One by one

Expressions researched:
"one by one"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.2.1, Translation and Purport:

Ugraśravā (Sūta Gosvāmī), the son of Romaharṣaṇa, being fully satisfied by the perfect questions of the brāhmaṇas, thanked them and thus attempted to reply.

The sages of Naimiṣāraṇya asked Sūta Gosvāmī six questions, and so he is answering them one by one.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.24.16, Translation:

My dear King, now I shall describe to you the lower planetary systems, one by one, beginning from Atala. In Atala there is a demon, the son of Maya Dānava named Bala, who created ninety-six kinds of mystic power. Some so-called yogīs and svāmīs take advantage of this mystic power to cheat people even today. Simply by yawning, the demon Bala created three kinds of women, known as svairiṇī, kāmiṇī and puṁścalī. The svairiṇīs like to marry men from their own group, the kāmiṇīs marry men from any group, and the puṁścalīs change husbands one after another. If a man enters the planet of Atala, these women immediately capture him and induce him to drink an intoxicating beverage made with a drug known as hāṭaka (cannabis indica). This intoxicant endows the man with great sexual prowess, of which the women take advantage for enjoyment. A woman will enchant him with attractive glances, intimate words, smiles of love and then embraces. In this way she induces him to enjoy sex with her to her full satisfaction. Because of his increased sexual power, the man thinks himself stronger than ten thousand elephants and considers himself most perfect. Indeed, illusioned and intoxicated by false pride, he thinks himself God, ignoring impending death.

SB Canto 8

SB 8.10.44, Translation:

Thereafter, one by one, Bali Mahārāja used a lance, prāsa, tomara, ṛṣṭis and other weapons, but whatever weapons he took up, Indra immediately cut them to pieces.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.22.11, Translation:

I have never before spoken a lie, and these boys know it. Therefore, O slender-waisted girls, please come forward, either one by one or all together, and pick out your clothes.

SB 10.83.21, Translation:

My father properly honored each king according to his strength and seniority. Then those whose minds were fixed on me took up the bow and arrow and one by one tried to pierce the target in the midst of the assembly.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.9-10 -- Delhi, November 14, 1973:

Therefore our this movement is called International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.

So actually, one by one, as people are coming to the association of the society, automatically he is becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is practical. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ. This is sādhu-saṅga. Sādhu-saṅga does not mean to associate with some saffron-colored men. Sādhu-saṅga means to associate with Kṛṣṇa conscious person. This is śāstra. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu... This is Rūpa Gosvāmī's direction, that if you want to develop your love for Kṛṣṇa, this is the process. Because real purpose of life is not dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90). And that will be explained here. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. What is the Absolute Truth? What is the aim of life? Then this is the process.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20 -- Bombay, March 24, 1977, At Cross Maidan Pandal:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Is worshiping the idol a stepping stone?"

Indian man (7): Idol worship, mūrti-pūjā, is considered as a stepping stone only. When you attain something, then you need not do.

Prabhupāda: So unless you step one by one, how you can go to the topmost? You have to.

Indian man (7): After attaining that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. First of all you have to step on the first step, then second step, then... Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). So everything requires training and knowledge.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation Lecture -- Toronto, June 17, 1976:

Prabhupāda: What are the rules and regulations?

Allen: No gambling, no meat-eating, no intoxication and no illicit sex.

Prabhupāda: So after performance of the sacrifice, those who are to be doubly initiated, how many? Eight. They may come upstairs, one by one. So one thing I request that these promises—no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling—these promises are made by you before Kṛṣṇa, before the fire, before the Vaiṣṇavas and before your spiritual master. Don't break it. It will be great sin. Thank you very much.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 17, Purport:

All the facilities suggested in this mantra can be easily obtained by constant contact with the personal feature of the Absolute Truth. Devotional service to the Lord consists essentially of nine transcendental activities: (1) hearing about the Lord, (2) glorifying the Lord, (3) remembering the Lord, (4) serving the lotus feet of the Lord, (5) worshiping the Lord, (6) offering prayers to the Lord, (7) serving the Lord, (8) enjoying friendly association with the Lord, and (9) surrendering everything unto the Lord. These nine principles of devotional service—taken all together or one by one—help a devotee remain constantly in touch with God. In this way, at the end of life it is easy for the devotee to remember the Lord.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discussion with Guests -- December 23, 1969, Boston:

Prabhupāda: Then you... That is bogus. You cannot love everybody. If you love God, then you can love everybody. Because God is everything. So just like if you pour water on the root...

Guest (2): If God is everything, then why don't you, not loving one by one? Why...?

Prabhupāda: Yes. But you... That is... Just like if you love one tree, then you have to pour water on the root. Not that every leaf. If you want to maintain your body, then you have to supply foodstuff in the stomach. Not to your eyes. Not to your ear. When you get a nice cake, you don't put it here. You put it here. Why? That is the process. There are nine holes in your body. Why do you put in this hole?

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- November 11, 1971, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: The significance..., there is no significance. These professional Bhāgavata readers, they make money from the public because public wants to hear all these things. Just like we read a novel-a woman is embracing a man, or kissing or having sex. They like it. Therefore they go the Bhāgavata Tenth Canto immediately. Their Bhāgavata reading is professional, not understanding of Kṛṣṇa. If you want to understand Kṛṣṇa, then go step by step, one by one. First of all read Bhagavad-gītā, try to understand, and you surrender to Kṛṣṇa as Kṛṣṇa says, then you enter. Just like after passing entrance examination you enter into the college. Similarly, when you are qualified in accepting Kṛṣṇa as all in all, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66), then you enter into Bhāgavata. Bhāgavata is the graduate study, not ordinary study.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Krishna Tiwari: How?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: You have to accept one by one. You have to accept first of all that He is the authority.

Krishna Tiwari: Well, how can you accept somebody's authority without knowing them?

Devotee (1): Like your mother. He gave the example.

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Exactly.

Krishna Tiwari: No. I believed in her. That's all I said.

Prabhupāda: You believe.

Krishna Tiwari: If she says... If she says he's my father, I believe.

Śyāmasundara: You think she's trying to cheat you?

Krishna Tiwari: No, I'm not. That's why I believe her. The question of authority does not come.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with devotees about Twelfth Canto Kali-yuga, and Conversation with Guest -- June 15, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Now who will translate? You, one by one, line, the translation you speak.

Nitāi: O.K. "I offer my obeisances unto Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vāsudeva, who is the Supreme, All-pervading Personality of Godhead. I meditate upon Him, the transcendent reality, who is the primeval cause of all causes, from whom all manifested universes arise, in whom they dwell, and by whom they are destroyed. I meditate upon that eternally effulgent Lord who is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations and yet is beyond them. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge into the heart of Brahmā."

Prabhupāda: And this is Vedic knowledge.

Nitāi: "Who is the first created living being."

Prabhupāda: You read another verse, aham ādir hi devānāṁ maharṣīṇāṁ ca (Bg 10.2). Aham ādir hi devānām. (loud noise in background) Never mind, never mind. Don't bother. That's all right.

Garden Conversation Excerpt -- July 11, 1974, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Atomic bomb normally acts as, ah, what happened is the particles floating in the atmosphere, like chemicals, chemicals, what happened is this explosion offers this, ah, fundamental particles like neutrons, electrons, they bombard further atoms which are already in the atmosphere. So one by one they knock out these smaller particles called electrons. They move very high velocity. There is a very tremendous energy, amount of energy released. So one... So suppose first atomic bomb, ah, the, ah, the energy-bringing substance like electron, neutron, hits another atom, and then it knocks out several of that sort, and then it makes a chain reaction, not stopping because..., and thereby several atoms they will knock each other, one by one, without stopping. Small particles, so much energy has got. But in the sun planet, where it is so hot, it is already probably more powerful that the atomic bomb itself.

Prabhupāda: Therefore this example. (laughs) What it will act, the atomic bomb, in the sun planet? Similarly, Brahmā might have possessed some power, but what is that power in comparison to Kṛṣṇa? Every power is derived from Him; so Brahmā's mystic power cannot act on Kṛṣṇa.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Devotees -- April 14, 1975, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But that does not mean there will be no disease. That is already being done by many medical practitioners. Better medicine. But where is the medicine that will not be disease.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Gradually we are eliminating one by one all the diseases.

Prabhupāda: No, that you have not done. No disease... You have increased diseases. You have stopped one disease and increased another. Not stopped! But you have increased another disease.

Devotee: We have to learn though how to prevent all these diseases.

Prabhupāda: Therefore you are fool. You have to learn. That means you have to learn, means you are fool.

Room Conversation with Yogi Bhajan -- June 7, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Hm. You find so many fanatics. How you will unite them?

Yogi Bhajan: Gradually, one by one, one by one, they will understand. Love is the winning point. That's why they don't understand. When they find love from you, they will find love from me, they will love from people, they will love from everybody else. You know, you can take a mango stick and beat somebody, but you can take mango off it and eat. Effort has to be made somehow. And now...

Prabhupāda: Effort is being made, but the platform, the world where you are staying, that effort is very difficult to fulfill.

Morning Walk -- November 21, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (break) What did he speak?

Mahāṁsa: He spoke on different verses, one by one, of the twelfth chapter. But no conclusion. Every lecture there was no conclusion. So he leaves the people in a blank. There is no conclusion to any of his lectures. And his philosophy is "Kṛṣṇa means black. Black means unknown. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is unknown. Kṛṣṇa is unknown. We cannot know Kṛṣṇa."

Prabhupāda: And what about others' version who knows Kṛṣṇa? Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu or all the ācāryas? (end)

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: This is a questionnaire which was sent to us by one journal, a cultural and religious journal in Bombay. It's called Bhavan's Journal. And they are questioning different religious leaders, especially in India, trying to get the answers to some of these important questions which are perplexing especially the Indian public today. So there's a list of about 21 questions, and we can go through them one by one for Śrīla Prabhupāda to answer. The first question, "Is the influence of religion over the masses on the wane?" Is the influence of religion over the masses decreasing?

Prabhupāda: Yes, this is predicted in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Tataḥ anudinam. Bring that black book, Bhāgavata. Tatas cānudinaṁ dharmaḥ satyam. This is Kali-Yuga, the age of waning of these things. Religiosity, truthfulness, memory, bodily strength, duration of life, mercifulness.

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Just rightly. So much direction is there, perfect.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. So like that, then, when the..., once they bring these amino acids one by one, then they stick together, and that also process is done by enzymes. There are so many steps involved, and very intricate. It is actually done by a catalyst called enzymes. Enzymes are also very big molecules, actually they are also proteins, and in each step the enzymes are so specific that they do only one specific function just for the right purpose, and once this is done then slowly the protein separates at the right time and with the proper length and proper number of amino acids. In this way, actually we can prove in every case that...

Prabhupāda: Perfect direction.

Evening Darsana -- July 13, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Ha.

Rāmeśvara: If they are important.

Prabhupāda: Let them come one by one. If they come one at a time, they will sit down. They'll not try to go away. But if they come, see first too many, and go away, then another comes. Then it will be nice interview.

Rāmeśvara: I see. There must be management.

Hari-śauri: And the devotees can come in the morning for class.

Prabhupāda: That's right. Try this experiment.

Rāmeśvara: Anything that we can do to assist you in the translating work is the best service...

Interview with Newsday Newspaper -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: All family members, children, husband, wife, they are present there. How do you say it is against family? Wrong criticism. This is...

Interviewer: Are your followers encouraged to visit with their...

Prabhupāda: No, first of all you take your answer one by one. You say, "against the family." It is a wrong. It is a wrong propaganda. Oh, there are so many families in our society. It is a society. There are family members. There are brahmacārīs. There are sannyāsīs and vānaprastha. Whatever situation is suitable for you, you can accept, and in any situation, you can become God conscious. That's a wrong propaganda, that we are against family. Here is a wife of a boy. They have family. There are so many families.

Evening Darsana (on night of arrival) -- August 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Indian man (4): There will be a lot of confusion, Prabhupāda, there. And what we should do in that passage, we should make them sit, as we were discussing, about six hundred or so. We should make the passage and put daddis(?) these on that and make all the visitors and guests sit on that, and immediately after pratiṣṭhā is over, installation of the Deities and all, one by one they should be allowed to go have darśana and come back. When they return, give them prasāda. Not in package, bhoogi (?) sweet, it is...

Prabhupāda: Whatever you want to arrange. When they're going back. That's all.

Evening Darsana (on night of arrival) -- August 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Indian man (4): That way there won't be any rush. Otherwise, they will be stampeding the temple. Then nobody would have to rush in the temple. This is how they did at this Veṅkateśvara temple Birlas have constructed. They, though I was not there, someone was saying that all the guests were made to sit. Whoever was coming, they were made to sit, and then after all the distribution, everything was over, they were just made to one by one go around the Deity.

Prabhupāda: You make that arrangement.

Indian man (4): Yes. If there are no rains that arrangement will go through very nicely. Only if there is no rain.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Room Conversation -- August 20, 1976, Hyderabad:

Saurabha: Yes this is open. Well, we have arches here, just arches. Now we are finishing for the temple the second floor slab. That should be finished at the end of the month, and then one more month, the main slab of the darśana-maṇḍapa, and then we start towers, which we already started now precasting. We have rings. We make rings which we put up later, one by one.

Prabhupāda: Oh, it is by ring.

Saurabha: Yes, we make rings out of concrete and then we... With a rod we keep holes in it and then we just put them on top and it's... Because for Māyāpur, we get into Māyāpur we trying it out if that is possible to do that there, because there are so many domes. This system is very practical because you can cast at site, and then with a crane you bring it up and then it's fixed. Because this short ring, to make a tower on top of a building is very troublesome.

Prabhupāda: This ring, concrete ring?

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversations with Kirtana Groups -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: He said that fire sacrifice not yet... They'll do...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, I know when I got sannyāsa, first...

Indian devotee (1): I was also that it is... It should be...

Prabhupāda: All right. All right, you shall go. So one by one, they should change their cloth. Can you help them?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: In the meantime let me go to the latrine. (break) ...I think. (Bengali)

Bhakti-caru: Etāṁ sa āsthāya parātma-niṣṭhām...

Prabhupāda: (Bengali)

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Chance? Chance is science?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So we are proving that all their theories are wrong.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: One by one.

Prabhupāda: Yes, do that. Why one should be kept in darkness in the name of science? This is our proposal. Jñāna-khale. Sarasvatī-jñāna-khale yad asati. Jñāna-khala. We have got this knowledge. Why should we suppress this knowledge? We must distribute. These rascals will keep the whole human society in suppressed knowledge.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: For money.

Bhu-mandala Diagram Discussion -- July 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So I think that Svarūpa Dāmodara will be helped by these drawings when the men come. 'Cause he said that even though they are scientists, they could not understand this volume. It's been a mystery practically. These drawings, one by one, should be able to help in the creation of that planetarium.

Prabhupāda: Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Now we have to figure out how to preserve these, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Puṣkara Prabhu was concerned how to preserve these pictures, and we were thinking that maybe they should be mounted on canvas and stretched.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And that way, they can be preserved.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Well, there's I think twenty-seven languages. French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish...

Dr. Kapoor: Oh. All the books are translated?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. Gradually, one by one. This is Dvārakeśa. He's in charge of the translating department for East Europe. Which languages do you translate?

Dvārakeśa: Russian and Hungarian. And others translate into Yugoslavian and Polish, Czechoslovakian.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He has preached in some of those countries already.

Pañca-draviḍa: Now Bhagavad-gītā in Arabic also.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese. Twenty-seven languages altogether. One by one, they're being translated. Some are doing... Of course, the German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, these are the main languages. And Hindi. These books are going quicker in translation. Shall I finish reading this report, Śrīla Prabhupāda? (break)

Dr. Kapoor: It's a miracle what is happening, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Brother -- Jhansi November 1958:

I am prepared to convince you in every respect that there is our Eternal Father and He wants you and all of us to go back to our permanent home. If you argue that there is no such Father God at all, then I am still more prepared to argue with you in all seriousness. In that case you may kindly let me know your definite view points relevantly so that I may try to reply these points one by one. And should you desire to argue with me, then my only request to you will be that for all such arguments we must be always very sincere and serious. Once we are convinced in that way, we must be prepared to act accordingly.

You may also argue that if there is any God at all, let Him be peacefully at His pleasure at any place He likes and we have no business with Him whatsoever. In that case I shall again say that you have every business with Him by re-establishing your forgotten eternal relation with Him.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- San Francisco 15 September, 1968:

Generally, we in the conditioned state, we are contaminated. But, this worshiping system called "Arcana vidhi" cleanses the polluted heart and one becomes actually fit for becoming qualified Brahmin. So at least you be engaged in that way. Where is that boy Jaya Rama, who was taking care of it? So one by one, one should be engaged in that "Arcana vidhi" so that one may be fixed up in his Brahminical qualification.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Jayapataka -- Bombay 15 November, 1970:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 29, 1970, and have noted the contents carefully. I beg to thank you for your complete report of the situation in Calcutta and I am replying the points one by one.

Here in Bombay we are getting good response to our membership program and I am sure in Calcutta you can also get good response. Now the holiday is done, so you can begin work on this immediately. This membership program cannot be neglected. Do not rely on anyone else for such matters, but go out and do your own work.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Hiranyagarbha -- Delhi 22 November, 1971:

He is very favorable to our Movement. It appears that more and more the gentleman class of men in your country is respecting this Krishna Consciousness Movement, so you should approach them one by one and convince them very tactfully to help us.

A man is known by his notions and by his words. But sometimes it may appear that he is doing something, but he may be thinking something else. So a man is really known when he speaks, then everything is revealed. So if this Mayavadi sannyasi does not speak, then he can fool everyone. But if you force him to speak he will expose himself, therefore he is silent. Even he remains silent, we shall speak very loudly and expose these bogus men.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Sudama -- Los Angeles 26 May, 1972:

And any money that Trivikrama has collected he can turn over to you for getting that new temple in Tokyo city center.

That is a good idea, to invite many Indians and other influential Japanese men to visit our country asrama in Tokyo. There are many Indians in Tokyo and if you canvass them one by one gradually all of them will become our life members and support our activities for expanding widely in Japan. If we have got solid financial base there from the Hindu community, then we can go to all parts of Japan and open up centers and distribute our literature in Japanese language. So, try for this and I am fully convinced that you are all very sincere boys there and that your work will come out very very successful.

Letter to Tulasi -- London 1 August, 1972:

The beads are being sent by separate post. Now you can hold a fire yajna for all of them, and gayatri mantra to Pranaballavah, Mahasakti, and Nandita Gokula. Show them how to count on the finger divisions, and have them listen one by one to the tape of me reciting gayatri mantra, repeating each vibration as I say it. You can get this tape from Karandhara in Los Angeles. Then hang the sacred thread over each boy's shoulder in the proper fashion. One thing is that the tape should be heard through earphones into the right ear, and the function should be held amongst the devotees only.

Letter to Visvambhara -- Ahmedabad 14 December, 1972:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated November 23, 1972, and I have noted the contents carefully. Regarding your four questions, I am replying them one by one. But these things should not be asked until you have first of all asked them to the GBC men. Whatever they say you should accept, but if they cannot satisfy you, then you may ask. But I have answered these questions many times, why you are not learning these things?

Letter to Sudama -- Bombay 23 December, 1972:

When I was alone in your New York, I was thinking, who will listen to me in this horrible, sinful place? All right, I shall stay little longer, at least I can distribute a few of my books, that is something. But Krishna was all along preparing something I could not see, and He brought you to me one by one, sincere American boys and girls, to be trained-up for doing the work of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Now I can see that it is a miracle. Otherwise, your city of New York, one single old man, with only a few books to sell for barely getting eatables, how he can survive, what to speak of introducing God-consciousness movement for saving the humankind? That is Krishna's miracle. Now I can see it.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Kirtanananda -- Sydney 18 February, 1973:

These all should be carried down the ladder by the various Brahmins, and as they put each one at the bottom of the pit, the various fruits, flowers, etc. all of the Brahmins should one by one climb to the bottom of the pit and make their offering and chant the first verse of Gayatri Mantra. After this, you may lay some bricks down on top of everything and then begin to fill up the pit with dirt again. When the pit is filled up with dirt again you may put one foundation stone on top of the pit and this pit should be located at the exact corner of the Temple building. The idea of this is that the entire building will be resting on the hoods of the Ananta snake, and this is very auspicious. After this program you may have several days of Kirtana and feasting.

Letter to Gurudasa -- Bhaktivedanta Manor 13 September, 1973:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated August 29, 1975 and I have noted the contents carefully. You posed 5 questions regarding Radha Damodara temple and I shall answer them one by one. I was not actually living in Vrindaban, but Delhi and when I came to Vrindaban for short periods I would stay at Radha Damodara Temple. I began paying rent in 1960 at that time I was staying in two rooms upstairs then one of the Goswamis asked me if I would like to stay in the two rooms below where one Babaji who was taking care of the tombs was staying. The rooms were very dilapitated so he proposed that I fix the rooms and whatever I pay as rent would be all right. I invested about 1,000 Rs/. and paid him 5 Rs/. monthly, recently I have increased the monthly payment to 10 Rs/. to meet the rise in general standard of living.

Letter to Kirtanananda -- Bombay 18 October, 1973:

When the father asked his children to break the bundle of sticks wrapped in a bag, none of them could do it. But, when they removed the sticks from the bag, and tried one by one, the sticks were easily broken. So this is the strength in unity. If we are bunched up, we can never be broken, but when divided, then we can become broken very easily.