Shining (Conversations)

Expressions researched:
"sheen" |"shine" |"shined" |"shines" |"shining" |"shone"

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Guest (1): No, it cannot be.

Prabhupāda: Similarly, He says, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: "I am the shining of the sun and the moon." In this way, if you study what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you'll find that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the only solution for that highest perfectional stage of happiness.

Guest (1): We are giving names; therefore we become confused because in our God incarnation...

Prabhupāda: No, no. If there is name why you be confused? If your name is Mr. such and such but you do not know the name, that is the confusion.

Guest (1): Because so many names have been given to these same things...

Prabhupāda: But that is in the śāstra it is said, "There are so many names of God. Out of all of them, Kṛṣṇa is the principal." God's name is given... Just like Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of Vasudeva; therefore He is called Vāsudeva. Kṛṣṇa played in Vṛndāvana as the son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā; therefore He is called Yaśodā-nandana. Kṛṣṇa acted as the driver, chariot driver Arjuna. Therefore He is known as Pārtha-sārathī. So His name... All these names are according to His different activities. So He has got unlimited activities, and therefore He has got unlimited names. So out of all these names, Kṛṣṇa is the supreme or the prime because Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive. Kṛṣṇa means all-attractive.

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: No, no. First of all try, try... Authority means...

Guest (1): For the time.

Prabhupāda: All the time. That is authority.

Guest (1): No, but later, later many lights shining...

Prabhupāda: (knock on door) Yes, open it. Anyway, to make cut short, to make cut short, so far we are concerned, we have declared, "International Society for Krishna Consciousness." Our process of propaganda is that Kṛṣṇa is the highest authority. That is our... You may take it that we are limited; that is your business. But we have taken this. Now, if you don't accept Kṛṣṇa as the higher authority, then there is no question of inquiring from us.

Room Conversation -- August 17, 1971, London:

Revatīnandana: Well, doesn't... That's all right then. Now the...

Prabhupāda: But that one jīva soul was prominent. He was visible. Others were in dormant condition. This proves that every individual soul is separate from the other; still, they can remain together. Just like the sunshine, they create... a small shining particles, combined together, molecules. So everything is combined spirit particles.

Haṁsadūta: Everything that we see around us, everything.

Prabhupāda: Everything. Sarvam idam khalv idaṁ brahma. Everything is Brahman. But when they are covered, that is called material exis...

Śyāmasundara: Each jīva is...

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Maharishi Impersonalists -- April 7, 1972, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Anyway, whatever you do, you do all together. That is merging. But you are all individual. Your personality is different from his. His personality different from him. He is from you. But because you have got one interest, therefore you one. Just like we. We are so many individuals. But our interest is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we are one. Try to understand what is merging into one. You are all individual. Nobody can be... It is not something material. We are all spirit soul, so we are all individual. But if our interest becomes one, then we merge into one. This is oneness. Try to understand this oneness. Oneness does not mean void, no. Oneness means when our interest becomes one; that is oneness. Real oneness means to be interested in Kṛṣṇa. That is oneness. Other oneness will not stand. Just like you are now in one. As soon as your interest little becomes different, you become separated. So that is... There is quite possibility. Because you are all individual, there is quite possibility of disagreeing with another individual person. There is quite possibility. So oneness does not mean that you lose your individuality. Oneness means you keep your individuality, but you take the same interest. Then it is oneness. It is not possible that you lose your individuality. That is not possible. You are individual eternally. Do you understand this? You have got anything to say about this oneness? Do you differ? Just like the sunlight. The sunlight, physically, they are very small, shining, molecular, what is called?

Room Conversation with Maharishi Impersonalists -- April 7, 1972, Melbourne:

Śyāmasundara: Particles?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Very small, atom-like. They are combined together. It looks that it is one, sunshine. But they are mixture of molecular parts, very small. They are all shining. This is scientific. But it looks one. Even water, that also, small molecular parts. Everything. This matter—a small molecular atom. So everything is combination of several molecular, atomic parts. That's all. You are also atomic spirit. So all the atomic spirit, when they are together, that is called brahmajyo... (loud noise) This... This cannot be stopped? This nonsense bombing?

Śyāmasundara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That is very much disturbing.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 27, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So it is called molecules, molecule of water.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: There are innumerable molecules in water.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everywhere. In the sunshine also, there is molecules, shining particles.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They're called photons.

Prabhupāda: Protons?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Photons. P, H, O, T, O, N.

Prabhupāda: Oh, photons. Similarly we are also photons of Kṛṣṇa. That is our original position.

Brahmānanda: Like spot.

Morning Walk -- April 27, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, glass is nothing but silicate.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Finer sort. Normally silicate is shining, but this is not shining because it contains various mixtures. Not only soda, but other magnesium, calcium silicates.

Prabhupāda: Silicate of soda is mixed with soap also.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Adulteration. That's not first-class soap. Washing soap, they are mixed with silicate of soda. (pause) What is this cottage?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That small cottage?

Morning Walk -- May 1, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: When I drove, so the stars were very shining in the sky very clear. (break)

Prabhupāda: Man-made rubbish. Although they have got machine. (break) What other things they can produce there?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: From sand?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: There is a compound that is called silicon carbide. That is, I think, it is very hard, as hard as diamond They make silicon carbide. I'm not sure but silicon carbide or tungsten carbide. They are used for cutting diamond. They are harder than diamond. Very strong, very hard. They combine this with carbon. It requires tremendous amounts of force to do this, high temperature, high pressure. (pause)

Prabhupāda: Anything eatables?

Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

Śyāmasundara: I'm hoping George will come tomorrow. He has indicated he would come Tuesday.

Prabhupāda: There is basin. You can wash your hands. Wash the dishes.

Śyāmasundara: Even at night the sun is shining still. Or rather, the day is night.

Prabhupāda: Here. There is basin. You can wash.

David Wynne: Yes.

Prabhupāda: I think I am eating more here. (laughter) Is it not?

Trivikrama:. Yes.

Prabhupāda: I could not eat, in India.

Trivikrama: Apparently, it's not causing any trouble either.

Room Conversation with David Wynne, Sculptor -- July 9, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Yes. To glorify God means the glorify the nature also. Just like here is a poem in Brahma-saṁ...

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-

koṭisv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam

tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.40)

Now, the whole creation is there. Yasya prabhā prabhavataḥ (Bs. 5.40). On account of the bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, which is called brahma-jyotir... Just like on account of the sunshine, the whole universe is existing. So similarly, there is a shine, bodily shining, what is called brahma-jyotir. So when the brahma-jyotir is there, then innumerable universes are created. Yasya prabhā prabhavataḥ (Bs. 5.40). When the effulgence, brahma-jyotir, is there, innumerable universes are created. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa means universe. Koṭi, innumerable. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭisv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam (Bs. 5.40). And in each universe is created with innumerable number of planets. And each planet has got different atmosphere. Now the whole universe is described. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. Yasya prabhā.

Morning Walk -- December 8, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, because time difference. But they are seeing, "Oh, sun is so full-fledged, so shining." You are not seeing. That is your inefficiency.

Karandhara: But they are able to experience that by their traveling.

Prabhupāda: Yes, so if you travel, you will also experience. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Then you'll also experience. We don't say that you are unable to, but if you adopt the process you'll also know.

Prajāpati: There's a large group today, Śrīla Prabhupāda, called humanists and they have decided that this concept of God is not very useful. We can solve all the problems ourselves.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. These are rascals. You see, humanists, they are professing humanists and they are killing so many human beings daily. You see? These are all escapism. What is called? Escaping? They could not find any, I mean to say, solace and now humanity... What they can do? There are so many people suffering in the human society. What they can do? Suppose they are opening hospitals. Is that guarantee for a cure of disease or no death? Then what is the humanity. You cannot do anything. You may advertise yourself, " I have opened so many hospitals and beds." But what you can do? Is that guarantee that there that there will be no disease and everyone will be cured, nobody will die. Then what is the humanitarianism. You cannot do anything.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 18, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: That is another. First of all, you answer whether it is fire or something else. (break)

Satsvarūpa: ...dew.

Prabhupāda: Where is the moisture? It is clear shine. Where is the moisture? (break) (laughter) It is not fire. It is a brilliant body. It is not fire. (break)

Satsvarūpa: ...body of Vivasvān?

Prabhupāda: Whole planet, I mean the population, they're so bright.

Satsvarūpa: Sometimes in your lectures you explain the living entities can live there because they have bodies of fire.

Prabhupāda: Fiery. Not fire.

Morning Walk -- April 3, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: But just like Kṛṣṇa says, "They are just like moon." Just see. Nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśi. So śaśi means the moon. Moon is like one of the stars. So if you say the stars are sūrya, then there is contradiction. How the moon and the sun can be equal? But actually, that is not. According to our Vedic astronomy, there is one sun only in one universe, although there are millions of universes, we cannot count. So there are millions of suns. That is another thing. But within the universe there is only one sun, and by the brilliance of sunshine, all these stars and moons are glittering. Just like moon shining, being reflected by the sun, similarly, all the stars they are glittering, being reflected by the sun, not that all of them are different suns. This theory is refuted.

Morning Walk -- April 11, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Fire is the origin. That is form. That is not formless. Heat may be formless. Light may be formless, but fire is not formless. Thik hai? If you have got intelligence, then from the form-less, you can approach the form. Just like the sunshine, shining is formless. If you have got form, go to the sun planet. And if you go to the sun planet, you will see the sun-god. But they cannot go. They cannot appreciate that there is a person who is known as sun-god. But it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham... The name is also given, what is the name of that person. (break)

Indian Man (1): ...recently what we read from the papers. There is so many... So far, nobody tells us that there is a moon-god over there. Although they have gone to particular one place only or two, three places only, not the whole moon, but still, nobody comes from. They say nobody is there and...

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

Prabhupāda: You become purified. Purified.

Yogeśvara: You give the example all the time of the more you polish the mirror, the more the light can shine. (French)

Madame Devi: (French)

Pṛthu Putra: She says, "Therefore we have to repeat a lot of times the name of God every day."

Prabhupāda: Hm. Yes.

Madame Devi: (French)

Pṛthu Putra: She is very happy to meet you and she thanks you.

Morning Walk -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Three hours.

Haṁsadūta: Yeah, in the winter, it is very, very, long winter.

Devotee (2): The same thing in the summer. Some days the sun is shining all day and night.

Prabhupāda: In Sweden?

Devotee (2): Yes. Midsummer night.

Prabhupāda: There is no night, only day?

Mādhavānanda: Right.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 22, 1975, Melbourne:

Śrutakīrti: In New Vrindaban sometimes they tie it to the ceiling. But not cutting. (break)

Madhudviṣa: ...comprised of spirit souls, unlimited amounts of shining spirit souls?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Combination.

Madhudviṣa: Combination. Of something else besides...?

Prabhupāda: Impersonalists, they do not accept personal feature. Means they fall down again.

Madhudviṣa: That means there must be a lot of impersonalists.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Morning Walk -- May 27, 1975, Honolulu:

Guru kṛpā: The all-American family. If the moon is illuminating the earth at night, then how come you have brought back dull pieces of rock. They should have also been shining.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is a common sense.

Devotee (2): Did they actually land on the moon, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: No, they cannot go there. What is the question of landing? They cannot go there. It is far, far away. What you calculated? 1,600,000 miles away, up the sun planet. 1,600,000 miles above the sun. According to your calculation, the sun is away from this planet by 93,000,000 miles. And above that, 1,600,000 miles. Then you go to the moon. How it is possible?

Guru kṛpā: How is the moon behind the sun?

Prabhupāda: Not behind, above.

Morning Walk -- May 29, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: Light is light so long the sun is not there. Similarly, all these scientists are scientists so long God is not there. And as soon as God is there... Just like our men. They do not care for all this shining, shining light of scientists. The glowworm, they are light so long it is darkness. When it is sunshine, there is no use of these glowworms. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavanti. This is the Vedic instruction. If you understand God, then you understand everything. Then you will not be allured by the so-called rascal scientist. Accident and this, that, bone. We are not interested. This side is better than the other side. When I was coming to America by ship, at night I was seeing, about hundred miles away there is one ship, a little light. There is a difference, so many miles. Vast ocean. Somebody live there always? No. Somebody is there.

Morning Walk -- June 21, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...worm and the sun. When the sun is arisen, the glowworms, automatically finished. (break) ...motto, "Kṛṣṇa is sun." You know it? Kṛṣṇa sūrya-sama. So when Kṛṣṇa sun is there, all these glowworms' lightening will be finished. (break) ...this sun always shining. Then these glowworms will be finished. (break) ...that Sikh, Bhajan? What is that?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yogi Bhajan.

Prabhupāda: Ah ha. He came to invite me.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Really? In Hawaii?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Jayatīrtha: He came to our temple a few nights ago also, for āratik.

Morning Walk -- June 25, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Now big, big scholars, they have taken the trouble to write on Bhagavad-gītā. But nobody has taken the trouble to write on other scriptures like Bible or Koran. Nobody has taken. No scholar, no philosopher have tried to comment or study because they know it is not very important. Here is important. This is the proof, wisest. And that is only ABCD of God's knowledge. So people should take advantage. It is accepted indirectly. There are so many editions of Bhagavad-gītā, in your country, English. Why they take trouble to read Bhagavad-gītā so carefully? Big, big scholars, philosophers, why? (break) It is the impersonal, cloth. So Śaṅkarācārya has tried to impress this fact, but the rascals followed in a different way. Just like a cloth, big cloth, that is impersonal. Now, you cut it into coat. It becomes like person. So similarly this whole material world is impersonal, but because we have taken a certain portion of it and make my body, it looks like person. And God is not like that. He is spiritual person. He has nothing to do with material. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). What Śaṅkarācārya impressed, that they are after demigods, so "The demigods, they are not actual person. Real person is Nārāyaṇa." That is Śaṅkarācārya's version. Nārāyaṇa... You will find in his comment on the Bhagavad-gītā. First word he writes, nārāyaṇaḥ paro 'vyaktād: "Nārāyaṇa has nothing to do with this material world." And he accepts in his comment, sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ: "That Nārāyaṇa has appeared as Kṛṣṇa." And he has given specific name of His father as "the son of Devakī and Vasudeva" so that nobody can misidentify. If you have got Śaṅkara's bhāṣya, commentary on Bhagavad-gītā, you bring it I shall show you. (break) Kṛṣṇa also confirms. That verse, which we were reading last evening... Kṛṣṇa says, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā: (BG 9.4) "This jagat, this material world, is impersonal. And that is My energy. Therefore the whole world is resting upon Me, but I am not there. As person, I am not there." This is the statement of Bhagavad-gītā. Just like the sunshine is spreading all over the universe, but the sun is aloof. Take this example. Not that because the sunshine is here, we are now getting, the sun has come here. The sun is shining from the distant place. He is aloof. Similarly, God is person and His shining is all this creation. That is impersonal.

Morning Walk -- July 2, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: How is that? You can see the universe; that does not mean that you can become universe. You can see the sky; that does not mean you become as big as sky. (break) ...small, minute shining sparks, minute combination. So they are also shining, but that does not mean they can become as good, as big, as the sun. (break) ...the defect of the Māyāvāda philosophy. They think of themselves too much. Therefore they remain here, always in māyā. (break) ...abuddhayaḥ, means the intelligence is not purified. They are called aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ or viśuddha (SB 10.2.32), "without purification of knowledge." (break) ...kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmād-aṅghrayaḥ. They fall down. (break) ...this symbol?

Harikeśa: Some fountain.

Morning Walk -- October 9, 1975, Durban:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Well, they give the excuse that all the other stars are so far away that the light doesn't shine bright enough.

Prabhupāda: There are no other, nearer planets?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. There are other planets like Venus and Mars, but they say these planets are much closer than the sun.

Prabhupāda: That means... So why they do not look so bright?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Their philosophy is that the earth, Venus and Mars, these different planets, they don't give off any light.

Prabhupāda: Then why do they say that all the planets look like moon? They say like that.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They think the moon is just reflecting light from the sun.

Morning Walk -- November 17, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Our śāstra says it is attack by Rahu. Rahu...

Dr. Patel: Rahu means...The other side of the earth's shadow is Rahu, as we say. The modern scientists, the Rahu means other side of the shadow. When the sun shines on the earth, the other side of the earth is, I mean, the night and the shadow of the earth is long, drawn up in the cosmos. And in the view of that shadow, if moon comes, then it is caught by the shadow.

Prabhupāda: No, in the... Rahu, Rahu... Rahu comes in front...

Dr. Patel: That is... The shadow is the Rahu. What else could be? That shadow of earth in the cosmos is the Rahu, most probably to me, because when the moon... Generally moon does not come so very often therein in the purview of that shadow. When it comes, it gets eclipsed.

Prabhupāda: No, no. They give that the earth comes in front of the sun or the moon, therefore the shadow.

Morning Walk -- December 25, 1975, Sandau:

Prabhupāda: He is keeping Jagannātha within his beadbag and chanting.

Haṁsadūta: Just before I came to India, Mukunda met him for about two hours. He said he was very friendly, and he would arrange a ninety-nine-year lease for us, give us the right to the Bhaktivedanta Manor.

Prabhupāda: No, he's our well-wisher, good boy. What is the time now?

Devotee (1): A quarter to eight.

Devotee (2): Sun shines very late, the sun rises.

Prabhupāda: Because it is in the west. The sun rises from the east, so from Calcutta to here there must be one hour difference. (end)

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 19, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Just like the sunshine is there. Here is Kṛṣṇa. So we have no difficulty. Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. Here is puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca.

Acyutānanda: There was now a statement from the scientists, "Scientists are no longer positive why the sun shines." Like... They were positive, and they said, "We are positive." Now they are no longer positive why the sun shines.

Prabhupāda: What is that, "positive"?

Acyutānanda: They don't know... Before they were sure. Now they're not sure why the sun shines. They had concocted an idea, and they declared it as a law, a scientific law. Now they have..., again doubting their own law.

Guru-kṛpā: Actually the flavor that's in the flower comes from the different secretion, and by different mixture, different flavors come out.

Morning Walk -- March 1, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: So everything is fact. But the real knowledge is to find out the source of the fact. That is real knowledge. Just like if we ask any gentleman—at least in India—for your identification, your father's name is required, your name of the village is required. If you go to the court, then such and such; father's name, such and such; village, this; religion, this; like this.... So father.... Why father's name? "What is the source of your existence? Wherefrom you are coming?" "I am coming from this family." So that is knowledge. Atom.... Atomic theory is there in Vedic conception, paramāṇuvāda. Kaṇada, the great sage, Kaṇada, he gave this theory, Kaṇada. Paramāṇuvāda. Paramāṇuvād. Paramāṇuvāda is accepted in Vedic philosophy also. But we know what is this paramāṇu also. Just like the sunshine. What is the sunshine? A combination of shining atoms. But we can see it is coming from the sun, incessantly coming. We can see. We can, immediately say, "This is.... The source is the sun." Similarly, the paramanu, the atoms, they are incessantly coming out. But wherefrom it is coming?

Morning Walk -- March 13, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Hm. That is my philosophy. Read it. Read it somebody.

Satsvarūpa: "Ever since 1893, when Swami Vivekananda proclaimed monism and tolerance to the World's Parliament of Religions at Chicago, nonspecialists in America have pictured Hinduism as an easy-going phantasmagoria of smiling faces disappearing like dewdrops into the shining sea. The Nectar of Devotion should bring them up sharp. (laughter) His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, whose shorn, orange-clad disciples have brought the inseparable twins of bhajana and bakshish to the streets of America, has no doubt that such impersonalism is nothing less than rascaldom."

Devotees: Jaya!

Morning Walk -- March 21, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: What is that shadow?

Devotee (1): Night. Like nighttime on the earth.

Haṁsadūta: Shadow. Like a ball. If I have a ball and shine a light on it, then...

Prabhupāda: No. No, no. Shadow.

Haṁsadūta: ...this side will be in shadow.

Prabhupāda: Shadow.... "Shadow" means earthly shadow? No.

Haṁsadūta: No no, no. Its own shadow. If this is a ball, and the light is coming from here, see, this portion will be in darkness or shadow. And the other portion will reflect light.

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa says, "Give Me food from the vegetables." So we offer Him very nice, palatable dishes and eat. This is our principle. So even while eating, we remember God: "Kṛṣṇa has so nicely eaten this. Let me take the remnants." So while eating, we are remembering God. So if God said that "You remember Me always," we can do it. He has explained how to remember Him. He said, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya: (BG 7.8) "I am the taste of the water." So when you drink.... Who is not drinking water? At least three times, four times we drink water, everyone. So when you drink, and the water quenches your thirst, and you feel some taste nice, Kṛṣṇa says, God says, "I am that taste." So where is my difficulty to remember God? If you simply remember this formula, that "The taste of the water is Kṛṣṇa," immediately you remember Kṛṣṇa. Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. "I am the shining of the sun, shining of the moon." So who does not see the shining of the sun and the moon? At night you see the shining of moon, and day you see.... So where is the chance of forgetting God? There is no chance at all.

Garden Conversation -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: "That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world." Purport? "The spiritual world, the abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, which is known as Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka Vṛndāvana, is described here. In the spiritual sky there is no need of sunshine, moonshine, fire or electricity, because all the planets are self-luminous. We have only one planet in this universe, the sun, which is self-luminous, but all the planets in the spiritual sky are self-luminous. The shining effulgence of all those planets, called Vaikuṇṭhas, constitutes the shining sky known as the brahma-jyotir. Actually, the effulgence is emanating from the planet of Kṛṣṇa, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Part of that shining effulgence is covered by the mahat-tattva, the material world. Other than this, the major portion of that shining sky is full of spiritual planets, which are called Vaikuṇṭhas, the chief of which is Goloka Vṛndāvana.

Garden Conversation -- June 23, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: ...production of is external. Bahir-aṅga-śakti. But the śakti, the energy, is coming from the Supreme. Just like here we find this place is shadow and that place is sunshine. Both these places are due to the sun. When there is no sun there is no such distinction that "This is shining, sunny, and this is shadow." So this distinction is there so long we do not know the real source. But if we know the real source, we can understand that this distinction is temporary. Actually the energy is coming from the Supreme. So shadow has come from Supreme, and light has also come from the Supreme. So there is no distinction, ultimately. Just like earring, golden, manufactured from gold, and gold which is not manufactured. So this distinction-manufactured or not manufactured, secondary. But really the earring is also gold, and the lump of gold is also gold. So why should we say that earring is false? It is also gold.

Marble Shop Visit -- June 26, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Oh. This is marble?

Kīrtanānanda: Yes, this is all marble, but it is glued together in little pieces. Like inlaid. And this is the polishing room. (break) Take the rough marble and make it shine.

Prabhupāda: You have spent so much money. What is the price of this machine?

Kīrtanānanda: Well, there was a man, he was going out of business in Pittsburg, and I got a great deal of marble and all the machinery and everything for nine thousand dollars. It is very cheap.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Do you know how to work? No. (devotees laugh)

Kīrtanānanda: That is a heater, it's burning wood. (break to walking outside, kīrtana going on.) ...growing mung beans in this little field over there.

Prabhupāda: (kīrtana ended, conversation in car now) Jaya. ...horse? What do they do, plowing?

Arrival Comments in Car to Temple -- July 9, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: Very nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: New York climate is very nice. Sometimes now it rains a little bit, then shining. So just like Bengal.

Rāmeśvara: I observed that these devotees at New York, they've practically given up sleeping this past week to prepare everything for your arrival.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) They are so kind to me.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, they worked very hard.

Rāmeśvara: It reminded me that time when the Press devotees stayed up all the time to get those Caitanya-caritāmṛta volumes. The same spirit. They just stopped eating and sleeping.

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

Prabhupāda: Yes, consciousness... Consciousness will be... Because... Just like sunshine and the sun. Similarly, the soul means consciousness. It is just like sunshine. The soul is very small particle, but it is shining as consciousness.

Interviewer: So we can allow it to fulfill itself or not.

Bali-mardana: He wants to know, is this consciousness within us.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So long the soul is there, the consciousness is there.

Bali-mardana: Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Not Kṛṣṇa cons..., immediately Kṛṣṇa conscious. Consciousness is there. Just like so long the soul is there, you pinch any part of your body—you'll feel pain. That is consciousness. And when the soul is gone out of the body, If you cut the hand, there will be no consciousness.

Rāmeśvara: Did you mean to ask whether the ultimate state of consciousness is within us that has to be brought out?

Interviewer: Yes.

Evening Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Pradyumna: It's coming to pūrṇimā.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Moon is the cooling effect. Desert will make a cooling effect. (laughter) Just see. At least I shall not believe that this is desert and rock. I'm not so fool. The desert and rock is giving so nice brilliant shining, everyone is feeling comfortable. Just see. We have to believe it.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Because Kṛṣṇa is missing. They don't accept Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: No, they should have at least common sense. But they have no common sense. Kṛṣṇa is far away from here, for these rascals, but at least they should have common sense. And that also they have not. Even they have not common sense.

Pradyumna: Children are always asking, it is a folk thing that children ask what is the moon made of? Mother, father, what is the moon made of.

Evening Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: They ask?

Pradyumna: Generally, when they are young, what is the moon, what is the moon made of. So they used to answer, "It's made of green cheese." (laughter)

Prabhupāda: You believe that it is desert and rock and giving so nice shining, cooling effect? In Vedic literature, there is always comparison, analogy, with moon, moon-faced, candra-mukhi. There are so many. The best thing is compared with the moon. We have named Māyāpur-candra. Māyāpur-candrodaya Mandira. Do you mean that a desert is coming out from Māyāpur? You have got rock candy?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Give me little.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Guest (5): People will come to you when they know you are there. There is no need to go. (laughter)

Guest (6): You can still have a small place in Mela itself.

Guest (5): That publicity will go like this. Don't worry about it. When the sun shines nobody says that the sun has risen. It has risen.

Guru dāsa: Vedāntists say, but no one else...

Prabhupāda: No, no, that's all right. So you take advantage of it. (everyone talking at once) Now is offering, you should... So immediately arrange for this. So (Hindi)

Guest (5): I'll telephone today and we'll make the arrangement at least for five to six, seven tents.

Prabhupāda: Thank you very much. Then it will be very nice. We are willing to go there. And we must go there. It is Kumbha-mela. So if you give us five to six camps it will be very nice.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Darsana and Room Conversation Ramkrishna Bajaj and friends -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Guest (4): Purātanaḥ and Śāśvata,

Prabhupāda: Purātanaḥ means śāśvata. Yes. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purātanaḥ. So the sun is purātanaḥ. The sun is purātanaḥ, but the shining is the same. And similarly if we present the purātanaḥ yoga, then it is effective. Then it is effective.

Guest (3): Swamiji, I wanted to know the importance of Kumbha Mela.

Prabhupāda: This is the assembly of great saintly persons. That's all.

Guest (3): No, if we people go there at Kumbha Mela time, is it good?

Prabhupāda: Is it not good if so many saintly persons will come? The atmosphere is so nice.

Room Conversation with Sannyasis -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Satsvarūpa: Yes. That was the first one.

Hari-śauri: He was writing how you were following strictly in the paramparā.

Rāmeśvara: Some of these scholars write "The message radiates and shines brightly from every page." They're writing like that.

Satsvarūpa: And after describing the whole tradition, he said that the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is the Western branch. So that's a good testimony for our movement, not just the...

Hari-śauri: Not something concocted.

Rāmeśvara: Yes. That's very good.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Rāmeśvara: That's very important. He has given us historical...

Prabhupāda: Place.

Room Conversation about BTG the Moon -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Story means it is story for you. Do you know the details of the whole universe, where, what is what? Can you do? You go and say there is no moonshine, but this rascal conclusion will be taken. Why there should be shine? From the sand such brilliant moonshine is coming? We have to believe that? So many books have said (indistinct) brilliant. Sun is brilliant. This... So you rascal, you can believe in that, but we'll not believe. You can say. What do you know about moon? It is all rascaldom. It may be good for rascals like you, not for intelligent man like me.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That statement is always published immediately in newspapers. They love to publish that statement, that we say they've not gone to the moon. Immediately...

Prabhupāda: Question is how it is.

Evening Darsana -- February 26, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: There is heat and light. And as soon as after evening the sun is off, not from the sky but from our sight, there is darkness. So chi... This consciousness is the rays or shining of the soul. As soon as the soul is off from this body, the shining of the soul or consciousness is completely gone. Have you understood or not?

Indian (3): (Bengali?) (break)

Prabhupāda: (Bengali) (break) People have been trained up not to become sober. Sober. Childish. And Vedic civilization is to teach the youngsters from the very beginning how to become sober-under restriction, under regulation, just to make him very sober. Brahmacārī (sic:) guru-gṛhe vasan dāntaḥ. Dānta means sober. And where is our paṇḍita.

Lokanātha: Next room.

Morning Talk -- April 5, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: And if Upendra can do like Bhavānanda, then it is very nice. Let him he trained up. He can do. (discussing cleaning of floor) Now it is black.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It is starting to shine.

Prabhupāda: The more we do...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It is like shining one's heart.

Prabhupāda: This is, this is marble.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. Bhavānanda Mahārāja and I were just discussing this morning... We were looking at the shining, and we were discussing the difference between this marble and kota stone. Kota stone is very much inferior.

Evening Darsana -- May 13, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: No. Teṣām evānukampārtham.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:

teṣām evānukampārtham

aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ

nāśayāmy ātma-bhāva-stho

jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā

(BG 10.11)

"Out of compassion for them, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance."

Prabhupāda: Is there any purport?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: "When..." (break)

Prabhupāda: So let us stop today. Somebody kīrtana. (kīrtana begins) (end)

Evening Darsana -- May 14, 1977, Hrishikesh:

Prabhupāda: You recite that verse, nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti (SB 5.5.4). The instruction of King Ṛṣabhadeva to His sons. He said that "This body, human body..." Ayaṁ dehaḥ. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke. Deha. Everyone has got deha, body. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: (BG 2.13) "After this body is finished, another body...," because ātmā, na jāyate na mriyate vā, nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Ātmā is eternal. There is no birth, no death. Nitya, eternal; śāśvataḥ purāṇaḥ, the oldest; and na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Therefore this is the problem. The ātmā has no birth, no death, and neither he is dead after the annihilation of this body. But we are put into this condition. We are not put, but we have put ourself. We are putting ourself in this condition of repetition of birth and death. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Once we take birth, and again we annihilate this body. So Ṛṣabhadeva says, "This ignorance of self-realization must be removed." Therefore He says, ayaṁ dehaḥ: "This body should not be misused like animals," āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna. This is the advice. Ayaṁ dehaḥ nṛloke. He especially mentions, nṛloke: "in the human form of body." The dog, cat, or doglike man, catlike man, they may remain in ignorance. They have no chance. There are uncivilized men. Although they have got two hands, two legs, but because there is no knowledge, they have been described as dvi-pada-paśu. They are animal with two legs. Other animals, they have got four legs, and this rascal has got two legs. That is the difference. So ayaṁ dehaḥ, this body, na ayaṁ dehaḥ nṛloke... Nāyaṁ dehaḥ nṛlo..., deha-bhājām. Deha-bhājām. This is also very significant. There are innumerable living entities. Jīva-bhāgaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ sa anantyāya kalpate (CC Madhya 19.140). These jīvas, living entities, part and parcel of God, anantyāya kalpate. Just like the sunshine. What is the sunshine? The sunshine, this is very atomic parts of the sun brightness. They are individual, but they are combined. We see one shining.

Room Conversation -- July 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda said he doesn't just chew pān. He drinks. He's a heavy drinker.

Mr. Myer: But these are all nothing. It is all temporary. When the sun shines, then all these little glows, they just automatically go off.

Prabhupāda: You are leaving when?

Mr. Myer: Today evening. Tomorrow morning I'll return to Madras, leave the day after, morning, then come back next week.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: When will you be coming back?

Mr. Myer: Next week. Wednesday or Thursday.

Prabhupāda: Jaya. (break) Any intelligent person can understand this is all Communist propaganda. And the Central Government is seeking an opportunity to drive them away.

Room Conversation -- October 10, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Not now.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Not now. Okay. (break)

Prabhupāda: Is it cloudy?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No, Śrīla Prabhupāda, it's not. It's clear weather. The sun is shining. It's hard to tell, of course, through these curtains and through the windows.

Prabhupāda: Who is there?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's Upendra Prabhu. He's cleaning up your room for you. He's cleaning the floor nicely. He put fresh flowers. Somehow you have to be able to eat something, Śrīla Prabhupāda. That's the... At least in my mind it's perplexing question which I don't know the answer to. In all these events I have to face the reality that I'm simply a completely bewildered fool. I know you have to... If you're to get better, you have to be able to eat something. I don't know what to suggest, though.

Prabhupāda: You bring some milk. That's...