My point of view (Prabhupada)

Expressions researched:
"my point of view" |"our point of view"

Notes from the compiler: quotes pertaining to Prabhupada's point of view

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Our point of view is not to become a first-class prisoner. To get out of the prison. That is Vaiṣṇava vision.

Lecture on BG 1.40 -- London, July 28, 1973:

Sattva-guṇa means the brahminical qualification. He's also contaminated. He's conditioned by the material nature. And what to speak of śūdra and varṇa-saṅkara? Everyone is conditioned by the material nature. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī (BG 7.14). Brāhmaṇa means to be situated, a first-class prisoner. A first-class prisoner is also prisoner. You cannot say that he's free. No, free is different from a first-class prisoner. Sometimes, any respectable gentleman, some political offense, he's put into jail. Just like Gandhi also went to jail. And so many others. But they were given the place, first-class prisoners. They got servant. They got separate bungalow and books, library, all facilities. But they cannot go out of the prison house. They are called first-class prisoners. So to become a brāhmaṇa means to becomes a first-class prisoner. That's all.

So our, our point of view is not to become a first-class prisoner. To get out of the prison. That is Vaiṣṇava vision. You'll find... Last night I have given comments that Mādhavendra Purī, he was performing the Annakuta ceremony and installing the Deity. So everything was being brāhmaṇa, done by brāhmaṇa, qualified brāhmaṇa, but Mādhavendra Purī initiated them again to become Vaiṣṇava. Then he gave them in charge of the Deity worship. So the Vaiṣṇava functions cannot be done even by a brāhmaṇa. Even one is qualified brāhmaṇa, he is unfit to propagate Vaiṣṇava philosophy. That is stated in the śāstras.

If one is not God conscious, he cannot be moralist, he cannot be truthful, he cannot be honest. This is our point of view.

Lecture on BG 2.26-27 -- London, August 29, 1973:

One Arya-samaji postmaster, long ago, not very long ago, 1956, 1956... In Delhi at that time I was publishing this Back to Godhead. So we had concession rate for posting, and it was to be delivered to the postmaster. So the postmaster was talking with me about the paper, Back to Godhead. He raised the same question. He said, "If we do our duty nicely then what is the use of worshiping God? If we become honest, if we become moral, if we do not do anything which is harmful to anyone, in this way, if we act, then where is the...?" Because our paper's name was Back to Godhead. So he was indirectly protesting, that What is the use of propagating this philosophy of Godhead if we act nicely? The Arya-samajists view... They are called... There is a English name, what is called? I forget now. Moralists. The technical name there is. Anyway, this is their point of view, how to avoid God. So I replied that if one is not God conscious, he cannot be moralist, he cannot be truthful, he cannot be honest. This is our point of view. You study the whole world only on these three points, morality, honest, and dutiful. So many nice things are there. But if he's not God conscious, he cannot continue such thing. He must fail.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:

For all the reactions out of that act. It may be bad or good. That doesn't matter. Our problem is not to be infected with the reaction. If you think that bringing up your brother... It is, actually, it is good thing. You are doing good thing. That's all right. And you'll have the good result of it. But that, having that good result, does not mean that you are free from the reaction. Now, our problem is that we want to be free from the reaction. So long... Now... The same answer is there, that reaction of my good work, that I get good birth, I get good education, I get sufficient wealth or I get good features of body. These things are goodness of this material world. But that does not make solution of the disease in which... (break)...vyādhi, birth, death, old age and disease. The whole problem is that we have to get out of this material existence. So the, from the material point of view, or platform, any act, good or bad, that will have material reaction. And we are, we want to get out of this material reaction. That is our point of view.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 29, 1973:

Mahatma Gandhi is supposed to be the father of nationality. Not only in our country, in many other countries. But what is that nationality? Mahatma Gandhi wanted that "The Britishers must go away. My countrymen shall enjoy." So this is extended selfishness. In the beginning, I want to enjoy. Then if I, I extend my enjoyment, family-wise, community-wise or nation-wise, that does not change the quality of selfishness. People are going on in the name of nationality, big leaders, but from our point of view, that neither as nation or community or person you are the proprietor of things. Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor of... So if you expand your selfishness in the name of nationality—"I possess this land"—we do not approve. We say, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. Why you are claiming yourself, as nation or individual or community? That's not proper.

General Lectures

Lecture at World Health Organization -- Geneva, June 6, 1974:

Yogeśvara: His first question was do we use machines and modern methods on our āśramas and farms.

Prabhupāda: We have no objection. We want to be self-sufficient. That is our point of view. We have no objection with... It is not that we don't touch machine. We don't say like that. But we want to be self-sufficient. That is our point. We have not taken a vow that we shall not touch any machine. No, no. We're not like that.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Prabhupāda: That is another thing. That is not freedom; that is competition.

Śyāmasundara: Competition. But in order to compete, there has to be freedom.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is another thing. But nobody is independent. That is our point of view. Everyone is dependent. Somebody is voluntarily dependent on Kṛṣṇa and somebody is by force dependent on māyā. That's all. But he must be dependent.

Philosophy Discussion on Auguste Comte:

Prabhupāda: So he is..., he does not believe..., there is no belief in God is there? There is no question of? No. But our point of view is different: that God is the ultimate decider of everything. That is called daiva-netreṇa. He may be acting through different agents, but ultimate decision is given by Him. And He is sitting in everyone's heart. He is observing the activities of the individual soul as witness, giving permission. Without God's permission, nobody can act. So He is giving intelligence also, and He is the cause of forgetting. Two things are there, remembering and forgetting. Both these things are coming from God. If He keeps him in forgetfulness, then he cannot remember, and if He gives him the power to remember, he can remember for long, long past activities. So ultimately God is the final director. That is our conception.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Prof. Kotovsky -- June 22, 1971, Moscow:

Prabhupāda: It is impossible. Our idea is that best ideas from the original idea. Just like in the Bhāgavata there is a description of communistic idea, and it is being described to Mahārāja Yudhisthira. So if there is something good, good experience, why it should not be adopted? That is our point of view. And besides that, in the modern civilization they are missing one point: the aim of human life, scientifically. The aim of human life is self-realization, ātmā-tattvam. It is said, parābhavas tāvad abodha-jātaḥ yāvan na jijñāsa ātmā-tattvam. Unless the human society comes to the point of self-realization, whatever they are doing, they are being defeated, parābhava. I think you know this word, parābhava. Parābhava. Parābhavas tāvad abodha-jātaḥ. So actually it is happening so. The modern society, human society, there is advancement, economic advancement, so many things, advancement. Still, in the matter of keeping peace and tranquility there is fight, individually, socially, politically, nationally. So if we think very cool-headed, then in spite of so much improvement in so many branches of knowledge, we are keeping the same mentality of quarreling. That is also visible in lower animal society. So our conclusion, according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that this body, human body, it is not meant for working very hard for sense gratification.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: Hm. Comparative religion, from our point of view, that there cannot be many religions, cannot be many religions. Religion means... We define religion as the law given by God. So we understand from Bhagavad-gītā that God says, Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ, mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: "Always think of Me, become My devotee, offer your obeisances unto Me." So any religion that has no conception of God, how he can think of God? If I think of something, that something must be known to me; otherwise how can I think of it? If I imagine something, that is not wanted. My imagination of God... God is not a thing to be imagined by me. He is a concrete thing. Therefore according to our philosophy, any so-called religion which has no conception of God, that is not religion. That is simply mental speculation. We accept that religion means the law given by God. But if you do not know what is God, what is His law, then where is religion? Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that all types of pseudo religion is rejected.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Krishna Tiwari -- May 22, 1973, New York:

Prabhupāda: You think that is, uh, scientific?

Krishna Tiwari: Scientists will study... If they want to study a body, they study first outside, looking at what they can learn. Then after sometime it is stopped. Then one has to go inside.

Prabhupāda: Oh, that's all right. So our point of view is when we study the body, we study first of all the soul.

Krishna Tiwari: But how we know about soul?

Prabhupāda: We know from the Vedic knowledge.

Room Conversation with Krishna Tiwari -- May 22, 1973, New York:

Prabhupāda: This opinion, it is your opinion. Because you are Indian, I am also Indian. I believe you don't believe.

Krishna Tiwari: Sure, I do not believe.

Prabhupāda: So it is your opinion.

Krishna Tiwari: I do not believe in the strict following of every word...

Prabhupāda: That's all right, that is your, that is your point of view, but that is not our point of view.

Room Conversation with Lord Brockway -- July 23, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: No, how good dictatorship can be a bad thing?

Lord Brockway: I would rather have people make mistakes when they had self-government than if you had a dictatorship which didn't make mistakes and imposed it's own...

Prabhupāda: No, but my proposition is that they should not commit, either the king or the elected person should not commit mistake. But if you try to educate the mass of people to become educated to elect the right person, that is very difficult. But if a king, a person, is educated nicely, that is easier. That is my point of view.

Room Conversation with Cardinal Danielou -- August 9, 1973, Paris:

Prabhupāda: So our point of view is that we don't allow killing any animal. Our Kṛṣṇa says: patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Kṛṣṇa says vegetable, fruits, milk, grains, all these things should be offered to Me with devotion. And you should take the remnants of the foodstuff. So we take prasādam. And Kṛṣṇa says: "Give Me foodstuff prepared from this group." That we do. Accepting that the fruits, they have got life. But fruits are by nature... There are many fruits. It is offered by the tree for eating. The tree's not killed. So we accept this philosophy also that a, one animal, one living entity is meant for being food for another living entity. Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. That we also accept, but that does not mean one living entity is the food for another living entity, that does not mean I can kill my mother, my child... That is not, sir. So at least this must be taken into consideration that cows, innocent, they give us milk, we take its milk, and we kill in regular slaughterhouse, this is not very good thing. It is sinful.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Mr. C. Hennis of the International Labor Organization of the U.N. -- May 31, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: No. My point was, point is that... Because one is fourth-class, therefore we are not interested in that—it is not my point. My point is that there are four classes of men: first-class, second-class, third-class, fourth-class. And our point of view, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is meant for taking care of all classes of men. Although by natural division there are four classes of men, first-class, second-class, third-class, fourth-class, but the example we generally give, just like in your body there are four divisions: the head division, the arm division, the belly division and the leg division, but all of them meant for keeping the body fit. And body is meant for giving supply to everyone of them. But if you comparatively make division, the head comes the first division, the arms comes the second division, the belly comes the third division, and the legs comes the fourth division. So we should organize in such a way that all the classes of men in the society be happy, not that we simply take care of the head.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Press Representative -- March 21, 1975, Calcutta:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Even if it is not possible, but you have to accept there is a supreme scientist. If you cannot see Him, that is your disqualification. That is your disqualification. But you have to admit that there is a supreme scientist. If you say that hydrogen and oxygen mixed together makes water, that's all right. But who has created this big sea and ocean? Wherefrom the hydrogen, oxygen came? Who supplied? That is intelligence. Simply theoretical I know, but I cannot say who has created this big, vast mass of water by mixing hydrogen, oxygen. Wherefrom such huge quantity of hydrogen, oxygen came? Our point of view, that you scientists, you say that hydrogen, oxygen creates water, and here we see that somebody has created, but not somebody will know who is that body, how great He is. And that is our credit. If you want little credit by experimenting, hydrogen, oxygen mixed together, then how much credit should be given who has created the vast Atlantic Ocean, not only one, millions! Why don't you give credit?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Rūpānuga: They are coming to watch the fireworks. You see, from here, the fireworks are going to be very high in the sky. They can see it from this point. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...celebration, independence from our point of view?

Hari-śauri: From our point of view, it doesn't have any meaning. For a conditioned soul to think that he's independent...

Prabhupāda: It is foolishness.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They think they're free from being controlled by the British, for example. Free from being controlled.

Prabhupāda: There is some meaning. That's all right. But where is your independence? You are fully under the control of the laws of nature. So where is your independence?

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: We do not suppose. We get the reference to the śāstra. That is our disease. We don't manufacture. We don't manufacture anything. Our point of view is if there is starvation, then we take it: mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Tat te nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam (SB 10.14.8). When we are put into starvation, we take it: blessings of God. We don't complain, that "I did something wrong or there is something wrong, so God has put me into this position. It is His blessing." This is our view.

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: And who is father according to that definition? This is our formula.

Ādi-keśava: They argue sometimes. They say, "You are saying that you guru..."

Prabhupāda: You are argue your point, but our argument is here. You are arguing from your point of view, and we shall argue from our point of view. Unless the father releases the son from the cycle of birth and death, he's not father. This is our formula.

Room Conversation -- March 26, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. The democratic campaign. But from our point of view, these are not the solution. Temporary. Temporary relief. Daṇḍya jane rāja yena nadīte cubāya.(?) You know this? Daṇḍya jane rāja yena nadīte cubāya. I have spoken several times in... Formerly, the criminal was taken in the middle of the river and he was drowned. And when he was suffocating, he's held up. Then he, ahhh (takes deep breath). This relief is like that. That means as soon as he takes little strength, again, put again. Then daṇḍya jane rāja yena nadīte cubāya.(?) These rascals are like that. For the time being there is little relief: "Oh, we are now free from the leaders." And there is another hand is being created. Bābājī or something like that. Then again they shall put his... This is going on.

Conversations -- June 28, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's what makes your books so unique, that others might have had some scholarly knowledge, but you have to so much experience and realization packed into those books that it's so appealing, the scholars delight in reading the purports.

Prabhupāda: Scholars, they theorize. I say practical. Scholars want to say, want to show how much their imaginative power is strong. That's all. And they all speak nonsense-Ramakrishna. And my point of view is how to give people practical hints so that they may be raised from this rotten condition.

Śatadhanya: You are compassionate.

Room Conversation with Mr. Myer -- July 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So they gave me a free ticket, and the government allowed me to take with me, forty rupees. In this state, condition, I started for New York. You see? No friend, no secre..., no hotel, nothing, arrangement. This was the beginning. Then I went there. So I do not know how it happened. Now we have got forty crores. It is all Kṛṣṇa's mercy. I never expected that my books will be sold and appreciated all over the world. So that is being done. People are appreciating the whole movement. Even in our country our government, it has come to their notice, cabinet ministers. So my point of view was that in Delhi there is a confectioner's shop. You had been in Delhi?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Do you go to Delhi sometimes?

Mr. Myer: Yes, I will...

Prabhupāda: There is a street, Loiya Bazaar. So there is a Punjabi's shop. He makes all preparation, first-class ghee. So whenever I used to pass that area, at least fifty customers are waiting. Somebody wanting something, somebody wanting something. That gave me the impression that if you have goods genuine, customer will come. If your dealing is straightforward and the goods are nice. So, so many religious institution and missionary and other, they are all over the world. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission, substantial, genuine, so why this will not be appreciated if we present properly? So I fought on that, and some way or other it is successful.

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- San Francisco 28 March, 1967:

My point of view is that provided we are getting possession of the house we shall not lag behind in the matter of all stipulated payments. If we lag behind we are not going to get back the money $5000.00. We want the house and we are ready to pay all with all hardship on our part but if it is a maneuver on the part of Mr. Payne and His accomplice Mr. Hill they must be brought to the criminal court for proper punishment. If however we get the money back without a farthing less, we are not going to take any step even though we can do so legally.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Sacisuta -- Montreal 19 August, 1968:

The principle to be followed by devotee is clear and nice. It is stated in the Bhagavatam, that one should be chanting the Hare Krishna mantra in such a nice way that he shall become completely disassociated with any other contamination. That should be our point of view. Of course, that stage of reaching requires much time, still we should try to do it. So if you decide to stay in some place, with determination, without looking to the circumstances and concentrating your energy in the service of Lord Krishna, that will make you steadfast.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Bhavananda , Jayapataka -- Hyderabad 20 April, 1974:

My point of view is this: whatever money you require I am already sending and will continue without hesitation to send, but I must be satisfied the money is properly spent. The first point is if I send you money for a certain purpose it must be spent for that purpose. Money for land must be spent for land purchase; if I send money for constructing of a kitchen it must be spent for that.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Dr. Y. G. Naik -- Toronto 7 August, 1975:

According to the Vedic varna asrama it is compulsory that one retire from his family life and engage this body for Krishna's service at the end of his life. As it is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam:

tat sadhu manye 'suravarya dehinam

sada samudvigna dhiyam asad grahat

hitvartma patam grham andha-kupam

vannad gato yad harim asrayet

(SB 7.5.5)

I hope you will try to understand my point of view and join this movement to make it more appreciable by the people in general all over the world.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Sri K. K. Joshi -- Honolulu 9 May, 1976:

We are preaching on the basis of the Vedic literatures, which are considered to be the most authentic knowledge by Indian scholars, religionists, and people in general. This authenticity is being appreciated now by all scholarly sections throughout the whole world. Our books are being received by all libraries, universities, and scholarly persons, and I wish also that your institution may also order for all these books so that you can understand our point of view. Enclosed is one catalog which vividly describes some of these books. They are available to your institution through our Bombay branch where address is: Hare Krishna Land, Juhu Road, Juhu, Bombay 400-054.