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Sense pleasure (Lectures)

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

Deva means human beings who are connected with the Supreme Lord. Their life is for realization of the Supreme Truth. They are called deva. Just like in higher planets, there are also living beings. They are called devatās, demigods, because their magnitude of pleasure is far, far greater than ours. But because they do everything in relation with the Supreme Lord, therefore they are called devatās, devatā. Devatā means demigods. And asura. Asura means just the opposite. They simply enjoy life for the matter of sense pleasure. That's all. So those who are interested in sense pleasure, they are called asuras, and those who are interested, unending spiritual pleasure, they are called devatās. Devatā and asura does not mean that asuras are very ugly and devatās are very beautiful. Even the ugly man can become a devatā, or even a beautiful man may become asura. That is due to his mentality. Because, after all, the soul is pure. When he is in unnatural condition of life, wants to enjoy simply the material senses, he becomes asura. So asura can be turned into devatā. There is no hindrance.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

Now, this Prahlāda Mahārāja, because he's mahājana, his statement should be accepted. So he's saying to his father, asura-varya: "My dear father, you are the greatest of the asuras." Asura-varya. Varya means greatest. So even if he is father, he addresses his father, asura-varya, asura. "Because your aim is simply sense pleasure." You see? So tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehinām. The father asked the son, "What you have learned, the best thing?" So he's also saying sincerely before his father the best thing that "My dear father, for the dehinām..." Here also the same thing, dehinām. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Dehinaḥ. Dehinaḥ means the spiritual spark who has accepted this material body. This material body is foreign.

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Lord Śiva once was in deep meditation, but when the beautiful maiden Pārvatī agitated him for sense pleasure, he agreed to the proposal and as a result Kārttikeya was born."

Prabhupāda: Oh, here is Kārttikeya present. (laughter) Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Go on. (laughter)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "When Haridāsa Ṭhākura was a young devotee of the Lord he was similarly allured by the incarnation of Māyādevī."

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "One who is not, therefore, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however powerful he may be in controlling the senses by artificial repression, is sure ultimately to fall, for the slightest thought of sense pleasure will drive him to gratify his desires." 63: "From anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool."

Prabhupāda: Our position is, we are constituted of this body. Body means the senses and the controller of the senses or the, what is called, driver, driver of the senses, is the mind. And mind is conducted, thinking, feeling, and willing, the psychology, the science of psychology, that is being conducted under intelligence.

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Such sages feel transcendental pleasure in the gradual advancement of spiritual culture, whereas the man in materialistic activities, being asleep to self-realization, dreams of varieties of sense pleasure."

Prabhupāda: Yes. They are dreaming, "Now we shall do this. Next time, I shall have this. Next time, I shall have this. Next time, I shall kill that enemy. Next time, I shall do this." They are planning like that. Go on.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "...feeling sometimes happy and sometimes distressed in his sleeping condition. The introspective man is always indifferent to materialistic happiness and distress."

Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974:

That is called rāga. And if we cannot fulfill our desires, then there is krodha, anger. And accompanied by krodha and attachment, there is always a tendency of fearfulness. So Kṛṣṇa says... Kṛṣṇa means... When I speak Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa means the all-attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead. So man-mayā, when one becomes attached to God, giving up the attachment of this material sense pleasure, when one becomes... Attachment must be there, either this way or that way. If we do not become attached to the Supreme Being, then we must be attached to this material enjoyment. Therefore it is said vīta-rāga, "Giving up the attachment of this material world, when you transfer your attachment to Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Being," man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ... Upāśrita means "taking shelter of Me."

Lecture on BG 5.17-25 -- Los Angeles, February 8, 1969:

Revatīnandana: "Verse 21: Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness for he concentrates on the Supreme (BG 5.21)."

Prabhupāda: There is a word, ātmārāma, in Sanskrit. Ātmārāma means one who is satisfied with his self. He is called ātmārāma. Because self is the basic principle of this body, the soul. So one who is satisfied with his soul, he is called ātmārāma, or self-realized person. One who seeks pleasure externally, he is materialist, and one who seeks pleasure internally, he is spiritualist. That is the difference. Yes.

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

And doctor has asked him not to take solid food. Now, if he is thinking that... Because he is practiced to take solid food, he is thinking, "I must take solid food. I must take solid food..." But if he can tolerate—"No, doctor has advised not to take solid food"—if he can tolerate, then he becomes very easily cured. Similarly, sense perception, sense pleasure, is reserved for us in our spiritual life. That is actual sense pleasure. Here we are having sense pleasure artificially through this body. Before leaving this body, if we practice to stop sense pleasure as much as possible... There is training, of course. Without training, nothing can be done.

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

The same example: In diseased condition we cannot enjoy the foodstuff which we take. When we are healthy, we can enjoy the taste of the foodstuff. So we have to cure. We have to cure. And how to cure? To be situated in the transcendental position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the cure. So Kṛṣṇa advises here anyone who is able to tolerate the urge of sense pleasure. But we have to mold our life in such a way that we should be able to tolerate. Tolerate. That will give us our advancement in spiritual life, and when we are situated in spiritual life, that enjoyment is unending, unlimited. There is no end. Exactly similar verse is there in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

Na ayaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Everyone has got body. The cats, dogs, hogs, and birds, beasts, man, human being demigod—everyone has got this body, material body. But he's especially advising nṛdeha. Nṛ means human form of life. He says that this human form of life is not meant for working hard for sense pleasure just like the hogs and dogs. Human life. Then what it is meant for? He says, tapo divyam (SB 5.5.1). One should undergo penance for transcendental realization. And what will be the result of such penance? He says that yataḥ śuddhyet sattvam. Your existence will be purified. And when your existence is purified, then you enjoy brahma-saukhyam, the unlimited spiritual happiness.

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

Anantam means unending. So we are meant for unending happiness. So Kṛṣṇa advises here that śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ prāk śarīra-vimokṣaṇāt. Before quitting this material body, if one practices to tolerate the so-called urges of sense pleasure, then he becomes very happy at the long run. He recommends it. And that is the real purpose of human form of life. That we should not derive. We should not try to derive that false happiness in this diseased condition of material life. This is temporary. That is not happiness. We should understand that out of ignorance we are engaged to derive such kind of happiness, but that is not happiness. Real happiness is in spiritual life.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 26, 1968:

"He has no beginning, but He is the beginning of everyone." Anādir ādir govindaḥ. "And His name is Govinda." Go means senses, and go means cow, and go means land. So He is the proprietor of all land, He is the proprietor of all cows, and He is the, I mean to say, pleasure for all senses. We are after sense pleasure, but our perfection of sense pleasure can be achieved when we reciprocate our pleasure with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore His name is Govinda. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. Govinda is the Supreme original Personality of Godhead.

Lecture on BG 15.15 -- August 5, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

The difficulty is when a person is missing the aim of life, his energy is diverted in different misleading ways. Just like for our bodily necessities of life we require to eat, we require to sleep, we require some sense pleasure or sex pleasure, and we require some defense. So that is arranged, you eat, you sleep, you have wife or husband, enjoy, and properly defend yourself, but the business is different. Business is different means living peacefully he has to realize God, his relationship with God. That is his real business. But because people are not educated to the real business, he thinks that these four principles of bodily necessities of life, eating, sleeping, sex and defense, that is my business.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.26 -- Vrndavana, November 6, 1972:

And He engaged him for worshiping Govardhana, which is representation of Kṛṣṇa. That is the Govardhana-pūjā.

So here it is said, mumukṣavo ghora-rūpān hitvā bhūta-patīn atha. Bhūta-patīn atha. So those who are actually desiring liberation from this entanglement of material life, transmigration from one body to another... We can get different types of sense pleasure in different bodies. That's all right. But this is not a very good business. Sometimes I become a demigod, and sometimes I become a eucalyptus tree, standing for three hundred years. So why should we waste our time in that way?

Lecture on SB 1.8.21 -- New York, April 13, 1973:

We chant every day. That sense, you get, sense gratification is ānanda-cinmaya, cinmaya, in the spiritual world. Not this third-class ānanda with these bodily senses. This is not ānanda. This is an illusion. This is illusion. We are thinking that "I'm enjoying," but that is not ānanda. This ānanda is not fact, because we cannot enjoy this material sense pleasure for long. Everyone has got experience. It is finished. It is finished. But spiritual enjoyment does not finish. It increases. That is the difference. Ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya govindam ādi-puruṣam (Bs. 5.32).

So you have to associate with Govinda. Here is, also, it is said, govindāya namo namaḥ: "I offer my respectful obeisances to Govinda." So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so nice—you become directly in contact with Govinda. This Deity worship is also directly in contact with Govinda.

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

So therefore the family attraction especially, the family attraction is so strong that life after life one is bound up again in this material world, and he gets one body. To get body means to suffer. To get material body... Mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ (BG 2.14). We are suffering the śītoṣṇa... Sometimes we feel some pleasure, sense pleasure. But actually we are suffering. Just see. We thought on the fourth floor, or third floor, such marble, I mean to say, level... And still, there is a snake. How it gone to such a high floor, and...? That is also surprising. But it has managed to go there. That's a fact. And a snake means death. Sa-sarpe ca gṛhe vāso mṛtyur eva na saṁśayaḥ.(?) So you cannot avoid danger in any condition of life. This is material world.

Lecture on SB 1.15.45 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1973:

That is gṛhastha-āśrama, as we recommend. And where there is no such attempt how to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness, simply living like cats and dogs... They have also sex life. They also produce children. They also eat. They also work. Such kind of life, household life, working day and night simply for sense pleasure, and at night they have got sense pleasure... That is also described in the Bhāgavata: divā cārthehayā rājan. At night either sleep or enjoy sex life, and in daytime, simply work hard, "Where to get money?" And as you get money, spend it for maintaining your family. Nidrayā hriyate naktam. Nidrā means sleeping. Hriyate, that night is passed. Nidrayā hriyate naktaṁ vyavāyena ca vā vayaḥ (SB 2.1.3). Or one who has got facility to enjoy sex, so night is passed. One who has no... Everyone has practically, but... Two things: sleep or sex. And then, at daytime, cārthehayā. Artha. Artha means money. Īhayā means trying for to get it.

Lecture on SB 1.16.20 -- Los Angeles, July 10, 1974:

Everyone is working very hard. That is called karma-jīvana. Karmīs. Karmīs, jñānīs, yogis and bhaktas. There are four classes of men. Karmīs means those who are working day and night very hard for getting some material benefit so that he can enjoy sense pleasure. These are called karmīs. The karmīs also, not only they want to enjoy in this life... Next life also they want to go to the heavenly planet.

Just like this morning we were talking, that dead body in Egypt and some other places. They keep the body so their body will go to the heavenly planet and he will enjoy. But clearly it is the bodily concept of life. The sane man will see that "The body is lying there. When he has gone to the heavenly planet?"

Lecture on SB 2.4.3-4 -- Los Angeles, June 27, 1972:

Prahlāda Mahārāja says. Sarvatra labhyate. So far material comfort is concerned, what you are destined to get, you'll get it, in wherever you may live. It doesn't matter. Your allotment is already there. That is your body.

And our sense pleasure means this material bodily pleasure. That is all. Sukham aindriyakam. We have got these senses: hands, legs, eyes, ears, and five working senses, and knowledge-gathering senses. They are all constitute the whole body. So bodily comfort means this sense gratification. Dharma, artha, kāma. But here it is said trai-vargikam. Saṁsthāṁ vijñāya sannyasya karma trai-vargikaṁ ca yat. When you are ready for death, there is no more this trai-vargikam. Trai-vargikam means religion and economic development and sense gratification.

Lecture on SB 3.25.12 -- Bombay, November 12, 1974:

Śreya and preya. Just like children, they like to play. That is called preya, preya. Very nice. But śreya means go to school and take education for future improvement of life. That is called śreya. So human being should be interested in śreya, not in preya. That is not human life. Preya means immediately gives me some sense pleasure: "Oh, it is very nice." No. That is human life. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna. We require these things. We require to eat something for maintaining the body. But not that we shall be accustomed to eat very palatable things. No. That is not good. Bhāla nā khāibe āra bhāla nā paribe. Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised His disciples, "Never eat very palatable foodstuff. Never talk these village talks." Ordinary novel, literature, newspaper, He forbade. Fortunately, in our Society there is no newspaper.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- London (Tittenhurst), September 13, 1969:

Otherwise, the sense gratification... As I have already cited the example, the prostitute gave two pots of vegetables, that "You are thinking that you shall enjoy this woman who is charging one million dollars, or like that, the sense pleasure from this woman will be greater than the other woman. It is mistake." The sense pleasure is the same either you derive it from this man or that man or this woman or that man.

So if our Kṛṣṇa consciousness improves, then we may be satisfied whatever is kṛṣṇa-prasāda. That's Kṛṣṇa cons... Whatever Kṛṣṇa has offered me, that is sufficient. No more. Then our problem of sense gratification is solved. Similarly, your bread problem is solved, your apartment problem is solved.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Paris, August 12, 1973:

Now the question may be raised that both ways I have to accept some painful situation, so why shall I accept painful situation for realizing God? For material sense gratification, although I am working very hard, I am getting, immediately, some pleasure, sense pleasure. So why shall I work hard or accept some painful situation for realizing God which is unknown and fictitious to me? So the reply is, tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyed sattvam (SB 5.5.1), "My dear boys, if you accept a little trouble for realizing God, then your existential condition will be purified."

Lecture on SB 5.5.16 -- Vrndavana, November 4, 1976:

"These rascals, they are blind to their real interest." Śreyas means real interest, and preyas means immediate profit. So nikāma-kāmaḥ, sense gratification, is very nice immediately. "I enjoy sex life. This is very nice. Why shall I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa? Let me enjoy sex." Śreyasi. And preyasi: "This is pleasure." And it is not pleasure; therefore naṣṭa-dṛṣṭiḥ. He does not know that this sense pleasure is not his actual pleasure. It is creating different types of miserable conditions. Naṣṭa-dṛṣṭiḥ. He has no eyes. Arthān samīheta nikāma-kāmaḥ. Based on... He does not know, either it is legal sex or illegal sex. There are two kinds of sex life, legal and illegal. Legal is married life sex. That is taken as legal. And without marriage, like cats and dogs in the street or here and there, that is illegal. So legal sex life is still allowed. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, dharmāviruddha-kāmo 'smi.

Lecture on SB 6.1.28-29 -- Honolulu, May 28, 1976:

So those who are in the lowest stage of knowledge they are in the bodily concept of life—the indriya, the senses. Just like cats and dogs, they cannot think more than that. So, but Kṛṣṇa advises, "No, don't stop here." Indriyāṇi parāny āhur (BG 3.42). Bodily concept of life, sense pleasure, they think it is all. There is no more other. Those who are little above the bodily concept of life, they find pleasure in the mind. And farther, they find pleasure in intellectually. And in this way the thing is very complicated. It requires very cool brain to understand all these things. But those who are meat-eaters, they are very troubled. They cannot understand. For them the subject matter is very, very difficult.

Lecture on SB 6.1.67 -- Vrndavana, September 3, 1975:

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very important, scientific movement. Take to it. Stick to the principles. Don't live uselessly like a tree or cats and dogs. They have also sense pleasure. It is not that because in human life we have got full opportunity for sense pleasures... Well, sense pleasure is offered to the monkeys and pigs and dogs more leniently. So that is means that is life? No. That is not life. This has been discussed in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Bhastrāḥ kiṁ na śvasanty uta, taravo kiṁ na jīvanti. They have been analyzed. No, the real life is Kṛṣṇa conscious life. That is success of life. So some way or other, you have come to this platform of Kṛṣṇa conscious life. Stick to the principle carefully. Don't fall down. Then try to understand Kṛṣṇa. Then life is successful.

Lecture on SB 7.6.2 -- Toronto, June 18, 1976:

So aindriya sukham, sense pleasure, that is available everywhere. Even cats and dogs, they have got sense pleasure. But human life is not meant for that purpose. Human life is meant for, this is the idea: yathā hi puruṣasyeha viṣṇoḥ padopasarpaṇam. This is required. They do not know it. Prahlāda Mahārāja another place said, na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ (SB 7.5.31). Generally, those who are not trained up by guru, they do not know the svartha-gatim is Viṣṇu. Durāśayā. They are trying to be happy with this external energy. Bahir-artha, bahir, bahir-aṅga-śakti. Bahir-aṅga-śakti means this material world.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Vrndavana, December 4, 1975:

Therefore here it is said sukham aindriyakam: "Happiness derived from the sources which is not related with Kṛṣṇa..." That is sukham aindriyakam. Actually you do that. When we enjoy sense pleasure, that is not for Kṛṣṇa. That is material sense perception. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that this kind of pleasure, happiness... Sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā. He is particularly addressing his friend, daityā, because they are sons of daityā, demons. Just like at the present moment ninety-nine per cent of the population, they are daityās, demons. What is the difference between a demon and a demigod? Daityā means the sons of the Diti. So daitya. And deva. Deva means devotees or those who accept the supremacy of the Lord. They are called deva. Viṣṇu-bhakto bhaved daiva āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Vrndavana, December 4, 1975:

They are simply trying to taste the same thing in different pot. That's all. They are not detestful that "No more, sir. I have tasted enough." That is not fact. That is called vairāgya-vidyā, no more tasting: "It is all the same, either I take in this pot or that pot."

Therefore it is said that sukham aindriyakam, the sense pleasure, it doesn't matter whether you enjoy as a dog or as a human being or a demigod or as European or American or Indian. The taste is the same. This is very important. You cannot have a better taste. Better taste is only Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). So if you do not increase your taste for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you will try to taste in this pot and that pot. That is the law. That will be, continue business and continue disease, to taste in this pot and that pot: "It may be very tasteful in this pot, may be tasteful..." The whole world is going on.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, December 26, 1972:

Yes, their position is sense enjoyment. If, by bhoga, they are not satisfied, then tyāga. Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Give it, give it up. Again, by tyāga, when he does not find any sense pleasure, then again comes back: All right, come to social service, open hospital, open the school. Why are you coming again? You have given it up, tyāga, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Why you are coming to mithyā again, to open school? That, that is going on. That is going on. Sometimes this is brahma... Jagan mithyā, everything is mithyā, and Brahman is satya. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. But when they cannot get Brahman, cannot realize Brahman, then again come to this bhoga. Bhoga. Pendulum. Bhoga, tyāga, bhoga, tyāga, bhoga, tyāga. You know that pendulum works: (makes noise) kaut kaut kaut kaut. Bhoga, tyāga, bhoga, tyāga.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.152-154 -- New York, December 5, 1966:

This is called surabhī. Surabhīr... In the description of Brahma-saṁhitā: cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). Surabhīr abhipālayantam. So therefore He is Govinda. He gives... He is pleasure for everyone.

And indriya... Go means senses. We are seeking sense pleasure. Sense pleasure means reciprocation between the two. I want to see a beautiful girl. That means two. Or I want to see a beautiful boy. So that means two. So without two, there cannot be sense pleasure. I want to eat something palatable. There must be two. At least, the dish must be full of varieties. So impersonal, there is no pleasure, actual pleasure. So Kṛṣṇa, our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, our service with Kṛṣṇa, that is pleasure. Govinda. That is real sense pleasure. By seeing Kṛṣṇa, by tasting Kṛṣṇa, by smelling Kṛṣṇa, by touching Kṛṣṇa—everything, that is sense pleasure.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.152-154 -- New York, December 5, 1966:

So impersonal, there is no pleasure, actual pleasure. So Kṛṣṇa, our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, our service with Kṛṣṇa, that is pleasure. Govinda. That is real sense pleasure. By seeing Kṛṣṇa, by tasting Kṛṣṇa, by smelling Kṛṣṇa, by touching Kṛṣṇa—everything, that is sense pleasure. That is our real sense pleasure. So He is Govinda and sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1), the cause of all causes. Beyond Him, there is no other cause. This is the description Lord Caitanya gives, and we shall gradually discuss other points.

Festival Lectures

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Bombay, December 22, 1975:

Of course, you must sleep, but not sleep like cats and dogs, animals. Simply sleeping means waste of time. The more you reduce sleeping, then you become perfect. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau **. All the gosvāmīs in Vṛndāvana, they conquered over these things. What is these things? Nidrā, sleeping; āhāra, eating; and vihāra, and sense pleasure. This is called sannyāsa life, reducing sleeping, reducing eating. This is pravṛtti-mārga. We think "If I can eat voraciously like an elephant, then my life is successful." No. That is not success of life. If you can do without any food, that is successful. That is success. This is called nivṛtti-mārga, but that is not practical; therefore if we promise that we shall not eat anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa, that is tapasya. If you don't go to the restaurant and eat anything nonsense, that is pravṛtti.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Speech -- New Vrindaban, June 21, 1976:

The dog is also enjoying by running here and there—perhaps you have seen sometimes—with four legs. And we are also. The standard does not improve. The superficial change. I may think that this is advancement. No. That is not advancement, because the real thing is that your sense pleasure.

So sense pleasure of the dog and sense pleasure of the human being may be executed in a different way, but the pleasure derived out of it is the same. Therefore śāstra says, sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā deha-yogena: simply the living entity is put in a certain type of body, he's endeavoring in a different way. Therefore he said, tat-prayāso na kartavyo yata āyur-vyayaḥ param.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation Lecture and Ceremony -- New Vrindaban, September 4, 1972:

This word is very important, that, ahaituky apratiyatā. Apratiyatā means "without any (indistinct)." Because, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is meant for the soul, not for the body. So far body is concerned, that is according to your past karma, it is destined. Sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā deha-yogena dehinām. Prahlāda Mahārāja says, that here in this material world we are after sense pleasure—everyone—birds, beasts, animals, aquatics, human beings, even the demigods—anyone who is within this material world, he is concerned with the gratification of the senses in different degree. But the aim is sense gratification. Therefore, we are given by the laws of nature—not, nature is not independent—by the superior order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead... Supreme Personality of Godhead as Paramātmā is sitting in everyone's heart: īśvaraḥ sarva-bhutānāṁ hṛd-deśe (BG 18.61).

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, October 4, 1968:

"I am the origin of everything, sarvasya." Anything you bring, that is, if you go on, search out, then you will find ultimately it is Kṛṣṇa.

The Vedānta also says the same thing. What is Brahman? Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This life, this human life... We have now... In other life we have enjoyed sense pleasure to the fullest extent. What we can enjoy in this human life? In other life... Of course, according to Darwin's theory, just prior to this human life there was monkey life. So the monkey... You have no experience. In India we have got experience. Each and every monkey has got at least hundred girls with him. Hundred, one hundred. So what we able to enjoy? Every, each, they have got party, and each party, one monkey has got a least fifty, sixty, not less than twenty-five.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968:

Somebody throws away for being eaten up by birds, or somebody puts within the ground, or somebody burns it. So Cārvāka Muni says that "After burning this body, who is coming and who is responsible? You see. You live merrily as far as possible. Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet. If you have no money, then borrow or steal, but live very nicely for sense pleasure." That is Cārvāka Muni's theory, and mostly, at the present moment, that theory is being followed. But the question is that Cārvāka Muni says there is no next life. What is the proof? Does it mean that his word is proof that there is no next life? Then everyone will say something. Of course, that is being accepted. Anyone discovers or says something nonsense, it is accepted.

Tenth Anniversary Address -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:

If you can remain in samādhi, don't breathe, then... Just like if you have got a bank balance, one thousand dollars. If you don't spend it, then the one thousand dollar is there. Or out of one thousand dollars, you spend one. Still you have nine hundred ninety-nine. So the yoga practice is to control the breathing period. And this breathing can be controlled if you can control your sense pleasure. Otherwise it will not be possible. Especially sex. Everyone has got experience. While sex life one enjoys, the breathing is very heavy. Very, very heavy. So he loses the balance of his breathing period. Therefore the first practice of yoga is yoga indriya saṁyamaḥ, to control the senses. That is all described in the Bhagavad-gītā, Sixth Chapter.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Prabhupāda: These existentialists, they are more interested in the "thatness," or the existence of a thing. So this Kierkegaard describes three steps of the life experience. The first step he calls the aesthetic step or stage of life. This aesthetic stage of life is characterized by two types of persons: that one engaged in sense gratification completely, unrestricted sense pleasure; and the mental speculator or philosopher. He said that in both cases that both persons are uncommitted to any specific goals and that they become bored with their activities, unrestricted sense gratification and philosophical speculation; that they are devoid of commitment—they are not committing themselves to anything, simply enjoying and speculating—and that this type of life, this aesthetic type of life, is...

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Śyāmasundara: Yes. He says that then they indulge in pleasure and mental speculation as a diversionary tactic. To try to cover up this despair, they become more indulged in sense pleasure and more speculating.

Prabhupāda: Just like people in the material world, when a businessman failure, he takes to drinking. Sometimes great shock, in order to forget, one takes to drinking. Yes. Intoxication.

Śyāmasundara: So he says that this is the stepping-stone, or the first stage toward self-realization, that from this despair that one can find his authentic selfhood.

Page Title:Sense pleasure (Lectures)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:25 of Nov, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=39, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:39