Prabhupāda: Even in India, where there are so many devotees of Kṛṣṇa, but when they saw "These American devotees are so nice," thirty thousand people were coming daily. And what was our magic? This man was asking me, "Swamiji, what magic you have got?" I said, "I have got this magic that I don't tell lie. I don't make 'This rascal is God.' God is Kṛṣṇa. That is my magic. I don't bluff people. Here is God. See God, be with God, serve God. That's my business." Why God should be unseen? You see Kṛṣṇa. If Kṛṣṇa says that "I am taste of the water," while you are drinking water, tasting, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa." As soon as you see sunshine, moonshine, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa." As soon as there is a nice flavor, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa." Puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau. These are all described in the Bhagavad-gītā, Seventh Chapter. Where is Bhagavad-gītā? Just turn to Seventh Chapter. Somebody come up to this. So it is very important movement. You take it very seriously and spread it. Seventh Chapter. Read it.
Moonshine (Conversations)
Expressions researched:
"moon is shining"
|"moon loses his shining"
|"moon planet. It is shining"
|"moon shine"
|"moon shining"
|"moon was shining"
|"moonlight"
|"moonshine"
|"shining full moon"
|"shining light of the moon"
|"shining moon"
|"shining of moon"
|"shining of the moon"
|"shining of the moon"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the taste of the water." So everyone has got, everyone has knowledge what is the taste of water. Why do you say he does not know Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the light of the sunshine." So who has not seen the sunshine? So when you see sunshine, if you think, "It is Kṛṣṇa," what is the difficulty? There is no difficulty. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi sūryayoḥ (BG 7.8). There is no difficulty. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi sūryayoḥ. When you see some moonlight...
Reporter: It's very, I think, sir, that we must, as you say, live and have our being in Kṛṣṇa...
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is already, but you have forgot.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. Here is only one sun planet, and in Vaikuṇṭha all the planets are like sun. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated, na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ (BG 15.6). There is no necessity of electricity or moonlight or sunlight. Here it is necessity because here only glowing planet is the sun. But in the Vaikuṇṭha, each and every planet is glowing. Therefore there is no need of sun. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Na tad bhāsayate sūryaḥ. There is no necessity of illumination of sun, moon or electricity.
Prajāpati: Spirit soul, it is also luminous like that?
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...is luminous, how it is keeping your body warm? As soon as it goes away, immediately cold. Immediately cold. Finished, all temperature finished. These are the evidences.
Prabhupāda: They do not supply prasādam, these rascals? (break) Everyone can see. So if Guru Maharaji is light, then why everybody does not follow? If he is light, light can be seen by everyone. Just like sunlight, moonlight, we can see. Everyone can see.
Hṛdayānanda: They argue that he only will reveal himself to those who surrender to him.
Prabhupāda: But those who have surrendered, they cannot speak anything. They are in darkness. When we talk with your disciple who has surrendered, they cannot argue with us. They are in darkness. So what kind of light he has seen?
Jayatīrtha: It is all just sentimental.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: And... Yes. Śabdaḥ khe. In the sky. So in the sky there is śabdaḥ. As the aeroplane goes, there is śabdaḥ, (makes imitative sound) guraguraguragura... He can remember Kṛṣṇa. Is it very difficult? You see. Bhakti-yoga, how nice it is! When the aeroplane is passing, there is guragura śabdaḥ, you find Kṛṣṇa. When you are tasting water, you find Kṛṣṇa. When there is sunlight, you find Kṛṣṇa. When there is moonlight, you find... When you're chanting Vedas, you find Kṛṣṇa. So how you can be without Kṛṣṇa consciousness? It is simply foolishness that it cannot be done. No. The how it can be done, that Kṛṣṇa personally is teaching. Learn it. And do it.
Mr. Sar: Puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: No, because you won't understand. If you don't understand, then it takes millions of years. Otherwise in a second. Where is the difficulty? Kṛṣṇa says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya (BG 7.8). "I am the taste of the water." Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. So you see the sunshine. This is Kṛṣṇa. The moonshine is Kṛṣṇa. First of all try to see Kṛṣṇa in... There are two kinds of snakes. One snake is poisonless, and another snake is poisonous. So before catching the poisonous snake, you practice to catch the non-poisonous snake. Then gradually, you'll be able. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, and this is the process to see Kṛṣṇa. That is a fact. When Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the taste of the water," that is a fact. So you see this Kṛṣṇa. Then you will, one day you will realize the Supreme Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between this Kṛṣṇa and that Kṛṣṇa. This is the purport. (break) ...learn something, you should accept the process. If you don't accept the process, how you can learn? (break)
Prabhupāda: But just like Kṛṣṇa says, "They are just like moon." Just see. Nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśi. So śaśi means the moon. Moon is like one of the stars. So if you say the stars are sūrya, then there is contradiction. How the moon and the sun can be equal? But actually, that is not. According to our Vedic astronomy, there is one sun only in one universe, although there are millions of universes, we cannot count. So there are millions of suns. That is another thing. But within the universe there is only one sun, and by the brilliance of sunshine, all these stars and moons are glittering. Just like moon shining, being reflected by the sun, similarly, all the stars they are glittering, being reflected by the sun, not that all of them are different suns. This theory is refuted.
Prabhupāda: Just like the sun or the moon. There is the sun-god or the moon-god within the planet. That is the original. And then the sun globe, it is localized. And then the sunshine and the moonshine. Hare Kṛṣṇa (Hindi) (aside:) (break) ...what is impersonal and personal. What is that? Repeat it, what I have said.
Italian Man (1): This way, if I understand what is personal and impersonal?
Prabhupāda: Yes, what is that personal and impersonal?
Italian Man (1): Is that Kṛṣṇa also has a... He's a person. He is not only all-pervading abstract energy.
Prabhupāda: He is all-pervading.
Italian Man (1): Yes, but He also is a person.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: It requires elucidation. "Complete whole" means, just like your body is complete whole, and there are so many other things, there are so many holes in the body, there are so many hairs on the body, there are so many hairs on the head, so many fingers, eyes, ears—so many things—but the body is a complete unit, working as a complete machine. And there are so many things. Similarly, the whole cosmos is complete, exactly like this body is a machine. Similarly the whole cosmos is a big machine. It is complete. One sun is there and keeping everything complete. The day and night, the seasonal changes, the equator, the temperature, the moonlight, the other planets, we living beings, the vegetables—everything is complete by God. And because the sun is there. Similarly, this body, machine, is complete. And the soul is there, it is working nicely. The body is also a creation, and the universe is also a creation, and the brain which has created these things, He is complete. Therefore He has created these complete units. That is the idea. Pūrṇam idaṁ (Iso Invocation).
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: So when.... At least in America or any civilized country, there is ample food for human being. Why they should kill? If you can live without killing cows, if you can utilize cows in a different way.... Just like we are maintaining a farm—not one, many. They are maintaining cows and we are getting enough milk. And from milk we can prepare varieties of palatable, vitaminous, nutritious food. And that is very, very enjoyable. So let the animal live and take the milk, and just like we.... None of us, we take meat, but we are not dying. We are having so many nice preparation from milk, from grains, from fruit. Besides that, our another principle is that we offer to God. So God said that "Give Me vegetables, milk," like that. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). So we offer these things, and we take the leftover. That is our principle. We are not after killing or not killing. We are simply after obeying the orders of Kṛṣṇa. That is our. So Kṛṣṇa says, "Give Me food from the vegetables." So we offer Him very nice, palatable dishes and eat. This is our principle. So even while eating, we remember God: "Kṛṣṇa has so nicely eaten this. Let me take the remnants." So while eating, we are remembering God. So if God said that "You remember Me always," we can do it. He has explained how to remember Him. He said, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya: (BG 7.8) "I am the taste of the water." So when you drink.... Who is not drinking water? At least three times, four times we drink water, everyone. So when you drink, and the water quenches your thirst, and you feel some taste nice, Kṛṣṇa says, God says, "I am that taste." So where is my difficulty to remember God? If you simply remember this formula, that "The taste of the water is Kṛṣṇa," immediately you remember Kṛṣṇa. Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. "I am the shining of the sun, shining of the moon." So who does not see the shining of the sun and the moon? At night you see the shining of moon, and day you see.... So where is the chance of forgetting God? There is no chance at all. As soon as you see the sunshine even, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa." As soon as see the moonshine, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa." As soon as you taste water, "Oh, here is Kṛṣṇa."
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the.... So that is the order in our Bhagavad-gītā. The first order is man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. So "Always think of Me." And He is giving the process how to think of Him. Not that He simply leaves you that "Think of Me," but He is giving practical way. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya (BG 7.8). "Now, when you drink water you can think of Me. When you see the sunshine you can think of Me. When you see the moonshine you can.... When there is sound you can think of Me." In this way there is list. If you time, I can explain that list. Have you got time? Bring me that...
Guest (2): Well, have you got...
Prabhupāda: All right. So practical, that how to think of God, how to glorify Him, that there must be some practical life. That we are teaching, because everything is glorification of God. We cannot manufacture the sunshine. Therefore sunshine, it is glorification of God. We cannot manufacture the moonshine; therefore moonshine is glorification of God. So in this way you have to practically learn how to glorify God. Then life will be very nice. That we are teaching. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So you should.... So if you like, you can take this book also.
Guest (2): Could we have an autograph of that?
Hari-śauri: Oh, yes. They want you to sign it, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Guest (2): How much does one of these cost?
Guest (3): Could we have two?
Prabhupāda: Kick their face with shoes. That is the only reward for them. And foolish persons accepting. Just like sun is illuminating. It doesn't require illumination from any other planet. Similarly, if earth is also illuminating, why does it require moonlight in darkness? This common sense does not come into the brain of these rascals who believe that?
Hari-śauri: They put their scientific reasoning to explain the different things.
Prabhupāda: What is their scientific reasoning? Talking like fools and rascals? If something is illuminating, why extra illumination required to illuminate.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Their theory is that there's a dark side of the moon that we've never seen.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Prabhupāda: Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ (BG 7.8). When you drink water, you drink water for some taste, nice taste to quench your thirst. So that taste is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says raso 'ham apsu kaunteya. Apsu does not mean only water. Suppose you are drinking, so you are getting some pleasure by the taste of the drinking, and if you think that this taste is Kṛṣṇa, then gradually you'll give up this drinking. Because you'll be purified by thinking of Kṛṣṇa. So some way or other think of Kṛṣṇa and your life is successful. Yena tena prakāreṇa manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet. So the process is given, you can think of Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours if you practice. Who can avoid drinking water? At least twice, thrice, we drink water, and if we think the taste is Kṛṣṇa... Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. Who can avoid seeing the sunshine and moonshine? As soon as you see the sunshine and the moonshine, if we think "Here is Kṛṣṇa," the sunshine is Kṛṣṇa. So this thinking of Kṛṣṇa, yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā (BG 6.47).
Prabhupāda: So you don't take simply Jagannātha temple. There are many other temples, they allow. It is a particular management body, they do not allow. But that is not the sanction of the śāstra. That is not the sanction. Suppose in your private house you make some private law. That is your business. But actually temple is open for everyone. That is stated. Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32). Even one is born of low-grade family, he can accept. There is no injunction. That is śāstra. But there are rascals who do not follow. They have their own imagination. That is another thing. Kṛṣṇa never said that "Only the brāhmaṇas or Indians or Hindus can take shelter of Me." Kṛṣṇa never said. Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ, whatever he may be. There is no restriction. Just like Ganges water, anyone can take bath. It is not that only a particular person or particular community can take bath. Anyone can take, and he becomes purified. There is an example, na hi harate jyotsnā candraś caṇḍāla veśmani.(?) When there is moonlight, there is no discrimination that here is a bhaṅgi's house, caṇḍāla's house, there should be no moonshine. The moonshine is open in the palace of the king or in the house of a caṇḍāla, na hi harate jyotsnā candraś caṇḍāla veśmani. So Kṛṣṇa's mercy is for everyone. It is not restricted to a certain community or class of people, no. Anyone can take advantage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And that is, practically they are doing. Therefore in India, so they say that I am killing Hindu dharma, the Māyāvādīs, that Bhaktivedanta Swami hindu-dharma ka naṣṭa.
Prabhupāda: And they will advertise that these descriptions in the śāstras, they are all mythology. Of course, this kind of bluffing cannot go because suppose this Mars expedition becomes a failure, like that, the same... It will be failure. So next time, if they propose, I think people will be hesitant to allow them to. Simply bringing people rocks and sands, without any utility, after spending so much money. How long they can repeat this, "Yes, we went to this planet, rocks. We went to this-rocks." So we see variety. Is the so many luminaries, simply rocks and sands? The moon is full of rocks and it's so illuminating? Whole universe is illuminated so nice, moonshine. So many stars illuminating and they're rocks and sand? We have to believe it?
Jñānagamya: They are saying there is life on Mars. They are seeing microbes, small little living entities, they are detecting these with their machines. So they are seeing, there is some life.
Prabhupāda: The material world is full of miseries. It may be of different degrees, but it is full of miseries. You cannot avoid by adjustment. That is not possible. Therefore the materialists, they are trying. Just like in this country, Iran, now the Iranians are trying to become as opulent as the Americans. They are trying to build up similar cities and industries, but do you think they will be happy then? No. Are the Americans happy by having big, big cities? No. That is not possible. Now they are trying to imitate, but that is a false attempt. That is not the life. They can see that Americans have got big, big cities, they have big, big organizations, but are they happy actually or not? From practical example. Then why you are attempting again to imitate them? That intelligence is lacking. How they will be happy, they do not know. They are trying to imitate somebody else. He is already on the standard, so-called, but still they are not happy. The Communists, they're trying for the last fifty years to become happy, but are they happy actually? No. The Russians and the Chinese, they are now differing, "No, this is not the standard. This is standard." So the same thing is going on. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). It is like chewing the chewed, that's all. Somebody has chewed the sugar cane and it's thrown away. Another man comes, "Let me taste it." And what you'll taste? It is already finished. So all these "isms," they are all finished. All the scientific discoveries, they are all finished. And where is happiness? This is not the way. Mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). You have to attempt in such a way that after giving up this body, you go back home, back to Godhead, never come back again here. This is the way. Otherwise, there is no happiness. You go on struggling, that is your choice. Make new attempts. Just like this moon excursion. Ten years ago in one small book, Easy Journey to Other Planets, we predicted that this moon-going attempt is childish and waste of time. We are not expert scientist, but from the śāstra we can understand. Now such a brilliant planet, pleasing, and they have discovered there rocks and sand. Just see their intelligence. Do you think rocks and sand are so brilliant? What do you think? This bluff is going on. People are feeling under the moonshine is so pleasing, and it is full of rocks and sand. We have to accept that. Rocks and sand, throughout the whole day by scorching heat, they also become heated. So at night it is suffering.
Prabhupāda: Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ (BG 7.8). "I am the sunshine and moonshine." You cannot see sunshine and moonshine?
Indian man: But sir, the sunshine is the hiraṇyagarbha. That too is the product. That is material. There is something beyond the sunshine.
Prabhupāda: For God there is nothing material. For God...
Indian man (2): I think that's what Īśopaniṣad says. Om īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam.
Prabhupāda: Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). So what is material?
Indian man (2): Yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ.
Prabhupāda: If it is sarvam, then what is material?
Indian man (2): Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ.
Prabhupāda: That is another for you.
Indian man (2): (laughs) It's all right.
Prabhupāda: If you increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa, then it will automatically. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). There is a verse of Rūpa Gosvāmī that one gopī is warning another gopī that
- smerāṁ bhaṅgī traya-paricitāṁ sāci-vistīrṇa-dṛṣṭiṁ
- vaṁśīnyastādhara-kiśalayāmujjvalāṁ candrakeṇa
- govindākhyāṁ haritanumitaḥ keśitīrtho 'pakaṇṭhe
- mā prekṣiṣṭhāstava yadi sakhe bandhu-saṅge 'sti raṅgaḥ
There is govindākhyāṁ haritanum, standing in keśitīrtho 'pakaṇṭhe, with flute and smiling and with the moonshine it has become, He has become very, very bright. So, but don't see, don't see. Why? Provided you have the desire no more your association with so-called society, friends. If you have got desire to enjoy society, friendship and love of this world, then don't see. The purport is that anyone who sees Kṛṣṇa actually, he loses interest in this. So therefore, we must increase our interest in Kṛṣṇa, then automatically...
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Story means it is story for you. Do you know the details of the whole universe, where, what is what? Can you do? You go and say there is no moonshine, but this rascal conclusion will be taken. Why there should be shine? From the sand such brilliant moonshine is coming? We have to believe that? So many books have said (indistinct) brilliant. Sun is brilliant. This... So you rascal, you can believe in that, but we'll not believe. You can say. What do you know about moon? It is all rascaldom. It may be good for rascals like you, not for intelligent man like me.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That statement is always published immediately in newspapers. They love to publish that statement, that we say they've not gone to the moon. Immediately...
| Page Title: | Moonshine (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 28 of Apr, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=20, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 20 |