Negative (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"negative" |"negatively" |"negativeness" |"negatives" |"negativism" |"negativity"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.8-12 -- Los Angeles, November 27, 1968:

Devotee: "If individuality is not a fact, then Kṛṣṇa would not have stressed it so much even for the future."

Prabhupāda: Yes. He says that there was no such time when we are not individual, and there will be no such time in the future when we shall not remain individual. And so far present is concerned, we are all individual. You know. So where is the possibility of losing individuality? Become imperson? No. There is no possibility. This voidism, impersonalism, they are artificial ways of negating the perplexing variegatedness of this material existence. That is the negative side only. That is not a positive side. A positive side is that, as Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). "After giving up this material tabernacle, one comes to Me." Just like after leaving this room, you have to enter another room. You cannot say that "After leaving this room, I shall live in the sky." Similarly, after leaving this body, if you go to Kṛṣṇa in the spiritual kingdom, your individuality will be there, but you'll have that spiritual body. When there is spiritual body there is no perplexities.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- London, August 18, 1973:

There is no end. They'll never die." So, na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ, it is not that we did not exist in the past, and we are existing at present. That is everyone knows. So in the future, don't think that we may not exist. Na bhaviṣyāmaḥ. It is not that we shall not exist in the future. Na bhaviṣyāmaḥ, not exist, and another not. Two nots make one yes. Two negatives make one positive. So therefore, we have two negatives. Na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ. Na bhaviṣyāmaḥ means not to exist in the future; that is not. That means we shall exist. Na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve... all of us. All of us, you, not that "Because I am God, because you are My friend, God's friend, and all others..." No, everyone. This is knowledge. In the Kaṭha Upaniṣad there is the verse nityo nityānām. Nityo nityānām. Nityānām means ever existing. Nitya means ever, always. So either Kṛṣṇa or we, every one of us are ever-existing, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, December 12, 1976:

"In the future we may become one, amalgamated," as the Māyāvādī philosopher says that as soon as we become liberated, we become one with the Absolute. No, that is not fact. Here it is said, na ca eva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ: "It is not that in future we shall not remain individual. We shall remain individual." Na bhaviṣyāmaḥ na. Two negatives makes one positive. That means "In the future also we shall exist as individual." Na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve, "all of us." "All" means Kṛṣṇa says, "I, you, and all the other peoples, kings, and soldiers, we shall remain as individual." Then where is oneness? This Māyāvādī theory that after liberation we shall all become one with God, that is not mentioned here. This is bogus theory. Real, that we remain individual. So long we are not in a position to act means so long... Just like ghost. Ghost is also individual. But because the ghost does not get this material body they are invisible. They create disturbance for want of this body. Those who have got experience of ghost in some house, the ghost is there, he is individual soul, but because he hasn't got this material covering, that is a punishment. For the most sinful person, that is a punishment, that he does not get this body, although he wants this body, because for enjoyment we want this body.

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 17, 1975:

The so-called education which is going on, that is called art. Of course, they also say, "B.A., M.A., Bachelor of Art, Master of Art." It is just learning an art only; it is not education. Just like an electrical electrician. He knows the art how to put the negative and positive wire and bring electricity. That is an art. But that electrician does not know what is the science of understanding soul. The modern education, they are simply giving lessons on some art, generally known as technology. So by that advancement of knowledge we can construct high skyscraper building, nice motorcar, nice airplane, nice machine. That is art. But we do not know what is going to happen next life, my soul. That we do not.

So this is the distinction between avidyā and vidyā. Vidyā means knowledge, and avidyā means ignorance. Suppose you construct a very nice skyscraper building and next life you become something—you remain a rat in that house—then what is your benefit? The soul has to accept a body according to his karma. If by karma he has to accept the body of a rat, it will not be excused by nature that "You have constructed skyscraper building; therefore you'll again come and live there."

Lecture on BG 2.20-25 -- Seattle, October 14, 1968:

Yes. Now here Kṛṣṇa says that "Don't care for this body. There is soul." That is śruti. Śruti means you hear from Kṛṣṇa; then you understand. Otherwise there is no possibility to understand. The same example, as I have several times said, that who is your father? That you can under(stand) simply by hearing from your mother. That's all. The mother says, "He is your father." What is the evidence? Hearing from the mother. That's all. Similarly anything spiritual, spiritual identity, spiritual God, spiritual kingdom, you have to learn simply by hearing from authorities. There is no other process. There is no other second process. Simply we have to hear. Just the same example. Who is your father? You have to simply believe your mother. Even if he... Of course, it is not expected that she'll give a false information. Understanding, the mother is nice, she'll give me. So that is the only way. You have to believe your mother, and that's all. Similarly, if you want to understand anything spiritual, you have to take information by hearing from such authorities as Kṛṣṇa or His representative, and there is no other alternative. Other alternative, it will ever remain invisible and not understandable and so many things, negative. Yes.

Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972:

Then you can attempt to measure it. First of all, you cannot see even. Because it is very, very small, one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. Now, because we cannot see, by our experimental knowledge we cannot appreciate; therefore Kṛṣṇa is describing the existence of the self soul in a negative way: "It is not this." Sometimes when we cannot understand, the explanation is given: "It is not this." If I cannot express what it is, then we can express in a negative way that "It is not this." So what is that "not this"? The "not this" is that "It is not material." The spirit soul is not material. But we have got experience of material things. Then how to understand that it is the negative? That is explained in the next verse, that nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. You cannot cut, the spirit soul by any weapon, knife, sword, or thistle. (pistol?) It is not possible. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. The Māyāvāda philosophy says that "I am Brahman. Due to my illusion, I feel I am separated. Otherwise I am one." But Kṛṣṇa says that mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). So does it mean that the, from the whole spirit, this fragment has been separated by cutting into piece? No. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. It cannot be cut into pieces. Then? Then the answer is that the spirit soul fragment is eternal. Not that by māyā it has become separated. No. How it can be? Because it cannot be cut into pieces.

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa says very distinctly; nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi, that "Soul cannot be cut. Any weapon. It cannot be pierced by your arrows, it cannot be cut into pieces by your sword, or if you use firearms it will not burn." Nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. This is the position of soul. Immutable, indestructible. Another... This is the negative description of the soul. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. Is there anything in this material world which cannot be cut into pieces? Have you got any experience? Take wood, stone, iron, or anything. It can be cut into pieces. Therefore, the..., when Kṛṣṇa says nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi, that means it is nothing like anything material elements. It is different. It is different. Any material elements. There are earth, water, fire, air, and ether. You can prepare weapons from earth. Water, you cannot do now. But there can be a weapon from the water also. That was used in the Battle of Kurukṣetra. Here, the atomic bomb is thrown, brahmāstra. From the other side the watery astra is thrown so that the energy of the atomic bomb is immediately finished. So what the scientists know now? Although they have manufactured atomic bomb, but they are unable to manufacture another weapon counteraction of atomic bomb. That is not possible. But there is. Atomic bomb is fiery, and if you manufacture another bomb which is watery, then you can counteract. Because fight means I charge you with some kind of weapon. You have to protect yourself by the counteraction. That was going on. So nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ.

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

"This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same."

So this is another way, negative way. In the previous verse Kṛṣṇa says: nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi. And now, negatively or passively, it is said that acchedyo 'yam. In every way, Kṛṣṇa is suggesting the immortality of the soul. There are five elements: earth, water, fire, air. So none of these elements can act on the soul. You can prepare sword, cutting sword from earth, from metal, but it does not mean that you can cut anything material with your sword. But you cannot cut the spirit soul with your sword or with your other material weapons. Neither... Acchedyo 'yam adāhyaḥ. Neither you can burn with fire, neither you can moisten it with water, neither you can dry. In every respect Kṛṣṇa explains how soul is immutable.

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Los Angeles, December 6, 1968:

Yes, they do not know. Less intelligent. Ajānata. This very word is used in the Śrīmad... Ajānata. Jānata means with knowledge. A-jāna, "a" is negative. Without any knowledge. And in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll see that bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). These less intelligent class of men, they are searching after the Absolute Truth. That is also creditable. They are searching. But they have not come to the right point. The right point is here, as Kṛṣṇa says, that "After many, many births of research work, when he actually becomes a wise man, he surrenders unto Me." Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19), that "Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is everything." That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. So ultimate knowledge means to understand the Supreme Person. What is the value if somebody has studied very elaborately the sunshine, but he has no access to enter into the sun planet or to understand the sun-god within? Is it a very enlightenment? Suppose the sunshine is all-pervading the universe. One has studied the sunshine very nicely. That man, and one has entered the sun planet and seen the sun-god, who is better?

Lecture on BG 2.39 -- London, September 12, 1973:

"You give up this business. You take to this Kṛṣṇa business," that is also gambling because he does not know what will happen.

So everything has "do" and "do not." So we have to give up this "do not" and accept the "do," positive and negative. Then... Therefore, in the Tenth Chapter it is said, teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). By some way or other, who has become engaged in devotional service twenty-four hours, satata—satata means twenty-four hours—satata-yuktānām, with faith—"Now I am engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. Kṛṣṇa will be... Actually He'll be merciful upon me. He'll deliver me from this miserable condition of material life"—teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam... (BG 10.10). So Kṛṣṇa is within. You cannot deceive Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme. If you are deceiver, Kṛṣṇa is also the supreme deceiver. And if you are lover, then Kṛṣṇa is the supreme lover. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). You deal with Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 2.58-59 -- New York, April 27, 1966:

That means he is controlling his senses from fighting. But after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, he says, "Yes, I'll fight." Just see. Before hearing Bhagavad-gītā, the position of Arjuna, that "I," "I will not fight," and after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, the position of "I," "Yes, I will fight." Two contradictory. Before hearing Bhagavad-gītā, the position of "I" was negative, and people may estimate this nonviolence attitude of Arjuna very nicely. But after Bhagavad-gītā, after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, he said, "Yes." Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava: (BG 18.73) "Yes, I shall fight." Now, do you mean to tell that he degraded? First of all he was nonviolent. He was not willing to fight. Now he has degraded after hearing Bhagavad-gītā? Is it..., is the conclusion? No. He has improved. He has improved. Why he has improved? Because he has understood how to use the senses. That's all. In the beginning he did not know how to use the senses. Therefore he decided, "I shall not fight. I shall not fight." That is his material calculation.

Lecture on BG 2.59-69 -- New York, April 29, 1966:

He came in contact with Menakā, a society woman of the heaven, and Śakuntalā was born. So here Bhagavad-gītā says that viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ. There are some rules and regulation for drying up our sensual activities, artificially drying up. Just like "You are not to eat more than once. You are not to do this. You are not to do this." So many negative points. Just like a diseased fellow. A diseased fellow is advised by the physician to refrain from so many things. Similarly, there are rules and regulation for controlling the mind, for restraining the senses. There are so many rules and regulation, but still, those regulations, those restrictive regulation, may also fail. There are so many instances. But here the process which is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā, dovetailing your consciousness with the supreme consciousness, that is the highest. That is the highest. Rasa-varjaṁ raso 'py asya paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā (BG 2.59). Just... In other processes, you have to... I'll give you some practical example. Just like in the yogic process there is strict regulation that "You cannot eat this. You cannot eat this. You shall have to eat like this. You shall have to sit like this. You have to breathe like this," so many restriction.

Lecture on BG 3.31-43 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1969:

You forget going to hotel immediately. This sort of process is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We don't simply prohibit that "You don't do this," but we supply something which is engaged by the senses and the mind, the intelligence, so that you do not require to be engaged otherwise.

Positive and negative. Simply negative is no good unless there is positive engagement. So there is no question of negative. Negative is already there. If you taking nice foodstuff, automatically you give up obnoxious and nonsense foodstuff. But if I say, "Don't take this foodstuff. This is not good," and if I don't supply you nice foodstuff, naturally you are hungry; you will have to take whatever is there.

Just like sometimes you have seen the dogs? They are eating stool, their own stool. So I was talking this. One of my students told me that in the last war in the concentrated camp, the human being, they also ate their stool out of hunger. You see? There was no food, so they ate their own stool. So when there is no opportunity of good occupation, one must be satisfied with nonsense occupation. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice that one who is occupied with this movement, he cannot go any more to so-called lusty and other nonsense occupation. Go on.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

Therefore we recommend the students to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Nāma means after you understand or realize nāma, then you'll understand His qualities, transcendental qualities. When, in the Vedic scripture, when it is said that the Absolute Truth is nirguṇa... Nirguṇa means, guṇa means quality, and nir means negative. And nir, nir, na arthe. Nir also used to ascertain. So nirguṇa can be used in two senses. The first sense is negative, "no guṇa, no quality," and the second is "it is difficult to ascertain."

So both can be applied in the understanding of the Absolute Truth. How? First thing, He has no quality. He has no quality means He has no material quality. He has no material quality. In the Vedic literature it is said that apāṇi pādo javano grahītā. The Absolute Truth has no hands or legs, but He accepts everything. Now this acceptance, suppose if you are giving me something, if I accept, then it is supposed that I have got hands or I have got senses.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

Now, here, the bhakti-yoga system is that if you stick to the hearing of Hare Kṛṣṇa and the music, melodious music of khol, karatāla, then naturally you become detestful for hearing other songs. So this is practically indriya-saṁyama. The bhakti process is that sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). You cannot stop the senses to work. That is the negative process. Because the senses are meant for working. Therefore you have to give better engagement to the senses. That will be explained in the... It is already explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, Second Chapter, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. If you force one to stop, it is very difficult. Therefore so many yogis also failed. Just like Viśvāmitra Muni. By force, he was trying to control his senses, but as soon as the sense got opportunity, one Menakā, a heavenly society girl, came before him, he became captivated. He became captivated. These examples are there. And the child was born, Śakuntalā. You know, everyone. So he was a great yogi. He also failed because it was artificially being tried.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Vrndavana, August 2, 1974:

Automatically. But if you simply try to make it zero, that is not possible. That is not possible. Therefore paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). If you get better engagement, to try to engage yourself always in the better engagement, then these material activities will be zero. But zero is not our philosophy. Positive, not negative. They simply make negative. Negative will not help us. Negative, there is of requisition negativeness.

But here it is said that... "One is vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ (BG 2.56), or you have to be detached from all these nonsense things, but the result will be, by jñāna-tapasā, by knowledge and penance and austerities, when you'll be purified, then you'll come back to Me." This is positive. This positive... Our philosophy's positive, not negative. Negative is, I mean to say, that is... What is called? Anya-vyatireka... Sanskrit. Direct and indirect. This is indirect method. And direct method is positive. So you be positively engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in Kṛṣṇa's service, then you'll always remain on the transcendental platform, making the material activities zero. That is wanted.

Lecture on BG 4.11-18 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1969:

So long you have got this body you have to work. If you do not work you have to beg. If you do not beg then you have to steal or you have to borrow. How you can retire? There is no question of retire. Retire means to retire from all foolish activities and engage yourself in real activities. Retire is the negative side. But unless you have got positive side you cannot retire. You'll have come back again.

There are so many yogis and jñānīs. They say that this world is false. Let me retire from it." But after some time he again falls down again to the sense gratification this material world. So what is retirement? Retirement is not required. But what is required that purify your activities. Not to stop your activity but to purify it. Just like when you are diseased it is not required that you should be killed. No. Your disease should be, I mean, cured, then you can work in healthy life. So that is required. Retirement means to become cured from the diseased activities but to place yourself in healthy activities. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Go on.

Lecture on BG 5.7-13 -- New York, August 27, 1966:

Then we can renounce. Otherwise it is not possible. Otherwise it is not possible. If I am to vacate this room, then I must have some other room to stay there; otherwise it is not possible for me to leave this room. That is the nature of living entities. They want some engagement. They want some engagement. Simple negative consideration, that "I want to detach," that will not make me happy. I must have some attachment also. I detach from this place by attach myself to that place. Because I am eternal. I am eternal living entity. My symptom is eternity. Not that I detach and end myself. No. I continue to exist. So without attachment we cannot actually be detached from this material world.

So sannyāsas tu mahā-bāho. If artificially I detach myself, renounce this world, then Kṛṣṇa says duḥkham āptum ayogataḥ. If there is no engagement, good engagement, better engagement, then it is a cause of misery. It is a cause of misery. It is very difficult. Suppose a family man, he renounces the family connection, but if he has no better connection and better attachment, then he will feel, "Oh, I was better in my family life. I have done mistake." Kṛṣṇa says, sannyāsas tu mahā-bāho duḥkham āptum ayogataḥ. Ayogataḥ means if we have no link with the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then simply detachment will be cause of misery. Duḥkham āptum.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- London, March 9, 1975:

That is not possible. When... Sannyāsī. Sannyāsī mean sat nyāsī. One who has given up attachment for this false material world... That is the philosophy of Śaṅkarācārya. He says, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Therefore he is advising that "You have got attachment for this material world. This is false." Brahma satyam. Jagan mithyā. He simply explains the negative side. But brahma satyam: "Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth, is truth." So attachment for that. You cannot give up the attachment spirit, but you have to change the attachment. That is freedom. We have got so many attachments for this material world. You have to transfer that attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha. He doesn't say that "You give up your attachment." How you can give up your attachment? That is not possible. He says, "Just transfer the attachment to Me."

So all of a sudden to transfer the attachment to Kṛṣṇa and give up our all attachment for this material world, that is called renounced order of life. But Kṛṣṇa says, "You do this," but it is not so easy. It is not so easy. Therefore we have to go to the person... Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12).

Lecture on BG 13.24 -- Bombay, October 23, 1973:

There are two puruṣas, not one. One is inferior and other is superior. Superior puruṣa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa Himself. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). That is puruṣa-para. And apara. As there are aparā-prakṛti and parā-prakṛti. This material world is aparā-prakṛti, but there is spiritual world also. That is called parā-prakṛti.

When there is such a statement in the Vedas that "The Supreme Spirit is nirākāra, or without form," that does not mean He has no form. He has His form, but that is spiritual form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). When it is negativated, that means the negative idea is of this inferior energy. So these things we should know. And if you know, then the result will be sarvathā vartamāno 'pi, wherever you stay, Sarvathā vartamāno 'pi, you are mukta. As it is stated by Rūpa Gosvāmī, īhā yasya harer dāsye... (aside:) Stop that talking.

Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Sanand, December 26, 1975:

Karma means to desire to be elevated in the higher planetary system, Svargaloka. (break) ...jñāna. The jñānīs, they are trying to elevate themselves to the impersonal Brahman. So these are not pure devotional service. (break) Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (CC Madhya 19.167), no desire for material conception of life. So jñāna is also another desire, negative desire, to become free from this material world. That is desire. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said,

bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali aśānta

kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma ataeva śānta

(CC Madhya 19.149)

He said that bhukti-kāmī, the material persons who are desiring improvement in this world, in this life, and going to the heavenly planet next life... That is called bhukti. And mukti... Desiring liberation, that is called mukti, and... Or become one with the Supreme Brahman, that is mukti. And siddhi, yogis, they are trying to achieve some success in aṣṭa-siddhi, aṇimā, laghimā. So everyone is desiring. So therefore Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma: "A devotee of Kṛṣṇa is not desirous of anything, either bhukti, mukti, or siddhi."

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.5.28 -- Vrndavana, August 9, 1974:

mbination of rajas-tamaḥ-sattva-guṇa, one has to take to this devotional service, and that can be achieved only by hearing from munibhir mahātmabhiḥ, those who are munis. Munis means they are silent about material affairs. They are simply interested with spiritual advancement of life. To give up something and to accept something... To give up something is negative, but if you do not accept something positive, this give up something will not stay. Simply to become renounced of the material world will not help. Big, big sannyāsīs, they gave up this material world—brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā—but they, because they did not engage themselves in devotional service, they again come back to this material world for philanthropic work, for altruistic work, for charity, for opening schools... So simply negative will not help us. We have to accept positive.

So if we accept the positive, the negative will automatically result. Just like here it is said, bhakti-pravṛttā. As soon as bhakti is accepted, then ātma-rajas-tamopahā. You immediately become free.

Lecture on SB 1.5.33 -- Vrndavana, August 14, 1974:

Bhāgavaty tan manye adhītam, this is the best thing. The Māyāvādī, they do not know this. They simply stop dancing. They do not know that this ball dancing may lead one to hell, but the chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is not like that. They do not know it. They simply take the negative side: stop dancing. We say "No. No stop it. We shall dance for Kṛṣṇa, we shall eat for Kṛṣṇa, we shall print books for Kṛṣṇa, not newspaper. We shall secure money for printing for Kṛṣṇa." The same thing, the same printing, same working, same dancing, same eating, but for Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Simply you have to change the, what is called, interest. Everyone is acting for self interest, but bhakti-mārga, devotional service of Kṛṣṇa's interest, that is real interest. Same example. If somebody is working hard securing foodstuff, for whose interest? He is walking, the leg is walking, the hand is collecting, the eyes are seeing, and so many things they are done. Now what is to be done now? Do everything, cook everything nicely, and put it into the stomach. Not that the leg will say, "I have worked so hard," the hand will say, "I shall eat." No. You cannot eat. The stomach will eat; you simply work. But if the stomach is allowed to eat, then automatically the hands and legs will be happy.

Lecture on SB 1.5.35 -- Vrndavana, August 16, 1974:

So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement does not say you stop anything. No. Whatever you have got liking, you can do, but bhagavat-paritoṣaṇam. By your work you try to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. This is our proposal. We do not say the negative, stop. No. And it is confirmed in the śāstras, ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhāḥ... Generally, according to Vedic principle, there are four division of karma. Not four; eight division. According to varṇa and āśrama. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ. The division of work must be there; otherwise the society cannot go on very nicely. If everyone is brāhmaṇa, not interested in anything material or simply... Because it is, after all, material world, if everyone becomes brāhmaṇa, now it will not go. There must be others. Kṣatriyas means the statesman, protector, politician, diplomat, kṣatriyas. And there must be vaiśyas also, productive class of men. They must produce. Economic development, that is also required. Otherwise, how human society will go on? Not only intelligent class of men—the protector class of men, the productive class of men, and the worker class of men.

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Los Angeles, April 22, 1973:

"No intoxication." Immediately given up. And the government has failed. This is practical. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). If you don't give somebody good engagement, you cannot stop his bad engagements. That is not possible. Therefore we are giving two sides good engagements, at the same time prohibition. We simply don't say that: "No illicit sex, no intoxication, no, no..." Simply negative is no meaning. There must be something positive. Because everyone wants engagement. That is because we are living entities. We are not dead stone.

The other philosophers, they are trying to become dead stones by meditation. "Let me think of void, impersonalism." The, artificially how you can make it void? Your heart, your mind is full of activities. So these are artificial things. This will not help the human society. The so-called yoga, so-called meditation, they are all rascaldom. Because there is no engagement. Here there is engagement. Here everyone is engaged to rise early in the morning for offering ārātrika to the Deities. They are preparing nice food.

Lecture on SB 1.8.30 -- Mayapura, October 10, 1974:

Similarly, this body also burns, but the soul... Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi na dahati pāvakaḥ. The soul is never cut into pieces by any weapon, neither it is burned by the fire, soul. That is eternity. Anything material, it will burn, it will be cut into pieces, it can be dried up, it can be moistened. Because we cannot see the soul, so Kṛṣṇa has explained in a negative definition what is the characteristic of the soul. Nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ, na śoṣayati mārutaḥ (BG 2.23). Like that.

So aja... We are also aja because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. And nitya. Nityaḥ śāśva... Ajo nityaḥ. Nitya... The Māyāvāda philosophy is that we are aja, and Supreme Brahman is aja. So when we are uncovered by this material body, we mix with the aja. That is their theory, monist. We merge into the existence of aja. But that is not fact. You merge. That is like merging a green bird into a green tree. When a green bird enters a green tree it appears that the green bird is now merged and he, it has no more existence. No.

Lecture on SB 1.8.32 -- Los Angeles, April 24, 1973:

So the philosophy of voidism, impersonalism is like that. Mean they cannot, shudder, to think of another life, again eating, again sleeping, again working. Because he thinks eating, sleeping, means on the bed. That's all. And suffering. He cannot think otherwise. So the negative way, to make it zero. That is void philosophy.

But actually that is not the case. The case is that you are in trouble on material condition. you get out of this material condition. Then there is real life, eternal life. Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is Aja. Aja means who has no birth and death. So we are also aja. How we can be otherwise? If Kṛṣṇa, I am Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel. The same example we can see. If my, if my father is happy, so I am the son of my father. Why I shall not be, I shall be unhappy? This is natural conclusion. Because I will enjoy my father's property as my father is enjoying.

Similarly God is all-powerful. Kṛṣṇa is all-powerful, all beautiful, all-knowledge, everything complete. So I may not be complete, but because I am part and parcel, so I have, I have got all the qualities of God in part and parcel. It is not that... So God does not die. He's aja. So I also will not die. This is my position.

Lecture on SB 1.8.42 -- Los Angeles, May 4, 1973:

Just like you ignite fire, at the same time pour water on it. Then what will be the result? The fire will not act. Similarly, if you want to renounce... Just like the Māyāvādī sannyāsī says that brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: "Renounce this world." They take a luṅgi,(?) a loincloth, and preach, "Who is your wife? Who is your children? Who is your country?" So many things, negative way. Bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍhā mate. This is very good, to preach renouncement of this world. But side by side we must have attachment for something. Otherwise, it will be..., it will not stay. Therefore we see so many sannyāsīs, they say brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. They give up, take sannyāsa, but after taking sannyāsa, after a few days or few years, they come back again to this material world to open hospital, philanthropic work, school. Why? If you have left this world as mithyā, as false, why you are again coming to politics, to philanthropy, sociology and so on?

Lecture on SB 1.8.42 -- Mayapura, October 22, 1974:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa say..., Kuntī's first request is that sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi, "Please destroy this attraction, affection for this material friendship, society, family. Please destroy it."

So the Māyāvādī philosopher, they simply want to destroy. Negative side. They have no information of the positive side, that after destruction... Suppose you are not satisfied with some business or some service. So you want to: "Oh, I want to leave this business. I want..." But you leave... Suppose you are getting, say, five hundred rupees. Then, if you leave, then you'll be zero, no income. If you get another service which will fetch you six hundred rupees, then you are profited. But if you simply give it up, this service, and become zero, then you become unemployed, the miseries will increase. The Māyāvādī, being disgusted with this material world... Brahma..., jagan mithyā. Jagan mithyā. That's, that's all right. Then Brahma satyam. That is theoretical. If you do not engage yourself as Brahman, then again you'll fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32).

Lecture on SB 1.8.42 -- Mayapura, October 22, 1974:

Therefore, after some time they again come to be positively engaged in opening hospital and daridra-nārāyaṇa-sevā and this and that and so many things. Because they could not get any engagement in the positive world.

That positive world, here it is said, tvayi me ananya-viṣayā matiḥ. This is positive. The negative side is to give up. To give up... Because we are living beings... Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). So we want ānanda. So whatever I possess, now I give up. Then, if I don't get better engagement, then where is my ānanda? There is no ānanda. So as we do not get ānanda, so then I come back again. There is a Bengali hearsay, napad jimane na, na jamai batta.(?) When a widow, old woman, her husband is dead... We have got experience. And she talks very loosely with the grandson-in-law. I have got experience. When we were young, young married, so my grandmother-in-law, my father-in-law's mother, she was talking very loosely, just like husband and wife. So that's a practical.

Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Mayapura, October 27, 1974:

Then you'll fall down. If you don't get, if you don't increase your affection for Kṛṣṇa—simply you give up the affection of this material world—then you cannot stay for many days. You'll fall down. You'll fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Simply negative process will not help you. You must take the positive position. So that is required. Otherwise, devotional service means vairāgya-vidyā. It is the transcendental education to become unattached to this material world. This is called vairāgya.

In another place it is said,

vāsudeve bhagavati

bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ

janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ

jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam

(SB 1.2.7)

Vairāgya or jñāna, these two things required in human life, to become unattached to this material world and, based on jñāna, knowledge. Just like a so-called sannyāsī, they give up as a sentiment and take sannyāsa, but unless he has knowledge, he cannot stay; he'll fall down. He'll fall down.

Lecture on SB 1.8.52 -- Los Angeles, May 14, 1973:

Therefore there is pañca-sūnā-yajña. You have to perform yajña every day to counteract the sinful reaction of your imperceptible killings of animals. That's it. This is Vedic life.

So Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja says that "It is not possible to counteract." But indirectly, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja says, that if you... He says simply the negative side, but the positive side is, in this age, simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, you become purified. That is the recommendation by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). There are two kinds of, what is called, atonement. One atonement, by the prescribed method. You have done... Just like I'll give you common example. Just like you have committed theft. One atonement is that you go to the jail and live there for some time. This is atonement. If you have committed a murder, then you also be hanged. These are the laws. When the king orders somebody to be hanged on account of his committing murder, the king is not sinful. King is helpful. King is helping that rascal to atone his murdering activities.

Lecture on SB 1.15.33 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1973:

These things are not for any material purpose. Then it will be failure. If you imitate spiritual life for material benefit, then it will be failure. So the Gosvāmīs did not do so. They gave up this material opulence for spiritual advancement, positive. If you don't get something positive, simply by negative process you will never be happy. Then again you will fall down.

Just like big, big swamis in India... Sometimes they come to your country also. They say that "This world is false," jagan mithyā, mithyā. But we don't say that it is false. We say it is reality, but temporary. That is right philosophy. How it can be false? Because everything is produced by the truth, by the Absolute Truth. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Nothing can come out except from the Absolute Truth. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: (BG 10.8) "I am the origin of everything." If Kṛṣṇa is truth, He is the origin of everything, so how everything can be false? Is that very logical? No. If something has come from gold... Just like we have got so many preparations of gold: gold bangles, gold earring, gold necklace.

Lecture on SB 1.16.6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1974:

When I shall talk? I am meditating, meditating, meditating." But how will it stop? That is not possible. Just like these Māyāvādī philosophers, they say, "Become desireless, no more desire." That is not possible. I am a living entity. How can I be desireless? It is not possible.

So this negative process will not help us, śūnyavādi. Śūnyavādi. Nirviśeṣavādi. It will not be helpful. Therefore in the śāstra it is said that āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). The same example I have given several times, that these rascals, they are going to the moon planet and sun planet, but they do not get any shelter, and they come down again. Their advancement means go to some extent and again come back again, earthly planet. When the Russian aeronauts was flying, he was seeing, "Where is my Moscow? Where is my Moscow?" The anchor is there. The attraction is there in the national, in the country, in the city, in the home, in the wife, in the cats, in the dogs. And he is trying to go up. So that is not possible. Just like a vulture. He goes three miles up or more than that, but his aim of life is to find out a dead body.

Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Vrndavana, March 18, 1974:

So to become a gṛhastha is not bad. But to become unaware of the necessity of the soul, oh, that is bad. The Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they are sannyāsīs. They have also renounced gṛhastha life. But they have no idea what is the goal of life. They are simply thinking in negative way: "This life is very troublesome." That they have realized, that even in highest stage of life of the material relation, your country, President Nixon, he's the president of the most rich country, but there is no happiness. He is now embarrassed, so many attacks are upon him. And he does not know how to defend him, how to keep his position. He's embarrassed. So in this way, everyone is missing the point. Nobody sees that "Why I am embarrassed? I have become now President of USA, and still I am embarrassed. And when I was a, a nonsignificant man, ordinary man or ordinary lawyer, nobody cared for me. That time I was also embarrassed. I was trying to improve my position. And now I have come to the highest point of success in the material world. Still I am embarrassed."

Lecture on SB 2.1.7 -- Paris, June 15, 1974:

He does not do that... Not that "I have become paramahaṁsa. Let me eat and sleep." No. The symptom is that he cannot waste a moment without glorifying Kṛṣṇa. That is paramahaṁsa. At that time, you can know, that when you cannot remain even for a single moment without describing Kṛṣṇa, then you can know that you are on the paramahaṁsa stage. No attachment anything material; simply attachment for Kṛṣṇa. Then you can give up the regulative principles. Not before that. Don't imitate. Unless you come to that stage, positive stage... It is not that simply negative. Negative means you must stand on a positive platform. Therefore those who are Śūnyavādī, simply negative... The other day, some Zen Buddhist came. He said that "to become desireless." These nonsense people, they do not know it is impossible to become desireless. They are thinking... Therefore they are disturbed always. It is not possible to become desireless. You... That is negative post, nirvāṇa.

Lecture on SB 2.1.7 -- Paris, June 15, 1974:

So here it is said, prāyeṇa munayo rājan, "My dear King," nivṛttā vidhi-ṣedhataḥ... Vidhi and niṣedha. They are two things. We say, "You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra," and prohibit, "No illicit sex," negative and positive. So vidhi means "do's" and niṣedha, "do not's." So this is the beginning of life. Don't try to become paramahaṁsa, munayaḥ, from the very beginning. Then you'll fall flat. That is not required. When you actually be situated nairguṇya... Nairguṇya means above the material nature. That is called nairguṇya. This material nature is called traiguṇya. Traiguṇya means three modes of material nature: goodness, passion and ignorance. So when you become above these three guṇas, then there is possibility of becoming nairguṇya.

Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna, traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna. Vedas, they are dealing with these three guṇas, Vedas, giving direction according to the guṇa—the sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So one who is in the sattva-guṇa, for them, there are six purāṇas. Sattva-guṇa, tamo-guṇa, rajo-guṇa.

Lecture on SB 2.3.18-19 -- Los Angeles, June 13, 1972:

Similarly, the so-called scientist, when he says that "By scientific method, we shall stop death," so there is no evidence in the history of the human society that a man has not died. That cannot be. Hiraṇyakaśipu, he was also atheist and materialistic. He also tried to become immortal. And he made a plan, negative plan, to cheat Lord Brahmā that "I shall not die in this way, in this way, in that way, in this way, in that way." But still he was killed. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). Kṛṣṇa says that "I am death, and at the time of death I take away everything." Sarva-haraś ca. So we cannot cheat God or His law.

That is not possible. We may be very intelligent to cheat here the police or the government or the laws, but it is not possible to cheat the supreme laws. That is not possible. Therefore, in order to avoid the superintendence of the Supreme Lord ... because there is superintendence ... as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, you have read, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).

Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 15, 1972:

The politicians should give education in their assemblies, congress. The guru should give education how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. The father should educate, the mother should educate.

Therefore Bhāgavata says, na mocayed yaḥ samupeta... gurur na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt pitā na sa syāt. There are some negative definitions, that there are so-called gurus, so-called swamis, but Bhāgavata says that "You should not become a swami or guru. Kindly don't become if you cannot save your disciple from the imminent danger of birth and death." Gurur na sa syāt. This is the injunction. "No rascal should become a guru unless he can save his disciple from the cycle of birth and death." Or, in other words, anyone who wants to become guru, if he cannot teach his disciples how to surrender, govinda-caraṇa-dvayam, anāśritya, how to take shelter of the lotus feet of Govinda, he should not become guru. That is cheating. That is cheating. Similarly, one should not become father.

Lecture on SB 3.25.20 -- Bombay, November 20, 1974:

I shall not die in water. I shall not die in land. I shall not die in the sky. No animal can kill me. No demigod can kill me. No weapon can kill me." So on, so many... Brahmā says, "All right." But he never agreed to give him immortality. But he wanted to cheat Brahmā that "Indirectly, by the negative way, I have taken everything. So I am immortal." This is called mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). He does not know that Kṛṣṇa's intelligence is always, at least, one inch greater than him, anyone. (laughs)

So we should not be foolish like that, mūḍha. We should be intelligent that this life, this material life, is simply struggle for existence. We want to exist. We do not want to die. We do not want, do not want to be diseased. We do not want birth, therefore there are so many contraceptive methods. But we do not want... Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9), old age. Just like we are old men. So many difficulties there are. So we do not want all these things, but it is forced upon us. But we are not intelligent enough to, how to make a solution of these problems. Therefore our predecessor, Sanātana Gosvāmī, first of all put this question that ke āmi kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya. He was minister.

Lecture on SB 3.25.27 -- Bombay, November 27, 1974:

We are simply insisting get up early in the morning, do this service. In this way, if we engage ourselves in the service of Kṛṣṇa, gradually we shall forget the service of māyā. The service of māyā means sinful activities. That's all. So, so long we are in the service of māyā, duṣkṛtinām, engaged in sinful activities, it is not possible. But if you engage the positive and the negative... The Māyāvādī, they are simply trying to be negative. There is no positive engagement. But here in the bhakti-yoga the negative is there and positive is there. Therefore there is electric light bulb, negative and positive. Therefore there is enlightenment. Simply negative will not help you. And if you don't care of the negative sides, simply positive also will not. But bhakti-yoga is so strong, if you take to the positive side of service of Kṛṣṇa, the material service or māyā's service will automatically become negative. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). That is called vairāgya. The bhakti-yoga means vairāgya-yoga. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam.

This was composed by Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya about Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When he understood Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu he wrote this verse, vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga-śikṣārtham ekaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ (CC Madhya 6.254).

Lecture on SB 3.26.17 -- Bombay, December 26, 1974:

That is accepted by Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā: paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). Bhavān: "You are puruṣaṁ śāśvatam."

So God is always puruṣa. Puruṣa means the enjoyer, the male part. Male and female-two parts required, negative and positive. So the male part is Bhagavān, and the female part is the prakṛti, and combination of puruṣa and prakṛti is the varieties of creation. This is Sāṅkhya philosophy. So you should not be misled that prakṛti itself has given so varieties of manifestation, cosmic manifestation. That is not possible. You have to accept the puruṣa theory by your practical experience, that without puruṣa, no prakṛti can give birth anything. Similarly, these varieties of manifestation in the world, in the material world, it is due to the combination of prakṛti and puruṣa.

So the atheistic philosopher, they think that this combination of prakṛti and puruṣa is without any aim, without any idea, just like a man and woman meets and they may have sex. There was no idea, but they have sex. They give this example.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Vrndavana, October 23, 1976:

Nobody should think himself that he is very prestigious person, falsely. Nobody is prestigious. Everyone should be humble. So these three, four things we should learn, and that is tapasya. And we should avoid the sinful activities, namely, no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxication. These are some of the positive and negative formulas given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And if we follow this tapasya and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then our life is successful.

Life is successful means it is stated here, sattvaṁ śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam (SB 5.5.1). We are, every one of us, we are after happiness, sukham. From sukham it has come saukhyam. That happiness, if we want to continue our eternal life, then we require eternal happiness. Without happiness our life is not worth. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Everyone should be happy, ānandamaya. That is spiritual world. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). There is life, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. Not jadānanda. This is jadānanda. In the material world, the material happiness is jada. There is no life. But there is a place which is full of eternal happiness.

Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Hyderabad, April 15, 1975:

Kṛṣṇa is always available. Kṛṣṇa can be seen twenty-four hours, provided you elevate to the position how to talk with Kṛṣṇa, how to see Kṛṣṇa, how to act toward Kṛṣṇa. It is not very difficult.

So the symptom is described, how even a gṛhastha can become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. The negative side is described that he's not interested with this worldly, so-called advancement of social position, or advancement of economic problem. So many things they have created. These are described here. Gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu. Ātmaja-rātimatsu na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke. Neither neglectful as far as possible, yāvat-arthāḥ, not too much overwhelmed, because after all this is temporary. Our so-called society, friendship, love, in this material world, they are all, they are called illusory, phenomenal. Therefore Śaṅkarācārya said, jagan mithyā. He says little bluntly, but actually it has no meaning, because this social condition of life is existent so long this body is there. As soon as I change my body, even in this country... We are very much fond of our country, janani janma-bhūmiś ca svargād api gariyasi, but the country is so ungrateful. Suppose there are many vivid examples. Mahatma Gandhi, he worked so much for his country.

Lecture on SB 5.5.5 -- London, September 3, 1971:

We have to work under some energy. This is our position. We are also energy. Just like two energies, the negative and positive, works on electricity, similarly... There are varieties of energies. We are also one of the energies of God. So our position is marginal energy. We can work under spiritual energy, we can work under material energy. We have to take shelter of another energy. Therefore our position is marginal. We can take shelter of the material energy or the spiritual energy, as we like. If we take the shelter of material energy, then we become entangled. Therefore it is called daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Without knowledge, without identification, if we take the shelter of material energy, then we become in darkness. Tṛtīya karma-saṅga anya śaktir iṣyate. This third energy, material, I mean to say, human being, or living entity... Therefore at the present moment... There are different atmosphere. Just like here, in this house, in this temple, the spiritual energy is acting. Outside this house the material energy's acting. What is the difference between this house and the next house?

Lecture on SB 6.1.10 -- Los Angeles, June 23, 1975:

Then you can see what is your position, what you are, what is your business. If your heart is unclean, then... So that uncleanliness of heart cannot be cleansed by this process, atonement. That is not possible. Therefore... Parīkṣit Mahārāja is very intelligent. He said, prāyaścittam atho apārtham. Apa, apa means "negative," and artha means "meaning." "It has no meaning." He immediately rejects the prāyaścittam apārtham. "What benefit will be there? He remains unclean. He does not cleanse his heart, core of heart." In the core of heart he has got all the dirty things: "How I shall cheat, how I shall make black market, how I shall enjoy senses, how I will go to prostitute and drink." These things are packed up. So simply by going to the temple or to the church and make some atonement, it will not benefit. One has to take seriously to this method, saṅkīrtanam. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-davāgni-nirvāpaṇam (CC Antya 20.12). The first installment is that you cleanse your heart. The next installment is bhava-mahā-davāgni-nirvāpaṇam. If your heart is cleansed, then you can understand what is your position in this material world. And with a dirty heart, you cannot understand. If your heart is clean, then you can understand that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul.

Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- London, August 3, 1971:

"This is false, and I'll have to become away from these false engagements," so without knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, such elevators, they become impersonalists and voidists, to make negative this material enjoyment.

So we are manufacturing so many religious system on these two platforms. One platform is how to enjoy to the fullest extent, and another platform is how to become zero, voidism. But actually, neither you are enjoyer, nor you are zero. Both of them are false. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that any religious system on the basis of this renunciation or enjoyment... When we take this material world as fact, that means we want to enjoy it. And when are frustrated then we want to make zero. So actually, it is neither zero, nor there is any cause of frustration. You have to simply to take to the right knowledge. The right knowledge is given in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says,

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ

sarva-loka-maheśvaram

suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ

jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati

(BG 5.29)

If you simply understand that Kṛṣṇa is the only enjoyer, then your propensity to become false enjoyer will be vanquished, that "I am not enjoyer. Kṛṣṇa is the enjoyer." Then there is no question of renunciation also.

Lecture on SB 6.1.38 -- Los Angeles, June 4, 1976:

Just like this world is duality. If you are sick, that means you are not healthy. And if you are healthy, then you are not sick. Duality. There are two things, sickness and health. So if you are really religious, you are not religious(?). Nonreligious; not nonreligious. Two negatives make one positive. So two things are there. Religiosity and nonreligiosity. So duality. So Kṛṣṇa says two things that yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata. When there are discrepancies in the matter of executing religious principles... So there is religion. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir (BG 4.7). Glānir means discrepancies. When there is discrepancies of religious principles and abhyutthānam adharmasya, and the society is prominent in doing sinful activities, abhyutthānam... If you are not religious, then you must be irreligious. Two things are there. If there is no light, it is darkness. If it is not darkness, it is light. Similarly, two things cannot go. Either you are a demon or you are Kṛṣṇa conscious, godly. This is the conclusion.

Lecture on SB 6.1.47 -- Dallas, July 29, 1975:

Therefore we are introducing this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement so that the persons who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, living in the temple according to the regulative principles, they are above all these sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. That is wanted. Nistraiguṇya. Traiguṇya means three guṇas, and niḥ means negative. Nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna. That is our aim, that although we are in this material world, by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness process we shall live above these three guṇas. These three guṇas cannot touch me. That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). Who? Māṁ ca vyabhicāriṇi bhakti-yogena ya sevate. Anyone who is engaged in pure devotional service avyabhicāriṇi, not mixed up, whimsical, regularly, as they are ordained, as they are prescribed. So if anyone is engaged in such transcendental loving service of the Lord, then his position is: he is above the three guṇas. He is not...

So these Yamadūta superficially saw that "This man, Ajāmila, is a first-class sinful man, and he has to be taken to Yamarāja. He has simply committed adharma."

Lecture on SB 6.1.47 -- Detroit, June 13, 1976:

For a person who is going back to home, back to Godhead, he should be niṣkiñcana. Niṣkiñcana means no more any material necessities. Niṣkiñcana. Niṣkiñcanasya bhagavad-bhajanomukhasya. One side, this is nirvāṇa, finished. And the other side positive. Negative side, no more material, and positive side, Kṛṣṇa. Bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya. How to go back to home, back to Godhead to serve Kṛṣṇa—this is one side. And one side—nil, we don't want any more anything. Niṣkiñcana. For such a person, viṣayiṇāṁ sandarśanam atha yoṣitāṁ ca (CC Madhya 11.8). For such a person, if he has become captivated by the material attraction, means money and material comforts... Woman and material comforts. This is material civilization. Everyone is after woman. Woman or men, the... It is not that woman means the form of woman and man is the form of man. Woman means enjoyable and man means enjoyer. So here in this material world everyone is enjoyer. Everyone is enjoyer. Not only the man thinks "I shall enjoy the woman," the woman thinks, "I shall enjoy the man."

Lecture on SB 6.1.51 -- Detroit, August 4, 1975:

That is intelligence. That is jñānī. But a jñānī does not know that "I get out from this entanglement. Then where I stay?" That they do not know. So that information is given by Kṛṣṇa, that "Give up this, and take up Me," negative and positive, both. Sarva-dharmān parityajya: (BG 18.66) "Give up this nonsense desires." Then? What to do? Now, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: "Come to Me, under Me." This is required. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu. Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. That is not varietyless, that "I surrender unto You; then business finished." No. Śaraṇaṁ vraja means ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam: (CC Madhya 19.167) what Kṛṣṇa says, you do that. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was not willing to fight, but when he listened Bhagavad-gītā from Kṛṣṇa, then he agreed to fight.

So our first business is that if we want to stop this repetition of birth and death—and sometimes we are very happy, sometimes we are very unhappy, sometimes we are in fearfulness, sometimes in so many other calamities—then our first business is that we shall stop all these material desires. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). To stop means... The desire cannot be stopped. Because we are living entities, life, we are not dead stone, that desires will be stopped.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Madras, January 2, 1976:

They are practically the same. The Buddhists say, "There is no God." And the Māyāvādīs say, "There is God, but He has no head, tail, nothing." It is in the indirect way to say there is no God. What is difference? If somebody says, "There is no God," and if somebody says, "There is God, but He has no head, He has no tail, He cannot eat, He cannot sleep," negatively. The same definition in a negative way. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that veda na māniyā bauddha haila nāstika. Our standard of philosophy, especially Vaiṣṇava philosophy... Anyone who does not accept the Vedic principle... Because vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). If you do not accept the Vedic authority, then how you can understand God, Kṛṣṇa? That is not possible. So anyone who says "There is no God. I don't care for the Vedas," he is calculated as nāstika. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said...

The Buddhists, they decry the authority of Vedas. He had to do that. There was no way. Jayadeva Gosvāmī offered his prayer to Lord Buddha. Nindasi yajña-vidher ahaha śruti-jātam. Śruti. In the Vedas there is recommendation of yajña, and in some of the yajñas there is recommendation of killing paśu. So Lord Buddha, he preached ahiṁsā paramo dharma, no killing of animals.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3-4 -- San Francisco, March 8, 1967:

And what is that thing beneficial? Self-realization. Self-realization, "What I am." This is the product of meditation. If you want to meditate, meditation means to attempt to understand oneself, "What I am." That is real meditation. Meditation does not mean that... Of course, this voidness, meditation in voidness, is another negative attempt that "This body is nothing." But actually, I am not void. I am spirit soul. And because I have no information of the spirit soul, therefore I simply try to think of the negative side of this bodily existence. That is called voidness. Simply negative... Now, "I am not this body. I am not this body." "I am not this body," that's all right.

But that is not perfect self-realization. When I understand that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul," that is partial self-realization. And when I understand that "I am not only spirit soul, but I have got spiritual activities," that is still more advancement. And when you are actually situated in spiritual activities, that is the perfection of life. Just try to understand. First thing is, "I am not this body."

Lecture on SB 7.6.10 -- Vrndavana, December 12, 1975:

And the vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda, the Māyāvādīs, they do not say there is no God, because in the Vedas there is God. So they do not say directly, but they say, "Yes, there is God, but He has no head, no leg, no hand. He cannot talk, He cannot eat." Then what remains? He is making zero, God, zero, by negative definition—"He has no head, He has no... And he has no leg." So both of them are zero, advocate of zero. But one directly says, "No, there is no God. Everything is zero." And these Māyāvādīs, nirviśeṣa-vādi, they say the same thing—zero—but in a different way. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that these Māyāvādīs, zero-vādis, they are more dangerous than the bauddha. Vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda. All these Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they are very learned, but they'll never accept that God has form. They say it is kalpanā, it is imagination. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has designated them very, very dangerous, these Māyāvādīs. He has therefore strictly forbidden, māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa: (CC Madhya 6.169) If you hear this Māyāvādī speaking, then your future is doomed. You are finished.

Lecture on SB 7.9.12 -- Montreal, August 18, 1968:

So to Brahma, his, he's also person. His father, Viṣṇu, is person. His father, his father, everywhere—Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person. God cannot be without being person. He must be person. This impersonal understanding of God, nirākāravādī, that nirākār... Of course, in the Vedic language, when we speak nirākāra, ni, ni means negative, and ākāra, ākāra means form. So negative form. Negative form means not that He has no form but He has no form like you and me. That is negative. Form means just like we have got form. So what is the value of this form? This form will be changed after few years. As soon as I give up this body this form is changed. Just like we change our dress. Therefore He hasn't got a form like this to be changed. Therefore He's sometimes called nirākāra. Ākāra is there, and that is also explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā that īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). "Oh, Kṛṣṇa has got a form, sir? How you say that He is the Supreme? Brahman is the Supreme." No. He has form certainly. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. His form is not like you and me. Sac-cid-ānanda. His form is eternal, full of bliss, and full of knowledge. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ anādir.

Lecture on SB 7.9.46 -- Vrndavana, April 1, 1976:

Like that. So if we simply decide that "I shall do nothing except to serve Kṛṣṇa," this dṛḍha-vrata... If you want to take vow, take this vow. Then you haven't got to work very hard. So āpavarga. A means not, negative, and pavarga means five principles of material condition. First thing is pa—you have to work very hard, pariśrama. And then pha. Pha means you have to work so hard that foam will come through your mouth. You have seen sometimes in horse, in man, after hard working there is foam. So pa, pha, and ba. Ba means vyarthata. Vyarthata means disappointment in spite of working so hard so that foam is coming in the mouth, vyarthata. Just like you see, you have seen, horse or bulls. They are working so hard, and the master beating with whips, and still, the master is not satisfied and the animal cannot get sufficient food-vyarthata. In spite of so much working hard... We can see in the animal—sometimes we see in human society also—disappointment.

Lecture on SB Excerpt -- Los Angeles, July 3, 1972:

The leaders should give education in institution. The politician should give education in their assemblies, congress. The guru should give education how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. The father should educate. The mother should educate. Therefore Bhāgavata says, na mocayed yaḥ samupeta. Guru na sa syāt jananī na sa syāt pitā na sa syāt. There are some negative definition, that there are so-called gurus, so-called swamis, but Bhāgavata says that "You should not become a swami or guru. Kindly don't become if you cannot save your disciple from the imminent danger of birth and death." Guru na sa syāt. This is the injunction. "No rascal should become a guru unless he can save his disciples from the cycle of birth and death." In other words, anyone who wants to become guru, if he cannot teach his disciples how to surrender, govinda-caraṇa-dvayam, anāśritya, how to take shelter of the lotus feet of Govinda, he should not become guru. That is cheating. That is cheating. Similarly, one should not become father. The father and mother should have determination that "The child I produce, I give birth, if I cannot teach him Kṛṣṇa conscious, surrender to Kṛṣṇa, I shall not beget any child." This is real contraceptive method, not to beget child like cats and dogs. Sva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-khara.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 10, 1973:

They have got bitter experience of this vigraha, of this form, therefore they want to make God impersonal. Must be opposite. They have got this bitter knowledge that getting this body, we are suffering so much. Therefore, the God must be without body. Just opposite. This is also material thinking. Thinking in a negative way. But they have no knowledge, that if God has body, but that is completely spiritual. It has nothing to do with the material body. They cannot think of spiritual body. So the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu is teaching people how you can enjoy in the ocean of blissfulness. That is bhaktir avatāra. So Rūpa Gosvāmī is dividing. Just like the sea has got east, west, north, south, similarly, he is dividing the ocean of nectarine in four divisions, and as there are waves in the ocean, so there are different chapters. That means he's dividing the Bhakti-rasāmṛta book in four parts, and in each part there are different chapters. That is the conclusion. Go on.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.4 -- Mayapur, March 4, 1974:

Lord Brahmā is not ordinary demigod. He's the... Amongst the demigods he's the head, pitāmaha. So Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted benediction from Lord Brahmā to become immortal. So immortality is not possible. So Lord Brahmā said that "I am myself not immortal. How can I give you? It is not possible." So Hiraṇyakaśipu took indirectly, negative way, that "I shall not die this way, I shall not die this way, I shall not die this way," negative way. So he thought himself to be very intelligent demon. So even that benediction was given, but still, he was killed by Nṛsiṁha-deva. So therefore, antavat tu phalaṁ teṣām. Even by tricks or by penance or austerities you take some benedictions from the demigods, even if you are awarded, that is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām (BG 7.23). People want to be satisfied with little benefit, with little benefit. No, that is not our mission. We want the supreme benefit. Supreme benefit is that you are now entangled in the process of birth, death, old age and disease in the material existence.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.294-298 -- New York, December 19, 1966:

No man can kill him (me). No demigod can kill me. No animal can kill me. Then where is the killing? Everything finished." But God is so cunning that He assumed neither man nor animal, and no weapons. He killed him with the nails. He never expected that "I will be killed by the nails." This is the definition by negation, defective definition. In argument, if you define negatively, "This is not this. This is not this. This is not this," then something will come that will nullify all your arguments. So he protected himself in all negative ways: "This will not. This will not. This will not. This will not." Something came which was not in his power. So this Nṛsiṁhāvatāra.

Then Vāmanāvatāra. Vāmanāvatāra, I have already mentioned, that He became a dwarf brāhmaṇa boy and took all the possession that Mahārāja Bali. This Mahārāja Bali was grandson of this Mahārāja Prahlāda. So these are līlāvatāra pastimes. Pastimes means exchange of dealing between the devotees and the Lord, between the living entities and the Lord, exchange.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 25.19-31 -- San Francisco, January 20, 1967:

Therefore who understands the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he understands everything. Tasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavanti. If somebody understand the Supreme Absolute Truth, Personality of Godhead, he understands everything because He is everything.

So we should not make progress in the negative way, leaving aside... Just like you do not know what you are. You are studying this body. If I do not find out who is the proprietor of the body, who is sitting in the body so that this body is so nice, fresh, and walking and moving... That you do not find. But you simply... You're studying, what is called? Physiological condition, anatomical condition, and metabolism, this or that. There are so many big, big names. But real, the proprietor of the body... The doctors are sitting, analyzing. But as soon as the soul passes, they cannot explain what happened, what happened to this meta..., I mean to say, anatomy and physiology. They stand fools. So this is going on. The essence of the thing, the essence of the manifestation, cosmic manifestation they have missed.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, October 30, 1968:

So, so long there is attachment for this material world, either in the form of goodness or passion or ignorance, they're all the same. In the transcendental platform... Therefore Caitanya-caritāmṛta says that in this material world, the divisions that "This is good, and this is bad," they are simply mental concoction. The same example: the stool dried up is good, and the wet is not good. Stool is stool. That's all. For a devotee, this is stool. Either it may be dried up or moist, it doesn't matter. So those who are in ignorance and passion, they're little moist, and those who are in goodness, they're dried up. But after all, it is stool. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). There is no consideration of this goodness or badness. You have to give up all material attachment. And abhorrence. Abhorrence is also another negative attachment. "I don't like this." That means I have attachment for this "don't like." You see? (break) A devotee is simply attached to the service of the Lord and.

Festival Lectures

Nrsimha-caturdasi Lord Nrsimhadeva's Appearance Day -- Bombay, May 5, 1974:

That is the problem. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "Real problem is janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi, birth, death, old age and disease." Just try to... So Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted to solve these in a materialstic way, but that is not possible. So in a negative way he wanted that "I shall not die on the (indistinct).

His eternal servant. So he remains a humble servant of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he has no danger. Even if he has danger, he will be saved. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). Kaunteya pratijānīhi: "Arjuna, you can declare it all over the world that anyone who has taken shelter at My lotus feet, become devotee, he will never be vanquisher." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ (BG 18.66). So these are the assurances. But the atheist class of men like Hiraṇyakaśipu cannot understand this. That is the defect. They challenge always God. The dissension between the father and the son was that the son was believer in God, Kṛṣṇa, and the father was not. So at the end the father saw what is God in the form of death. At that time he could not save him. So that is the difference between theist and atheist. The atheist always challenges, "Where is God? Can you show me?" Well, you will see. Not now.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation and Brahma-samhita Lecture -- New York, July 26, 1971:

Therefore in some of the scriptures He's denied personality, because this rascal thinks that "God is a person like me." Therefore it is said: not person. When it is said God is not person, that means He's not a person like you. He's not a rascal like you. That is description. When it is negatively described that He's not a person, that means He's not a person like you. But He's a person, a different person. Sac-cid-ānanda vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). His person is eternal. He does not die. We die. He's full of bliss. Our, this body, is not full of bliss; full of miseries. So how God can be a person like you? Therefore sometimes He is described as impersonal. Otherwise God is a person. He's a person like us, and He's the original person. Govindam ādi-puruṣam tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. So those who are in poor fund of knowledge, they can understand that the Absolute Truth is a person. Therefore we have to take lessons from Brahmā, the supreme poet, or learned person, who is the original person.

General Lectures

Lecture at Boys' School -- Sydney, May 12, 1971:

Boy: I'm not talking about consciousness. The unconsciousness.

Prabhupāda: Unless you know consciousness, how do you describe unconsciousness?

Boy: The unconscious is the id.

Prabhupāda: Unconsciousness is the negative side of consciousness. So you should explain what is consciousness. Then we can understand unconsciousness.

Boy: I didn't say "unconsciousness." I said "unconscious."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Unconscious means the negative of consciousness. So you have to explain what is consciousness. Then we can understand what is unconscious.

Boy: Consciousness...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Boy: ...is when you can think. Unconsciousness is when you cannot think.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There is no such position when you cannot think.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 5, 1972:

Nitya, nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ sthāṇur acalo 'yaṁ sanātanaḥ. There are many other symptoms of the living entity. They are described in the Bhagavad-gītā very nicely, positively and negatively. In some of the verses, the definition is being given in negation: "It is not this." Because with our blunt material eyes, we cannot find out where is the soul in this body; therefore Kṛṣṇa is describing the characteristic of the soul in a negative way in several verses. And you know that sometimes it is required, according to logic, that definition by negation: "It is not this." I cannot express for the time being a thing, what it is, but I can distinguish what it is not. So similarly, at the present moment, everyone is under ignorance. He does not know what is the soul. That is the basic principle of missing point of this material civilization. I talked with many big, big professors in Europe. Most of them, they do not know what is the soul. (aside:) That sound cannot be stopped for the time being? When I was in Moscow, I had the opportunity of talking with some professors. One of them was very interested, Professor Kotovsky.

Morning Lecture -- Allahabad, January 15, 1977:

It is cheating atheism. One class of atheism is Śūnyavādī: "There is no God." That we can understand, that he is atheist. "There is no God." He publicly declares, "We don't believe in God." But the Māyāvādīs are dangerous because they say that there is God, but without any form—no head, no leg. If you make "no, no, no," then where is...? It becomes zero ultimately. Go on making "no, no"—"No head, no tail, no hand, no..." So what remains? So this is another trick for saying there is no God. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that this class, who gives the negative definition of God—"Not this, not this, not this, not this"—the Māyāvādī, Māyā... They say, "Not this. This is māyā." So this Māyāvādī, they are greater atheist.

veda nā māniyā bauddha haya ta nāstika

vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda bauddhake adhika

So it is very dangerous to associate with Māyāvādīs. Of course, those who are kaniṣṭha... Who are fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they can mix with anyone. Nobody can influence. They are protected. If one has become pure devotee, for preaching work he can go anywhere.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Śyāmasundara: Otherwise where does the impersonal idea come from?

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is out of frustration. We see so many things, personal, varieties, but they are not giving us satisfaction; therefore we are thinking in a negative way, impersonal. But the person is first.

Śyāmasundara: He says that men, because they are...

Prabhupāda: The atheist demons are like that. If he exists to accept God, then he cannot work irresponsibly. To facilitate his sinful activities he is denying that there is a God.

Śyāmasundara: He says that God is an absolute necessity because we cannot conceive not-God. But man, individual men, are relative truths because they are not absolutely necessary. Because I can conceive that I am not here, that I may die. So he says that we are conditioned, that men are conditioned. They are governed by the principle of sufficient (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: That we can see. There are so many politicians, they are very busy. They think that "If I do not remain in the state, everything will collapse." But when he dies, everything goes on nicely without him. That is māyā. So many politicians work so hard, up to the last point of his death he is thinking that "Without me, everything will be topsy turvy." But he dies in spite of his not willing to die. He dies, but things go on without depending on him. Therefore God's will is working, the Supreme Will. You may think so many ways—that is a different thing. Actually God's will is working.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Prabhupāda: So, the worst brutal is the human being who is eating animals. Animals are called brutal because he is eating another animal, and the human being who is eating animal, he is the worst brutal, because in spite of his sense, he is violating. So therefore, he is the worst animal.

Śyāmasundara: He says that happiness is a negative state. It only means a momentary suspension of suffering.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, janme jana rage jana (Bengali). That a man is destined to be punished, he is put within the water. When he is almost on the point of suffocation, he is taken out. He feels how happy. He does not, "Oh, again I am down. Again I will be down." If I have happiness here, it is temporary relief. But if he is intelligent enough, then he will not do something which may put him into that unhappiness condition.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Devotee: The impersonalist in the brahma-jyotir, is his will in a dormant state also?

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is willingness in a negative way: "I shall not will. I shall not will. Because I have got experience that by willing I have suffered so much, so I shall not will." But that stage you cannot stay for a long time. Then you have to again will in the same way.

Śyāmasundara: What about these men who perform great austerities, lash their bodies, starve, and...

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is also the same thing, not willing. They have no knowledge of good willing; therefore they simply want to kill bad willing. Because they are insufficient in knowledge that in this way willing cannot be reformed. Just like a child is accustomed to play. If you stop playing, then he will be dull, he'll be diseased. But you must give him good engagement. Just like DDD, he stopped playing. He was worshiping Jagannātha, and he said, "It is māyā." He stopped. Just like your daughter, when she is engaged in worshiping Deity, she is engladdened. So give good engagement, good willing, and he will automatically give up all this nonsense bad willing. But if you want to stop artificially willing, that will be not possible. That you can stop for the time, but it will again act.

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Śyāmasundara: I mean chronologically. Freud's idea was that unconscious processes are invariably infantile, animal, or pathological. Jung said that some unconscious energies are sources of positive and creative activity. That the unconscious is important for the growth and development of the mature and well-adjusted personality. Freud investigated the unconscious and found that the negative side, that our unconscious life is always threatening us, that it is the cause of pathological...

Prabhupāda: What do you mean by unconscious life?

Śyāmasundara: Subconscious, that which we are not consciously aware of...

Prabhupāda: That means it is consciousness but it is covered.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. He says that unconscious part of our mind is dangerous, infantile, animalistic. But Jung says that the unconscious can also be positive and helpful to the growth of our personality, that it can be an asset to understand this unconscious life.

Prabhupāda: But I think that the subconscious status as it is covered by the present consciousness, similarly, it can be covered by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so that those subconscious states will be no longer able to react.

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Śyāmasundara: So this Jung sees a positive aspect of psychology, not just the negative aspect, whereas Freud saw that the goal of psychology was to restrict or reach (indistinct) these powerful, primitive instincts then to mitigate troublesome symptoms, which is a rather pessimistic or negative philosophy. Jung says that man is capable of changing positively into something better by the use of psychology.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Otherwise why he was making this propaganda unless there is chance that we will be better? And actually we see they are becoming better.

Śyāmasundara: So actually this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is also psychology.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) That is the term of psychology. Therefore Kṛṣṇa recommends, yoginām api sarveṣāṁ: (BG 6.47) "Of all the yogis, the Kṛṣṇa devotee is the highest, topmost." All, of all psychologists, the person who is Kṛṣṇa conscious is the most elevated. Transcendental position. Everyone is within the modes of the material nature, but a Kṛṣṇa conscious person is above, transcendental. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26).

Śyāmasundara: In one sense Jung is very optimistic that he sees that everyone has divine and demonic potencies in the (indistinct), but that the divine potencies can be brought out in everyone.

Philosophy Discussion on B. F. Skinner:

Śyāmasundara: There is an interesting comparison to be made. They have tried to set up a community along this philosophy just near our New Vrindaban. This is the place, in the hills of Virginia, and some of the... It's interesting to see what their code is compared to ours. Their code is that all are entitled to the same privileges, advantages and respect. Private property is forbidden except for such things as books and clothes, and even then there is community clothing which is all shared. No one is allowed to boast of an individual accomplishment or to gossip or to have any negative speech or to be intolerant of any other's beliefs.

Prabhupāda: You cannot be. It is simply dream. If you simply dream, it will be never be fruitful. But our philosophy is that everyone is thinking as servant of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we have no competition. We want to serve Kṛṣṇa center.

Śyāmasundara: He says that's the main difficulty. He says there is still competition going on.

Prabhupāda: So much more, because he has not changed the mind. The mind is thinking how to become master. So as soon as you want to become master, I want to become master, he wants to, there must be some... But our teaching is different. We become servant, servant of Kṛṣṇa. Even there is competition, but that competition is center in Kṛṣṇa.

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Prabhupāda: But when they lose interest in the country on the basis of this basical idea, that I cannot make any profit, I have no proprietorship, then what interest I have got in this country?

Śyāmasundara: So only the negative, the negative stress forces them to work.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: Your home may be in danger, your family may be lost if you don't work.

Prabhupāda: But if I work, what do I get. I work or not work, I get the same thing. Where is my incentive? Marshall's theory is that economic development is based on family affection.

Śyāmasundara: Is it?

Prabhupāda: Yes. So if I cannot give good food, good dress to my family... The same thing, I am working so hard, another man is working as laborer, I am scientist so my wife and children with the same dress and he is this, so I am losing my interest. And that is the position (indistinct). They are all impractical.

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Hayagrīva: Like Comte, Marx believed that atheism was unnecessary because it was negative denial. He felt that socialism is positive assertion. He says, "Atheism no longer has any meaning, for atheism is a negation of God and postulates the existence of man through this negation. But socialism as socialism no longer stands in any need of such a mediation. It proceeds from the practically and theoretically sensuous consciousness of man and of nature the essence. Socialism is man's positive self-consciousness no longer mediated throught the annulment of religion, just as real life is man's positive reality through Communism." So that Communism really has nothing whatsoever to do with religion.

Prabhupāda: No. Our point is that religion is not sentiment. Leadership has to be accepted, either by the Communist or the theist or atheist. There is leadership. So when the leadership is selected and the direction given by the leader, you can take it as some "ism." So religion is the same thing. When we accept the leadership of God and His direction, that is religion. I don't think on principle the Communist can change this idea. The same leader is Lenin or Stalin, and he is giving his direction, and people must follow it. So where is the difference of philosophy? Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is there, His instruction is there, and we are following. So where is the difference in fact?