it be utilized properly, it is also truth. It is truth actually. You cannot say, "This is a false tree." This is the ignorance. How it is false? But it is being misused. That is false. You cannot misuse anything which is given by God. You should properly utilize it. Then it is truth. And as soon as you misuse it, it is untruth.
Morning Walk -- July 14, 1975, Philadelphia:
Prabhupāda: He has been given a special advantage to think of God, but instead of thinking God, he is thinking all these rubbish things, which he will never be able to fulfill. Misusing. The thinking power he is misusing.
Ravīndra-svarūpa: So this mental speculation or this "perhaps" and "maybe" is a misuse of his specific power to understand God.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. The life, human life, is meant for enquiring about God, and God is explaining Himself about God. Instead of studying Bhagavad-gītā very scrutinizingly, they are wasting time. "The cells, this, that, atom."
Morning Walk -- July 19, 1975, San Francisco:
Prabhupāda: In the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. Not recipe. The comparison is there in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. Perhaps purposefully the recipe is not given so that you can take and misuse this. (laughter) And forget chanting. Because as soon as you get gold, then you are no more interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the infection of gold.
Walk Around Farm -- August 1, 1975, New Orleans:
Prabhupāda: In India still, in the villages they do not know, other than this wood fuel, anything else. They are misusing these trees by cutting, manufacturing paper, heaps of paper, in each house throwing daily. They do not read, but they are supplied heaps of paper and cutting these trees. Simply waste. Now wood and paper shortage all over the world. It takes so much time to grow, and one day they cut hundreds of trees like this and put into the paper mill. And heaps of paper is given every house, and he throws away. Then you bring garbage tank. In this way, waste.
Morning Walk -- October 17, 1975, Johannesburg:
Prabhupāda: Because man is more intelligent. He can misuse his independence and intelligence, whereas animal cannot do that. He is not so intelligent. He has... That is the defect of the modern civilization. They have been described as duṣkṛtina. Duṣkṛtina means he has got brain more intelligent than the animal, but the brain is being utilized for mischievous activities. Therefore they are called duṣkṛtina. Brain should be utilized for some benevolent work for the good of the living entities. But this brain, modern educated brain, is being misused for discovering something which is very dangerous to the human society. Therefore duṣkṛtina.
Morning Walk -- November 1, 1975, Nairobi:
Prabhupāda: He is made perfect, but He is not... You are not stone. God is not stone. You are living being. The same thing you are repeatedly asking. You have got little independence because you are part and parcel of God. So by misusing your independence, if you violate the orders of God, then you suffer. You are perfect because you have got independence, but you misuse that perfectness. That is your fault. You perfect. You become imperfect by misusing.
Morning Walk -- November 1, 1975, Nairobi:
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is use of independence. Otherwise what is the meaning of independence? The meaning of independence is: "If I like, I can do. If I do not like, I do not do." That is independence. That means independence. If you are stereotyped, forced to do, that is not independence. Independence means if you like, you can do it, if not—you don't like-don't do it. That is independence. So misused independence means ignorance. He does not know that "If I infect this virus of this disease I'll suffer." But he does not know, ignorance. So he infects and he suffers.
Morning Walk -- December 17, 1975, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: So we are misusing everything. Therefore bhakti means stop this misuse. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170), that is bhakti. Whatever you have got, utilize it properly. Don't misuse it. That is all the instruction. Kuruṣva mad-arpanam. Kṛṣṇa says, "Whatever you are doing with your senses..."
Dr. Patel: ...kaunteya mukta-saṅga samācara.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is wanted. The māyāvādī philosophers, they are taking because the senses are creating so much trouble, material existence, finish this-śūnyavādi. But that will not solve the problem. Problem will be solved that you keep your eyes. You don't require to finish it, but cure it. Just like you medical man. If one is blind out of cataract, you don't say that you pluck it, the eye, and throw it.
Morning Walk -- December 18, 1975, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: That's all right. Support the right man who is after Bhagavān, not to the rascals. That is the problem. Dātavyam iti yad dānam tad sattvikam. Here is the person. Here, one has dedicated his whole life for Bhagavān, give everything to him. That is dānam. Dānam sattvikaṁ rājasi tamasi. One is a rascal, then what is the use of giving him dāna?
Dr. Patel: Even you do not give dāna, he will take away by thievery.
Prabhupāda: Anyway, that is a misuse. Misuse.
Dr. Patel: Dānam, dānam... (quotes Sanskrit)
Prabhupāda: If you make tamasic dāna, then you become implicated with his sinful activities. Suppose you want to kill somebody, and you're asking, "Can you give me a nice knife?" "What you will do?" "I shall kill that man." "All right, take it, dānam. I am giving you in charity." So he will be implicated. In the court, if it is known that that man supplied the knife, "Arrest him. Bring him immediately."
Conversation on Roof -- December 26, 1975, Sanand:
Prabhupāda: They're the greatest atheists.
Harikeśa: Oh, that would be.... A dialectic spiritualism pamphlet in Russian. That's big. Russian. (break)
Prabhupāda: The land is very nice. All flat, flat land. Hundreds of miles.
Indian: It is all tobacco.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Indian: All tobacco.
Prabhupāda: Just see. They're misusing.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walks -- January 22-23, 1976, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Viḍ-bhujāṁ ye. This is not civilization. This is civilization, tapasya: no meat-eating, no this, no this, that, and become perfect, ideal brāhmaṇa life, satya śama dama śuci jñāna vijñāna. This is civilization. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Unless you become civilized like this, there is no opportunity of brahma-jijñāsā. And so long you do not inquire about Brahman, that you remain, that pigs and hogs and asses. If human civilization is wasted to cultivate the pig civilization, naturally, "All right, you come here. Become a pig now. Take this body." Kṛṣṇa will say, "Nature, prakṛti, he got this chance to become human being, but has misused. Kindly give him a body of pig."
Morning Walk -- February 19, 1976, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: That independence has to be accepted, little independence. We can misuse that. Kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare. That misuse is the cause of our falldown.
Acyutānanda: In Kṛṣṇa book it says that there were some color fighting in Dvārakā. They were throwing color. And some men became lusty seeing the women. So is... Will that be the first part of their falldown, to be in Vaikuṇṭha and think of personal lust with Kṛṣṇa's associates?
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) Whatever He likes, He'll do. That is God. God is not meant for satisfying you.
Morning Walk -- March 14, 1976, Mayapur:
Prabhupāda: There is no question of...
Acyutānanda: ...and the person misuses the money, does he benefit?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Acyutānanda: If a man says, "I am giving you this donation because it is a spiritual organization," but if the money is misused, does that man benefit?
Prabhupāda: If money is misused, then both of them become implicated. If it is not used for Kṛṣṇa, then both of them becomes under the laws of karma.
Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi:
Prabhupāda: Just like a good child. He has decided, "I shall do only what my father says." Then he is safe. And as soon as he misuses his indep..., little independence, he is complicated. So decide like that, that "I shall not do anything which is not ordered by Kṛṣṇa." Then it is all right. Otherwise you'll suffer. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Make it zero. Then you are safe. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). Simply do, act, what Kṛṣṇa says; then you are safe. Why don't you do that? That is also independence. You are misusing independence. You are misusing. Then you must suffer. The government says, "Do according to the law." Then you are safe. Government will give all protection. And if you violate law, you must suffer.
Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi:
Prabhupāda: The attitude, devotion, is there. Otherwise why one should come to our camp? But it must be properly utilized. It should not be misused. If you go to school and if you don't read books, you'll fail in the examination.
Guru dāsa: But the attitude of devotion should be there every moment, so everything...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guru dāsa: ...is very meaningful. Everything is a big thing. When we go out we should realize we're doing it for Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: That is said, man-manā. Think of Kṛṣṇa; He'll guide you. Very easy thing. Man-manā. Always think of Kṛṣṇa, then there is no question of falling down. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). These four things, if strictly done, he is safe. He is safe.
Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi:
Prabhupāda: That is said, man-manā. Think of Kṛṣṇa; He'll guide you. Very easy thing. Man-manā. Always think of Kṛṣṇa, then there is no question of falling down. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). These four things, if strictly done, he is safe. He is safe. Always think of Kṛṣṇa, become His devotee, offer Him obeisances and.... Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī, and worship Him. This is Deity worship. That will engage in always in thinking, in offering obeisances. And if we strictly follow only these, these four principles, mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te: "You are coming back to Me without any doubt." But instead of thinking Kṛṣṇa, we are thinking something else, planning something, misusing independence.
Room Conversation -- April 20, 1976, Melbourne:
Prabhupāda: That is being misused. There is no institution, no university, no education system, to understand what is that living force, without which it is a lump of matter. Where is that education?
Mike Barron: What do you call that force?
Prabhupāda: That is the soul, or consciousness. The same thing, the pilot. The pilot may be a small man, and the airship may be very gigantic. You can make still more. But the pilot is the same. So the body may be elephant or a small ant, but the pilot is the same. That is real understanding.
Room Conversation -- April 20, 1976, Melbourne:
Prabhupāda: Therefore I said that we are not material; it is all spiritual. That they do not know. Where is material? If everything is prepared and everything, there is Kṛṣṇa, then where is material? When it is misused, other than Kṛṣṇa, then it is material. Now, just like the university department and the criminal department. Where is the difference superficially? That's a building; that's a building. There are officer; there are officer. There are rooms; there are rooms. Why it is called criminal, prison house?
Morning Walk -- May 28, 1976, Honolulu:
Prabhupāda: Yes. A criminal is freed, but if he again commits criminal..., criminality, then again he's put into the jail, like that. (inaudible) ...his freedom, now make your choice. But if you misuse it, then again go.... māyāprāpte nivartante mṛtyuḥ saṁsāra vartmani. (break) ...go home back to Godhead. But if we do not take the chance, and misuse it, like animals, then again we go down. The process is to go back to home, back to Godhead, eternal life, blissful life.
Morning Walk -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Then you are not perfectly Kṛṣṇa's aṁśa. Kṛṣṇa has got independence. You see one son is born, even a father has got a black spot here, sometimes the son has got black spot.
Rāmeśvara: But if it's not good for me, if I will misuse it, why would Kṛṣṇa give it to me anyway?
Prabhupāda: Yes, therefore the demand is "You surrender, rascal. You are suffering, you surrender. That is your good..." Therefore He comes, He loves His sons, "You rascals, why you are creating plans? You come here. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). I shall give you all comforts."
Rāmeśvara: Kṛṣṇa knows everything in the past, and everything in the future.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: So when Kṛṣṇa.... Kṛṣṇa knows that I will misuse my independence, but still He gives me independence.
Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa's mercy.
Rāmeśvara: Even though it is bad for me.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: You say Kṛṣṇa knows you are going to misuse your independence.
Morning Walk -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So can you actually say that Kṛṣṇa knows you'll misuse your independence? He knows if you misuse your independence what will happen, but can it be actually said that...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...he knows you will definitely misuse...
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...you can use your independence properly, it's up to you.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Rāmeśvara: But then that limits Kṛṣṇa. If you say that Kṛṣṇa did not know when I will misuse my indep.... or if I will...
Prabhupāda: No, no. That means you do not know what is the independence. You can, you can change your position at any time. That is your independence.
Morning Walk -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: I have given you charge of this BBT, millions of dollars you are dealing, but it is not for your misuse. As soon as you misuse, that is your responsibility.
Rāmeśvara: Yes, but he says but still, you'll know that I'm going to misuse it.
Prabhupāda: No. That Kṛṣṇa knows, when something charge is given. But because you are independent, I know that "Rāmeśvara is very good boy; let him be in charge." But you can misuse at any moment, because you have got independence. You can misuse at any moment. At that time your position is different. That is this Karandhara's, he was in this position, but as soon as he misused it, immediately, Kṛṣṇa changed his position.
Morning Walk -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: That is our foolishness, that we cannot understand. That is our foolishness. How you can understand Kṛṣṇa's activities?
Rāmeśvara: That's the only answer.
Prabhupāda: What Kṛṣṇa is doing.... You are little independent, but He is fully independent. He knows everything. His independence is not under condition; your independence is under condition. If you misuse your independence, you'll suffer.
Rāmeśvara: His argument is that "I should never be allowed to misuse my independence."
Hari-śauri: There's no question of independence then.
Rāmeśvara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: That is not independence. Independence means you can use properly or improperly.
Morning Walk -- June 3, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: No, no, machine we are, but still there is independence. That means you are not absolutely independently, relatively. The state, you say we are American-independent. But that does not mean you can do whatever you like. As soon as you misuse, you are arrested, punished. Even the president is not independent. As soon as he misused his power, drag him, "Come out." What to speak of you.
Garden Conversation -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, after instructing Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa is asking, "Now I have instructed you everything. Now whatever you like, you can do." Yathechasi tathā kuru. That independence you have got. Kṛṣṇa, or God, does not interfere with the little independence He has given to us. And because we are part and parcel of God, God is fully independent, so we have got little portion of independence. So by misusing that independence, we can desire to become God, and we suffer.
Garden Conversation -- June 9, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: So therefore Kṛṣṇa said that "The most confidential part of knowledge I am giving you, Arjuna, because you are My very intimate friend, that you give up your nonsense plans." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You just surrender to Me. This is the most confidential knowledge. You can misuse your independence, but I am instructing you most confidentially because you are My intimate. Don't make plans like rascals. You just surrender to Me. This is confidential." Or in other words, "Don't foolishly try to become God. You remain a servant. Surrender to..." This is the ultimate instruction. Find out in the Eighteenth Chapter, sarva-guhyatamam. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru.
Garden Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: One, somebody has got millions of dollars; still, he is working hard day and night to increase the bank balance. Why? You have got sufficient money; now you engage your life for spiritual advancement and take little food. God has given you enough. Why you are wasting your time in collecting money and eating more? That is misuse. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī says, atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ. Āhāra means eating, and āhāra means collecting. So these are against bhakti principles. Collecting more than necessity or eating more than necessity.
Garden Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:
Prabhupāda: Advancement of devotional service means always be alert whether a moment is misused. Because you cannot get back even a moment of your life if you pay millions of dollars. Not possible. 1967, 10th June, 5 o'clock, you had to do something, and if you have missed, then that 5 o'clock, 10th June, 1960, ah, '76, will never come back, even you pay millions of dollars. So if that moment is improperly passed, then what is more loss than that? So avyartha-kālatvam. We should not let even a moment of our life misused.
Conversation with Clergymen -- June 15, 1976, Detroit:
Prabhupāda: It is God-sent. The grain, food grain, it is actually given by God. You should not misuse it. This was the beginning of our training.
Kern: And then were you at the university or the school or somewhere?
Prabhupāda: Yes, Calcutta University. I was taught at the Scottish Churches College. All my professor's were Fathers and Reverends. Our principal was.... They were all Fathers. Mr. Scott.
Interview with Professors O'Connell, Motilal and Shivaram -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:
Prabhupāda: So, if we keep the human society in darkness about the aim of life, that is not civilization. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). I think you understand Sanskrit. Svārtha-gatim, the real self-interest, is to go back to home, back to Godhead. For that purpose, the human life is given by nature as an opportunity in the cycle of birth and death. So if we don't take advantage of this human form of life, when we can realize God and go back to home, back to Godhead, then it is misused. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31).
Morning Walk -- June 21, 1976, Toronto:
Prabhupāda: Just see. This rascaldom is going on in the name of civilization. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1), they do not know. Everything belongs to God, and are all sons of God. So by God's arrangement there is enough land to live, enough land to produce food. They're misusing. Therefore the whole trouble.
Indian man (4): Prabhu, then what that means, what we mean is they should have rsabandutra(?)
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is, a rsabandutra(?) means, unless you have got the central point. How we can have? First of all you know Kṛṣṇa.
Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: Because they think so, that this religion has spoiled the whole social atmosphere. It might have been misused, religious system. That does not mean that religion should be avoided. Real religion should be taken. Because religion has not been properly executed by the so-called priest, it does not mean that religion should be rejected. My eye is giving some trouble on account of cataract, but that doesn't mean eye should be plucked out. The cataract should be removed. So that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. They have no conception of God, and they are preaching religion. What is that religion? That will be misused.
Morning Walk -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:
Prabhupāda: No independence. Independence is only there when you fully surrender to Kṛṣṇa. You surrender your all independence to Kṛṣṇa. Then there is. "Kṛṣṇa, I have foolishly acted as independent, so many lives. Now I surrender all my independence at Your lotus feet. If You like, You can kill me; if You like, You can...," that is independence. Otherwise, there is no independence. All foolishness. Ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā. By false egotism, he's thinking that "I am independent."
Rūpānuga: Misusing.
Prabhupāda: Misusing the energy. Yesterday, some two and half million the government has spent, and we also, combined together, we have spent ten million by power, gas, going there and coming. So many cars. Another ten million. So all these twelve million, three, thirteen million dollars spent for nothing. Dancing like dogs, independence, māyā. (break) (out of car) Ask him this question.
Conversation with Prof. Saligram and Dr. Sukla -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:
Prabhupāda: It is not for ordinary. Cāṇḍīdāsa, Vidyāpati. Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to discuss Jayadeva's books, Vidyāpati's books, very confidentially amongst a few devotees. Not publicly.
Dr. Sukla: So you think they might be misused.
Prabhupāda: Yes, they are being misused. They take Kṛṣṇa as debauch. They do not understand. Therefore the Kṛṣṇa's līlā with the gopīs, they are described in the Tenth Canto. That is also middle of Tenth Canto, and nine cantos required to understand Kṛṣṇa, beginning with janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1).
Evening Darsana -- July 7, 1976, Washington, D.C.:
Prabhupāda: No, educated means they have knowledge, but real knowledge is taken away. He does not know God. Just like a man is rich, but he has no food. It is like that. māyayāpahṛta-jñāna. Therefore his knowledge is misused, duṣkṛtina. This knowledge, without any sense of God... Yes, come in. Sit down. (guests entering)
Vṛṣākapi: This is Mr. Davis, Mr. and Mrs. Davis, Prabhupāda. Their daughter is a devotee here, very good devotee.
Hari-śauri: There's chair if you'd like to sit in the chair. We can bring one more. Bring another chair.
Vipina: Used to be a senator.
Prabhupāda: Perfection of knowledge means to understand God. That is perfection of knowledge. Otherwise, it is imperfect knowledge. Therefore it is called Vedānta. Veda means knowledge.
Room Conversation -- July 17, 1976, New York:
Prabhupāda: That is not their fault. Even the big, big leaders of India, even Gandhi, they do not know actually. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is. The Bhagavad-gītā has been misinterpreted, misused by the leaders, by the politicians, by the so-called philosophers. Everyone has misused.
Indian man: I'll tell you one thing, that Swami Chinmayananda...
Prabhupāda: He's a great...
Indian man: He's great, but I'll tell you what happened.
Prabhupāda: "Great" means great fool.
Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: You have got independence to misuse your independence. That independence you have got. You have been given intelligence. Now you have got, because you have got intelligence, little independence, you can misuse that. Just like you are all my secretaries. So I give you some independence. You can misuse it. So that misuse is wrong. Then you'll become unhappy. Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Says. He doesn't force you—you must do it. You do it. That means independence. Now it is your choice. You have got independence of misusing it. So independence is a quality inherent in living beings, because he's part and parcel of God. The quality of the father is inherited by the son, even physically.
Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: We have got little independence. But if we misuse it, then we shall be punished. So there is no question of independence. Independence, little. That is interdependence, not independence. Why they declare independence? That is their foolishness.
Hari-śauri: It's always very relative.
Prabhupāda: Not absolute. Absolute independence, God. Even if you have got little independence it is relative, under condition.
Nandarāṇī: And the purpose of śāstra is to direct this minute independence so that it is not misused?
Prabhupāda: Just like in your state, you are independent citizen, but you must be guided by the laws. If you violate the laws, immediately you will be prisoner. The śāstra is like that, law. You have little independence, you can utilize it fully, under the laws.
Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: No, this question. Anyone can become criminal, any moment. There is no question of beginning. At any moment you can begin. You are honest gentleman, very good. You are working in a nice spot. At any time, any moment, you can become a criminal and go to prison house. That is... You are prone to... As soon as you misuse your little independence, you become a criminal. That is the difficulty. You have got some independence. As soon as we misuse that independence, immediately we are criminal, go to prison house.
Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: Now I've come to you, make treatment. That's all. Why should we waste our time to find out the history how it began? That beginning can be possible at any moment. As soon as we misuse our little independence, immediately the beginning is there. A criminal means one who has violated the laws of the state. That is a fact. So when that violation began, so that is not very important thing. You have violated, you are in the prison house. That's all. That is important thing.
Evening Darsan -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: The example is ass, mūḍhāḥ. The ass does not know his interest. He is loading tons of cloth for others' interest, for a morsel of grass. And the rascal does not know he can get grass anywhere. Why he is taking so much trouble? Muḍḥāḥ. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino, narādhamāḥ. And this human life was meant for understanding this, nara, but he has misused his life's asset. Narādhamāḥ, lowest of the mankind. How it happened? They are so educated. māyayāpahṛta-jñānā. Their education has no value. Why? Āsuraṁ bhāvam, don't care for Kṛṣṇa, don't care for God. "We are everything, we are God."
Room Conversation -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: That is your idea, but if I am proprietor of something, I must keep my right. It is not that... Suppose I am proprietor of this house, and there is a nice garden. I allow my friends and relatives or family to use it. But when they misuse it, shall I remain silent? If I am proprietor, when things are being misused, shall I remain silent? When you misuse it and if I chastise you, how you can say that "You have given to us, whatever we like we can do. Why you are protesting?" Can they say like that? You say that God has given us, so we can do, there is no need of God. That is your argument, is it not? What that argument?
Nava-yauvana: God has given all these things...
Prabhupāda: God has given us all these things, but does it mean that if you misuse it and God will see only silently? Does it mean that?
Room Conversation -- August 10, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: Then how you can say that you can do it as you like? God has given us?
Jñānagamya: They don't understand how God chastises when they misuse. They don't understand karma.
Prabhupāda: That means shameless. They are being chastised at every step, and they don't think it is chastisement. They are shameless fools.
Nava-yauvana: And also they blame God. They say God is unjust. Then they say God is unjust.
Prabhupāda: And when they are chastised, then God is unjust. This is their position. You cannot deny the proprietorship of God. That is not possible. If you misuse it, then you'll be chastised. You'll be chastised. Even in that park, the park is owned by the government. You cannot pluck any flower without the permission.
Evening Darsana -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:
Prabhupāda: That I am speaking, that this is the only chance of Kṛṣṇa, guru, and if he neglects this chance, then tanwan sthito hi ga(?). What is the loss more than that? We are simply calculating loss and gain. Just imagine what is the loss by misusing this human form of body. If you want to spoil this life under the influence of misleaders, you can do it. But if you prefer to take the sense of following leadership of Kṛṣṇa, then our life... Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja.
Morning Walk -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Because we have no, that cātur-varṇa system. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). You have given up Kṛṣṇa's instruction, now you have to suffer. You do not train brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. So anyone who is in power, he is good. That is Kali-yuga. Kali-yuga means anyone gets vote, he's in power. They can misuse the power. There is no kṣatriya.
Room Conversation -- August 16, 1976, Bombay:
Acyutānanda: What prompts the soul to misuse his independence or improperly use...?
Prabhupāda: Because he has got little independence. Yathecchasi tathā, he has got this.
Acyutānanda: Why do some misuse it and some never misuse it?
Prabhupāda: That depends on him. If one is determined that "I shall only act according to the advice of my Guru Mahārāja," then he's perfect. One has to submit like Arjuna said, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). Otherwise he'll argue.
Room Conversation About Mayapura Construction -- August 19, 1976, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: He is to be punished. His misusing. Suppose in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement somebody gives us money. He is giving good faith that "It is very good organization." But if I misspend that money, then I am responsible. Then I'll be punished. His business is finished. Kṛṣṇa noted that he has given his hard-earned money for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If I take that money... Instead of doing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if I use it for my sense gratification, then I'll be... Then I'll be responsible.
Meeting with Endowments Commissioner -- August 24, 1976, Hyderabad:
Prabhupāda: That is the Vedic injunction. Pṛthu Mahārāja was to see that a brāhmaṇa is doing, acting like brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya is doing like kṣatriya. So it is government's duty to see that Bālajī's money, Kṛṣṇa's money, is to the farthing spent for His mission. That is your duty. That is government's duty, that nothing is misused, nothing is misrepresented. But we know how to execute the mission of Kṛṣṇa. Anyone can know because direction is there. It is not a secret thing. It is open secret. But you have to act upon it. That requires training.
Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: I'm just talking to you the same old yoga system. There is no change. Purātana. Why they make new interpretation? Kṛṣṇa is saying the purātana, and these people are presenting new interpretation of Bhagavad-gītā. Just see. How much misuse has been done. Try to understand. No effect.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Morning Walk -- January 4, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Miscreant. They are called duṣkṛti. They have got merit, but engaged in sinful activities. That is called duṣkṛti. Kṛti means meritorious. But duṣkṛtina. There are now... The education is there, but their brain is misused. That is called duṣkṛtina. Therefore they do not believe in God. Big, big men, they are nirākāra-vādī.
Letter to Russian -- January 5, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: (japa) Sell books and this principle follow: half construct temple, half print books. That's it. No income tax. "We have spent everything. That's all." (japa) In Vṛndāvana, he was suggesting, that Set, Setterji, that "You make some will. Otherwise, after your... In your absence the government will..." And I'll not keep a single farthing. I shall spend all before I die. (chuckles) Invest in book, that's all. I am insisting on this. But I am simply afraid if we have got enough stock, it may not be stolen and misused. Otherwise I want to immediately invest in books all the money that I have got.
Conversation on Train to Allahabad -- January 11, 1977, India:
Prabhupāda: Yes. Sex is not bad. When it is misused, that is the defect. Otherwise, sex is not...
Rāmeśvara: The Western conception is that one man can only have one woman.
Prabhupāda: Why? If he can produce many big men, he can have hundreds of women. But you cannot do that. Therefore you are restrained. You are bad. You better restrain. Don't have sex, because you'll produce cats and dogs. But one who is able to produce great brain, great philosophers, he should produce hundreds.
Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: We are not going to exploit anyone. We are giving the right path: "Be happy in this life and next life also." This is our mission. Para upakāra. They are blindly following some ways of life. Blind men, certainly, without guidance, we are falling down in the ditch. Once this human life is misused, he falls down in the ditch. He does not... He becomes a tree. "Stand up there for one thousand years. What you can do?" This risk they are taking. They do not believe, therefore, there is next life. And wherefrom this life came, varieties? These rascals have no brain, and they are passing as scientist, politician, philosopher, all rascals, tenth-class men.
Room Conversation -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:
Prabhupāda: No aim how to make people understand about God. They have no such, neither they do know personally. Their only aim is that "If I become a God-man, if I can bluff, jugglery of words and this magic and..., then I'll..." The same material thing, pratiṣṭha. As ordinary people, they are working so hard for some material gain, material reputation, these people are like that, in a different manner. This Satya Sai Baba, this Vivekananda, this, all of them, like that. They want some material position, misusing their mediocre knowledge. That's all.
Evening Darsana -- February 25, 1977, Mayapura:
Prabhupāda: Russia spends sixty-five percent-unnecessarily. And still starving. So this is mūḍha, duṣkṛtina. Duṣkṛtina, only engaged in sinful activities, duṣkṛtina, and rascals, mūḍha, narādhama. He got the opportunity of this human life, and it misusing unnecessarily-narādhama. And their university education-māyayāpahṛta, useless knowledge, useless. Apahṛta-jñāna. Actually they have no knowledge. Why? The only fault is there is no God. Āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ (BG 7.15). So one... That is the basic fault. Everyone is trying: "There is no God. Science."
Room Conversation -- March 26, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: He promises, "My dear son, you surrender, I will give you all protection." He is giving protection. Still, He is assuring, and, still you will not take shelter? That is intelligent? That is envy. Everyone can take. Everyone is suffering for misuse of their intelligence, denying the authority of God. And everyone can take advantage. We are giving them knowledge. Without any exception, everyone can take. This is our line. Accept the father, the bona fide father. Take protection from Him. He is able to give you everything. Why you are suffering? What is the logic?
Room Conversation with Scientists, Svarupa Damodara, and Dr. Sharma -- March 31, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: Whatever he actually requires, they will take from there. Therefore they are not subjected to the sinful activities. Only human beings are subjected to sinful activities. But he has got developed consciousness and misusing it. There is no sinful activities for animals lower than the human being. There is no sin. Because they are under the laws of nature, the animals. And as soon as one becomes developed conscious human being, if he does not know the śāstra and guided by spiritual master, he will do all nonsense. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4).
Morning Conversation -- April 11, 1977, Bombay:
Prabhupāda: She has misused the power, and nobody was to check. It is very dangerous constitution.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (reading:) "Educated people lack basic values. The question whether formal education has a corrupting influence on the minds of children, particularly the illiterate tribals and villagers, was raised by Dr. D. Y. Goharkar, vice chancellor of Nagpur University at the three-day conference of the third Vidarbha Teachers Educators' Meet, which concluded here last week in Candrapur. Inaugurating the conference, Dr. Goharkar observed that some of the basic values of life such as honesty and trustworthiness were conspicuously lacking in the so-called educated communities in general. He urged educationists and researchers to look into this question and suggest remedies."
Prabhupāda: That means the rascals, they do not see it, that godlessness, godless education will be like that. The teachers who are suggesting, they are themselves blind, and they are leading. They do not know what is the defect. You can write to them, that "You are leaders, you do not know what is the cause. This is the cause.
Evening Darsana -- May 14, 1977, Hrishikesh:
Prabhupāda: We are putting ourself in this condition of repetition of birth and death. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Once we take birth, and again we annihilate this body. So Ṛṣabhadeva says, "This ignorance of self-realization must be removed." Therefore He says, ayaṁ dehaḥ: "This body should not be misused like animals," āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna. This is the advice. Ayaṁ dehaḥ nṛloke. He especially mentions, nṛloke: "in the human form of body." The dog, cat, or doglike man, catlike man, they may remain in ignorance. They have no chance. There are uncivilized men. Although they have got two hands, two legs, but because there is no knowledge, they have been described as dvi-pada-paśu. They are animal with two legs.
Gurukula Inspection -- June 26, 1977, Vrndavana:
Prabhupāda: "And that is mine." Because you have got enough space, "I shall keep one leg in another place, one leg in another place," and then whole thing will be planning. Don't do this. Don't misuse even one thing.
Akṣayānanda: Just take what is necessary.
Prabhupāda: Hm. Properly utilize. (Hindi) Everything should be properly utilized. That is management, to not mix even.
Conversation with Bhakti-caitanya Swami-New GBC -- June 30, 1977, Vrindaban:
Prabhupāda: Anyway, guestroom should not be misused by the unnecessary women and children. That should be allowed. If one cannot pay, she may go the mass.
Akṣayānanda: Yes. I've always tried to minimize that problem.
Prabhupāda: No, "try..." Actually prove. No, don't try.
Akṣayānanda: I'm doing it, actually, at the expense of... They get angry but...
Prabhupāda: There is no question of angry. It is not our...
| Page Title: | Misuse (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Matea |
| Created: | 09 of Jul, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=120, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 120 |