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Smell (Conversations and Letters)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1972, Sydney:

Devotee (2): These flowers here in the vase on your desk, they only..., the smell, the flavor, only comes out at night.

Prabhupāda: Rajiniganda. They are called Rajiniganda.

Devotee (2): Night Queen?

Prabhupāda: Very nice flower. (indistinct) In English is called (indistinct)? What do you call in English?

Devotee (2): Night Queen. In Fiji they call them Night Queen. I didn't know if this was the same thing.

Prabhupāda: Just see how Kṛṣṇa's creation, wonderful creation. And they defy, "Oh, what nonsense they are." There is no brain in creating such nice flower, flavor? "It is automatic, nature, nature." What is this nature? Rascal. Nature means rascaldom. Nature. What do you mean by nature? Just see how foolish they are.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: Another. (pause) The Japanese, they eat this seaweed.

Brahmānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is good for the fish-eaters, because it has got fishy taste, although it is vegetable. (pause) Those who are fish-eaters, even by smelling fish, fishy, they'll increase their appetite. Is it not?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 20, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That, that... You have got appreciation for this trance.

Dr. Patel: They have got a trance. They get a trance...

Prabhupāda: You are, you are smelling.

Dr. Patel: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You never condemn it.

Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma... (break) ...to take evening walk. This part, on the field, agricultural field. (break) ...if you have any land to purchase immediately, then I can ask Mahadevia, He can pay for that. (break) ...Americans without machine, they cannot sleep. They must smell, "Here is a machine." Then they can sleep. There was a fisherman. So at, in the evening... That is still in India. In the evening you can ask shelter from any householder's house. They'll give you shelter. So he came in the evening, "Sir, I want to pass night in your home." "All right, you are welcome." So the fisher basket, fishing basket. "You keep this here, outside, and you sleep inside." So whole day, he was restless. Then whole night, he could not sleep. Then the master said, "You are not sleeping?" "No, sir." "Why?" "Now, because my baskets are kept outside." "What is in the basket?" "No, unless I smell, I cannot sleep." (laughter) So these Americans, unless they smell about machine, they cannot sleep. "Habit is the second nature." For ordinary muscle work, they'll bring so many machines. I have seen. Karandhara was doing. At least that machine must come. (Makes sound like machine:) kat kat kat kat kat kat kat kat. Making hole. That machine is compulsory.

Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: And in Burma, my Guru Mahārāja opened a branch. So when they were frying puri, the, nice ghee, all the tenants, "Oh! What you are...!?" (laughter) They cannot tolerate. But in Burma, there is a preparation which is called nafi. The nafi means that a, a big jar will be kept on the door, and whatever animals, insect, cockroaches will die, they'll put in that. And during rainy season, it will be filled with water. And it will be kept for years. Then... And the bad smell was so terrible that if somebody would open the lid, it will immediately create very bad smell. So after some years, they will strain the water and keep in bottle. And when there is festival, they'll supply it in small... That is called nafi.

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane (SB 9.4.18). This is... Different parts of our senses should be utilized. The first business is to fix up the mind at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Then engage the tongue in describing the activities of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has acted in so many ways so that we can remember the history of the activities of Kṛṣṇa and discuss it. Vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane. Then the legs should be used for going to the temple. Hands should be used for cleansing the temple. Nose should be used for smelling the flowers offered to Kṛṣṇa. Ears should be used for hearing about Kṛṣṇa. In this way if we engage our senses in different activities relating to Kṛṣṇa, that is success of life. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane. (Hindi) So now you can talk. (laughter) Hare Kṛṣṇa. (Hindi) (break) Practical purposes. This land and that water is matter, but we are walking on the land. Can you walk on the water?

Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes, so now the study, first study, begins from material point of view: Wherefrom the sky came? How the sky came into existence? First of all sky. Then, from sky, there is sound. Then, from sound there is air. From air, there is... Along with these creations... the sky creation means the air creation also, the reception of the sound. So in this way it is all described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam very nicely, how creation took place. Then, ultimately, we come to the land, where all the qualities of other elements are there. There is sound. There is touch. There is vision. There is smell. Everything is there. So... And the subtle matters. Mind, citta, intelligence, then buddh... intelligence. Then false ego. This is... At the present moment, everyone is thinking in the bodily concept of life: "I am American." "I am Indian." "I am brāhmaṇa." "I am kṣatriya." This is false ego. He's not, neither of them. Because he's spirit soul, a different identity. So these, how the subtle mind, intelligence, are working, one should know. How transmigration of the soul takes place? By the action of mind, intelligence and ego. They do not know. There is no such science. There are so many universities all over the world. But who is studying all these things? The psychologists, they have studied a little more about thinking, feeling and willing. That's all. But they do not know how he is working, how he is carrying the subtle soul to other body. That they do not know.

Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Mr. Sar: Tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau.

Prabhupāda: There are two kinds of smell, bad smell and good smell. So when you smell a nice flower, puṇya-gandhaḥ, you remember Kṛṣṇa. "Here is Kṛṣṇa. Here is Kṛṣṇa." Puṇyo-gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca.

Mr. Sar: Tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau.

Prabhupāda: When we, when you find vibhūtimat sattvaṁ, a very powerful man, a powerful elephant, you should, you know that "There is Kṛṣṇa. This power is Kṛṣṇa."

Morning Walk -- June 19, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: (laughing) How they have made easy life, that see. They are... There is a story that a boy went for examination. So when he came back, his father asked, "My dear boy, how you have written your question paper?" "Yes, very nice." "How?" "No, those questions which were very difficult, I could not answer. And the easier questions, what is to write? I know everything. (laughter) Easier questions, there is no need of writing. I know everything." Both ways he has not written anything. So these rascals, both ways they will not follow anything. And still, they will credit... Not only Christians, everywhere these people want to banish God. Simply we are canvassing "God, God, God." Otherwise nobody cares. Say about 1945, so in front of my house there was an old man. So as neighbor, we had very good talks always. So as soon as I say, "Bhagavān," he will be angry. "God." So one day he said, "Why you always say Bhagavān, God?" Just see, an old man and still he is such a rascal. He did not like. That is called demonism. Even the father of Prahlāda Mahārāja, that five years old boy, he was doing nothing harm, simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa—he became angry: "No, no." So big enemy that he wanted to kill him. This is demoniac. Some bad smell?

Room Conversation -- June 20, 1974, Germany:

Prabhupāda: Cannery? Anyway, when they boil this onion, up to ten miles the good smell is (indistinct). (laughter) And the whole atmosphere is (indistinct) Similarly, they are trying to refine oil and the refuse will be thrown in the Yamunā and the River Yamunā will be spoiled, nobody will go there. (indistinct) They think that these so-called spiritual fanaticism of India is the cause of India's material deficiencies.

Room Conversations -- September 11, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: One who is impotent, he wants to see others enjoying sex life. You know this? He enjoys. He cannot do it. There are many persons, he is impotent, so he brings another man to his wife, then he watches. You know this? This is going on. Sex. They will see the dog's sex life, very (indistinct), how he is enjoying. Cow's sex life. Dog is having sex, and there will be crowd. This is the basic principle of material life: sex. In this way, prostitution, this way, that way, that way, that way, this is the only point. There is no other aim. Yan maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). And this kind of happiness is most abominable. Most abominable. But that is the center of life. Is it not? Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham. Most abominable part of the body for passing urine, obnoxious smell, but that is the point of life. How much degraded this material life. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ. The śāstra has picked up most abominable thing: that is the point of pleasure. Yan maithunādi. Maithunādi, either he himself, or for his son, for his grandson, for his great-grandson, the family. Very aristocratic.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Canadian Ambassador to Iran -- March 13, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: Cannery? Anyway, so when they boil this onion, up to ten miles the good smell spread. (laughter) You see? And the whole atmosphere of Vṛndāvana is spoiled. Similarly, they are trying to refine oil, and the refuse will be thrown in the Yamunā. So the river Yamunā will be spoiled. Nobody will go to take bath. This is Indian government's policy. They think that this so-called spiritual fanaticism of India is the cause of India's material degradation. So this must be killed. Like the Russians.

Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: Ether is perceived by sound, air is perceived by touch. Then... Ether, air... Then fire you can see by vision. And then next, water, you can taste, and the earth you can smell. These five senses are there to appreciate these five kinds of elements. All right. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break)

Devotee: These are some of my friends here, Prabhupāda. This is Kani Faizal(?). He is a director, theater director, and artist. He wants to do a play now from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the story of Prahlāda Mahārāja.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Very good.

Morning Walk -- March 15, 1975, Tehran:

Prabhupāda: You can see by vision. Then next?

Devotee: Water.

Prabhupāda: Water, you can taste and the earth you can smell. Five senses to appreciate these five (indistinct) Alright.

Conversation with Indian Guests -- April 12, 1975, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Ramana Maharshi, yes, I am speaking of Ramana Maharshi. He never preached about Kṛṣṇa's superexcellent position, never preached. This is going on. Everyone is taking advantage of Bhagavad-gītā and he's preaching in his own way, foolish way. "Own way" means foolish way. This is going on. You cannot... Suppose you have got your philosophy, but you cannot take my book and preach your philosophy. If you have got philosophy, you write your philosophy. Why do you take advantage of my book and misinterpret? This is cheating. Because my book is very popular, you take advantage of my book and preach your own nonsense philosophy. This is going on. If you want to smoke ganja, you smoke in your own hand. Why you capture my hand and smoke? What is this? So the ganja-smelling will be in my hand, not in your hand. This is going on. Why do they take advantage of Bhagavad-gītā and preach their nonsense philosophy? That is our protest. You preach your nonsense philosophy. We have no objection. But don't touch Bhagavad-gītā. This is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. What is the... Do you think it is honesty that you want to preach something of your own philosophy and you take advantage of my book and mislead others? Is that very good, honest business? This is going on. This is going on, very dangerous position. In our country, and what to speak of other countries, all these swamis, yogis, and politicians, and scholars, they are doing like this. Very dangerous position. Why should you touch Bhagavad-gītā? You speak, you preach, your own philosophy. There are so many philosophies. But our only objection is that "Why should you preach your nonsense philosophy through Bhagavad-gītā?" Do you think it is right?

Morning Walk -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Jayadharma: Does that mean that the people that catch the fish have to also become fish?

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. And who will become fish? That they do not know, how the transmigration of the soul is going on. They cannot explain wherefrom the fish are coming, wherefrom the trees are coming. Everything in darkness. And this civilization, this dark civilization, is going on, in the name of civilization. They cannot explain what is death, what is next life. Sometimes they say, "It is nature," but how nature is working they do not know. All darkness, mūḍhā na abhijānāti, mām ebhyaḥ parama. The birds and beasts are also catching fish, and they are also catching. What is the difference? What is the difference? They have got this nice human body, and they are acting like birds and beasts. And they are kept in darkness. There is no enlightenment. This is the modern civilization. (pause) The smell. What is the smell?

Morning Walk -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Amogha: We don't think anyone can see.

Prabhupāda: No. Nobody can see. Therefore Vedas say your seeing should be through the book of knowledge. That is seeing. Not with your these rascal eyes. What is the value of these rascal eyes? We know that there is, through books, through geography, we know that the other side is India. Not by seeing with these eyes, by touching it or by smelling it. These senses are useless. But these rascals depend on the senses-sense perception. Therefore they are rascals. Imperfect sense perception they believe too much. Therefore they are rascals. They do not know the value of the senses. Mūḍhā. Paśyati jñāna-cakṣuṣā. That is seeing, jñāna cakṣuṣa, by the eyes of knowledge, not by these imperfect senses. Paśyati jñāna cakṣuṣa. Everyone is anxious for the future. Why do they keep bank balance? Thinking of the future. Why they make insurance? Why they make hospital insurance? Everyone is thinking of the future. But because he is rascal, he is thinking simply for this span of life. Tathā dehāntara prāptir. Again you have to accept another body. That they do not know. So rascal. Simply calculating for this span of life.

Morning Walk -- May 15, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Your preaching is all right, so, provided you preach something good. But when everything is good, then where is the, your preaching required? You preach something. Just like we are preaching. We are preaching. This is actually good for, that he must know what he is and what is the ultimate goal of life. This is required. Material preaching has no value. That is stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Ei bhāla ei manda, saba manodharma: " 'This is good; this is bad,' this is all mental concoction." Actually. But real good is: "He has forgotten God. Revive his consciousness." That is real good. Then he'll saved from the so-called good and bad and everything. That is wanted. Materially, everything is one man's food, another man's poison. Therefore there is no distinction—"This is good; this is bad." The stool is very bad, bad smell for you, but it is food for the pig. This is proof—"One man's food, another's poison." So this is only mental concoction, "This is good; this is bad."

Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Not necessarily. They have got that potency. There are four kinds of birth: from the egg, from the vegetable, from fermentation, and from embryo. So from any of these four kinds of sources the living entity come out. Aṇḍa-ja, udbij-ja, jaraya-ja, and sveda-ja, the Sanskrit name. Sveda-ja, simply by perspiration. Just like unclean bed they produce bugs. The man gets perspiration, bad perspiration, and in contact with air, with this perspiration, the living entity comes. That is bug. This is called sveda-ja, "out of perspiration." Your coat, shirt, if you don't cleanse, or your body is unclean, you will find so many moths within the shirt. How it is coming? From the perspiration, bad perspiration, bad smell. Not that every time the male female combination required. There are other sources also.

Morning Walk -- July 20, 1975, San Francisco:

Dharmādhyakṣa: They empty all their waste directly into the lake. All the fish are dying.

Prabhupāda: Here some fishy smell.

Morning Walk -- October 19, 1975, Johannesburg:

Devotee (5): Does that mean that the more one gets control over his senses, he becomes more lazy intelligent?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. One who is servant of his senses, what is intelligence? That is dog's intelligence. As soon as he sees one lady dog, and ten dogs come here and begin to smell vagina. Is that intelligence? So the human society is like that. They're smelling the vagina of the girls, that's all. Everyone is doing that.

Morning Walk -- November 1, 1975, Nairobi:

Prabhupāda: No, formerly, three hundred years, you had some water; therefore the water is coming out. This is all nonsense. Seven generation before my great-grandfather ate some ghee, and still I have got the smell. (laughter) It is that argument. Huh? This kind of argument has no value. Water is... You can create water from your body. What is there? You are a doctor. What is your...? Eh? Medical men they are. No? Water is created. How the blood is created? He did not drink blood. This is nonsense argument. How we create blood? It is becoming. You do not know how it is, but you have got such potency that blood is being created. You even do not know how the blood is being done, but it is being. That is inconceivable energy. There are so many secretions. They are coming within the body. So everything is there. By God's supreme energy they are being automatically. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). God has got multi-energies. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. This is the description. He hasn't got to do anything. Just like so many things are being manufactured within my body.

Morning Walk -- November 19, 1975, Bombay:

Brahmānanda: These flowers, they will wilt and die, but they can make flowers that will not die, will not wilt. (laughter) Of course, they have no smell.

Prabhupāda: Therefore they make without smell. (break) ...earth is this side and moon is this side, then which is first? Both of them are both sides.

Morning Walk -- December 19, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: That yuddhe must be also religious. Not...

Prabhupāda: Yuddha... Everything must be religious. Why yuddha? Your ordinary living must be also religious. Otherwise animal. Animal also lives. But if you don't live religiously, that is animal. Dharmena hena paśave sa. If you live like animal, then you are animal. If you live like human being, that human being means dharma. We cannot expect any dharma in the animal society. It is meant for the humans. (someone gives Prabhupāda something) Hm, thank you. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that a flower without smell and a man without education—the same thing. A flower without smell, similarly, a man without education.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- May 1, 1976, Fiji:

Prabhupāda: They do not know. And animals.... Therefore they are animals. What the dogs will understand? When there is one lady dog, one dozen dog will come. Smelling the best part of the body. (laughter) This is their philosophy. So Freud is that: best part of the body, he's writing philosophy.

Morning Walk -- May 28, 1976, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: There is no "conceive." Necessity. You require it. Just like when you're hungry you require food. Food is there. The eyes want to see; therefore the object of seeing is there. The hand wants to touch, so the object of touching is there. The nose wants to smell: the object of smell is there. So as soon as you feel necessity, the thing is there.

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

Dr. Wolfe: Prabhupāda, I told a friend, he's been a friend over the years, I tried to bring it home to him that we are not our body, and he said, "Oh, yes, and I cannot get away from the physical idea that I am this," and I said, "Your father is very sick now, and he may die at any time," he's very fond of his father, and when the father is dead and lying there on the floor and after few days he begins to smell, I asked him, "Is that still your father?" He had no answer for that.

Prabhupāda: Nobody can answer. They simply falsely argue. Therefore less intelligent. Mūḍha. If he was intelligent, then he would immediately accept the Kṛṣṇa's teachings, beginning with dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13). On account of the soul, the body is changing, kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā. The body is sometimes child, sometimes boy, sometimes young man, sometimes old man, sometimes diseased, sometimes healthy. All these terms are there on account of presence of the soul. If the soul is not there, then it is simply a lump of matter, and it is going to decompose into matter again, and then it will smell, either you have to throw it for being eaten by the vultures or you can bury it under some ceremony or you can burn it. Three.... What is called? Pariṇamanam. Transformations. Either as stool or as ash or as earth. Those who are burying, the bodies gradually becomes earth; those who are throwing, the vultures eat, the jackals, dogs eat and it turns into stool; and those who are burning, it turns into ashes. Three transformations. This beautiful body.

Morning Walk -- June 8, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Petrol smelling everywhere.

Garden Conversation -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Bus way station? Railway station? Leave luggage. Put it and lock it, then not coming back. Then when there is bad smell.... This is going on. This is simply animal civilization. Taking the last drop of milk from the cow and immediately send it to the slaughterhouse. They are doing like that. Before sending to the slaughterhouse, they draw out the last drop of milk from the cow. And immediately killing. So you require the milk, you are taking so much milk, without milk you cannot.... And the animal from whom you take milk, she's your mother. They forget this. Mother supplies milk, she supplies milk from her body, and you are killing the mother? Is that civilization? Killing mother? And milk is necessary. Therefore you are taking the last drop of it. Otherwise, what is the use of taking the last drop of milk from the cow? It is necessary. So why not let her live and supply you milk, and you can make hundreds and thousands of very nourishing palatable preparation from milk? Where is that intelligence? Milk is nothing but transformation of the blood.

Room Conversation -- June 29, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: There are so many kadarya things. In Burma, they have got a system, Burmese family. In the door, there is a pot, a big pot. So whatever animal dies, put it in there and cover it. So in this way, after some years, they're decomposed, and it becomes liquid, and then it is so decomposed that if you open it, within three miles they smell. So that is mature. Then they take out the liquid and keep it in bottles. That is called naphi. And they stock it, and when there is some feast at home they'll give little that naphi, and they'll relish it.

Room Conversation -- June 29, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: And when you fry luci, all the other tenants will come "What you are cooking?" This is practical because we opened..., my Guru Mahārāja opened a branch in Burma in an apartment. So that Gaurāṅga who was my servant in family life, he was there. He said like this, that "When I fry puri, the ghee smell is there, so many people will come from other apartments, (whispers) "Oh, what you are cooking? What you are cooking?" And the naphi, they relish it in feast. So it is a question of taste.

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

Prabhupāda: That means you have to analyze different bodies. But that is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which apartment is better than the other apartment, there is description. Just like a dog's body is so made that two furlongs away some newcomer is coming, immediately he will bark, he can immediately understand, perceive. He can smell that "Somebody is coming who is not known to me." Is it not? So he has got that special quality. Even in animals we will find. A fish in the water, two miles away there is some enemy, they can understand by touch.

Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: That is their kūpa-māṇḍūkya-nyāya, Dr. Frog. But the fact is, any condition of material existence, there is possibility of living entity there. Sarva-ga, sthāṇur, acalo'yaṁ sarva-ga. Everywhere there is living entity. It is impossible to conclude that on other planets there is no living entity. It is not possible.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Is it possible to do some experiments?

Prabhupāda: You experiment, you see a dead body. It is obnoxious smelling, but living entities coming.

Room Conversation -- August 3, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Hari-śauri: Oh, in Japan.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is happening in Japan and other places. They put, and when the obnoxious smell comes, they open it and they find. Mother has become so kind. They put in a box and lock it up.

Evening Darsana -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Ali: Is the seeing important?

Prabhupāda: No, important. No, because if you have no eyes to see spiritual, you have to see physically, and they are all physical. Either you see with your eyes or touch with your hand or smell with your nose or lick up with your tongue, everything is physical.

Ali: I can feel the presence of the thing dominating things.

Prabhupāda: Presence is there, because just like a nice mango. So you cannot appreciate this mango simply by seeing. Natural tendency when you get a good mango, you smell. So why not see? Sufficient? Why you smell? So these are all misconceptions. Different things have to be realized in different processes. Suppose you are a good singer, I see you. So I cannot appreciate simply by seeing you. I shall ask you, "All right, please sing one song." When I hear you, then I shall appreciate. Is it not? So the physical experience by different senses, gross and subtle senses.

Morning Walk -- December 25, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Smoking gāñjā with a friend's hand because there is smell, so the friend's hand will smell. (Hindi) (laughter) This is going on.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 6, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: This, falsely to become proud: "We... We have done." What I am at the present? That is to be taken, not that... Now in Bengal... "Fourteen generations before my father took ghee, and I have got a smell." (laughs) What is that? Whether you are eating ghee or not, that is talk, not that "Fourteen generations before my father and forefathers ate ghee, and I have got the smell here." (laughs)

Room Conversation -- January 26, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: Very good food. What is that? Hog intestine. Hog is eating stool, and the intestine is filled up with the stool, and they have to clear it out. When it is boiled there is a so bad smell. And that is very palatable. And by eating, as soon as he gets little strength, then sex without any discrimination. So hog. Śva-viḍ-varāha. And the uṣṭra. Uṣṭra I have already explained, camel. And then ass. Śva-viḍ-varāha-uṣṭra-khara. Khara means ass. Now, why ass is mentioned? Means he's work with the washerman, and he loads tons of cloth to take him to the ghāṭa where he'll wash, and give him a little grass. And he'll stand whole day. And again load and again come. He has no eyes to see that "Grass is everywhere, every... Why I am engaged in this washerman? Whose cloth? It is neither my cloth nor his." But he is working: "Oh, washerman is giving me grass."

Room Conversation with Adi-kesava Swami -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No, we... "It is voluntary. In our society we find so many brahmacārīs, so many gṛhasthas. And if you cannot stop this itching sensation, all right, marry one girl and live peacefully like a gentle... What is this nonsense, every three weeks divorce? We are not so rascal. If we accept one girl as my wife, I take full responsibility. Because I require a girl or woman, so this woman, that one... We are not so rascal that at home I have got woman, I am searching after another woman, another naked woman. We are not so madman. The sex pleasure is there at home, and I am seeking after sex pleasure in here, here, in the club, in the... What is that? Is that vagina is different? You are so fool. You require vagina; take one vagina. Be satisfied. And lick it. Why you are going here and there, here and there, here and there? Even old man is going to the nightclub to lick another vagina. Is that civilization? You are proud of your civilization." Tell them like that. "Licking of the vagina, different, obnoxious smell. You are less than the dog. The dog likes to smell the vagina. You are like that. What is business of going another vagina? You require vagina. Take one and be satisfied. That is intelligence. First of all there is no need of vagina. But if you want, take one and be satisfied. Why you are searching after dog vagina, this vagina, that vagina, that vagina? Is that civilization?" Expose them like that. "Your brain is filled with so much stool, so we are washing it. What is the wrong there?"

Room Conversation with Adi-kesava Swami -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: And... (someone enters) (Bengali) (break) Smelling the aroma, such a nonsense.

Hari-śauri: As you say, just like dogs.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Hari-śauri: Just like the dogs.

Prabhupāda: Dogs and all animals, smelling vagina. They think, "Here is real pleasure."

Room Conversation -- February 25, 1977, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Polished dog society.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes, dog also smells the vagina, and they also do the same thing. Therefore nature has arranged that dog are smelling vagina on the street. One vagina and three dozen dogs surrounded.

Room Conversation -- February 25, 1977, Mayapura:

Hari-śauri: "Adult cinema," "adult this," "adult that."

Prabhupāda: Topless, bottomless. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham, tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ (SB 7.9.45). Bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ. Kṛpaṇa. The rascals. Kṛpaṇa means non-brāhmaṇa, without any spiritual knowledge. They are never satisfied, the vagina business. Tṛpyanti neha kṛp—although it is followed by so much miserable condition—bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ kaṇḍūtivan manasijaṁ viṣaheta dhīraḥ. One who is dhīra, sober, he tolerates little itching sensation: "What this nonsense?" And if you practice toleration, there will be no more. Finished. You become liberated. Therefore, from the very beginning of life, childhood, this teach him, that "Don't be a vagina-smelling animal." Brahmacārī. Brahmacārī guru-gṛhe vasan dāntaḥ. To learn how to control the senses, that is brahmacārī. Where is that civilization? So establish. Give them food. Give them shelter. Give them knowledge. That is para-upakāra, doing welfare to others. But don't be entangled in vagina civilization. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukham (SB 7.9.45). It is most abominable civilization, tuccham, condemned civilization.

Conversation with Yadubara (after seeing film) -- April 17, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Idea, that idea is given there. Just like you cannot see the flavor, but still, you are smelling, some flavor is nice. In the air, it is rose flavor, it is passing. You cannot see what is that flavor and how it is being carried, but you can smell. Similarly, the soul is being carried by the mind, ego and intelligence. You cannot see it, but you have to understand by hearing from the authorities like Kṛṣṇa. Itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho (BG 7.5). Beyond this material things, there is another prakṛti. That is the... That does not die. Na jāyate na mriyate. And that is being carried by mind, intelligence and ego. By our gross eyes, we see the body is burnt into ashes, finished. Soul and everything is finished. The atheist will say like that. Bhasmi bhūtasya dehasya tataḥ punar āgamano bhavet.(?) "If the body is already burnt into ashes, who is coming and who are going?" The atheists. Kṛṣṇa does not say. No. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So will you accept the atheists or Kṛṣṇa? That is our process.

Room Conversation -- April 22, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Stick to our principle, and see our GBC is very alert. Then everything will go on, even I am not present. Do that. That is my request. Whatever little I have taught you, follow that, and nobody will be aggrieved. No māyā will touch you. Now Kṛṣṇa has given us, and there will be no scarcity of money. You print book and sell. So everything is there. We have got good shelter all over the world. We have got income. You stick to our principles, follow the... Even if I die suddenly, you'll be able to manage. That's all. That I want. Manage nicely and let the movement go forward. Now arrange. Don't go backward. Be careful. Āpani ācari prabhu jīveri śikṣāya. Some eau de cologne smell? Eau de cologne?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What kind of smell?

Prabhupāda: Eau de cologne.

Room Conversation With Son (Vrindavan De) -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Um hm. (aside:) You can go out. (break) ...but still, I have given you chance. So you want simply... Just like a widow. We... But we want that you may not be disturbed. Go ahead. Do business and have big building. Everyone's constructing big, big building, Marwaris. Why you cannot do? You have been given all chance. Yogināṁ puruṣam upaiti lakṣmīm. Unless one is dedicated, a yogi, very endeavoring... So we have showed a yogi endeavoring. Seventy years old, I was here in Vṛndāvana, and I came. For ten years I worked! Now see. All over the world I have got hundreds of buildings like this. I am the same man. At least one hundred temples we have only by working ten years. So there must be capacity, there must be endeavor, there must be good fortune. Then everything will be... It is not that you simply desire and it will drop from the sky. That is not possible. Hm? Arjuna fought the Battle of Kurukṣetra. Kṛṣṇa never advised him, "No, I am your friend. I shall do everything. You sit down and sleep." "You have to fight!" And Kṛṣṇa is merciful. He gives him... The two things required. Utsāhān dhairyāt niścayāt tat-tat-karma-pravart... If you have no capacity, you cannot expect to become very rich or learned, or very... That is not possible. It is not your capacity. Just like within this land there is gold, but you have to dig it. That is mine. And if you smell, "Ah, there is gold here," will you get gold? You are fortunate. You have got a place. Here is gold. But you have to dig it. You have to work. "No, I shall smell, and gold will come." That is not... So don't be worried. You'll be allowed to stay here. But I cannot transfer the property to your mother's name. Then your brother will spoil. And otherwise you are... I am not going to lease them.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: These are the symptoms of affection, to embrace son and smell head.

Correspondence

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Kirtanananda -- New York 5 May, 1967:

I do not know how to secure it, but the only hope is that I have my books. If you can organize the sales of my books, either you or Pradyumna, then there is no question of scarcity of money. I can go on printing so many books. But because the books are not selling nicely, neither there is sufficient money, so I am handicapped. Anyway, let us depend on Krishna and when He will desire, everything will be very nice. Perhaps you have heard that I have recovered out of that 6,000 dollars which had undergone in the belly of Sir Con Fraud. I have realized about 4700 dollars—the pleaders have taken about 1200 dollars, including Mr. Hill's lawyer, our lawyer Herzog and I have paid also something to Goldsmith. Anyway, that affair is closed. Now we are searching after a bigger place. So far we have not been able to find out a suitable place. We found out a very nice suitable place at 6th Street on Grand, but the difficulty is just on the side there is a butcher and the smell is obnoxious, so we could not do it. Now there is a bank building on Houston Street, so, that is very nice, but we do not know how to secure it; we are trying for it.

Letter to Madhusudana -- San Francisco 30 December, 1967:

Regarding smearing on the Body of Lord Jagannatha: You should always know that the Body of Lord Jagannatha is spiritual. We are given the chance of serving the Spiritual Body and according to Revealed Scriptures, we should serve the Transcendental Body of the Deity just as we try to serve our worshipable personalities. To continue a sense of devotion, it is better to wash the Body of Lord Jagannatha with hot water so that we may have the feeling that Lord Jagannatha is more comfortable. We should offer foodstuffs to the Deity and allow enough time to eat them. These are all transcendental sentiments. At Vrindaban, the Deities are offered foodstuffs and time is allowed as in the case of others. Yes, before offering anything to the Deity you must be satisfied that it is a first class offering and there is no objection if you taste it by smelling. But you should not smell for other purposes. The whole idea is that devotional service should always be immune from sense gratification.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Aniruddha -- Montreal 16 June, 1968:

I know this is a practice in your country, but in the temples or at homes of any Krishna Consciousness persons, a person should not indulge in such unclean habits. If there is any food extra, that should be kept separately; and if there is a separate refrigerator, not within the kitchen and not having in it any unoffered foods, then you may have such special refrigerator for leftover prasadam. But it cannot be kept within the same refrigerator as the unoffered, unprepared foods. That cannot be. One should never eat within the kitchen, there is ample place to eat so why should one eat in the kitchen? Kitchen should be considered as good as the Lord's room, and nobody should wear shoes in the kitchen, smelling and tasting of foods being prepared for the Lord should never be done, talking within the kitchen should be only what is necessary for preparing the prasadam, or about the Lord, and dirty dishes (those taken from kitchen and eaten from) should not be brought back into the kitchen (but if there is no other place to wash them, then they should be put into sink and washed immediately.), hands should always be washed when preparing prasadam, and in this way, everything shall be prepared very cleanly and pure.)

Letter to Jadurani -- Los Angeles 14 December, 1968:

Deity worship is for such persons who have ample time. The thing is, Deity worship is compulsory, and you can increase if you have got time to do so. But Mangala aratrik is essential (morning arati), and Sandharatrik (evening aratri) is essential, and offering of Prasadam to Deity is essential. And nice dress, decorating the Deity with sweet-smelling flowers, colorful and very opulent dresses, jewels, incense, etc, to make Them very brilliant and attractive, that is real Deity worship.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Upendra -- Los Angeles 24 January, 1969:

In your letter you have asked many questions, and I will try to answer them for you herewith. Firstly, the Gayatri Mantra is not to be said loudly. Gayat means to sing, but singing can be done loudly or very softly. The Gayatri Mantra should be sung in a low whispering voice. Regarding the Brahman Pucha stages, this matter is described in the 13rd chapter of Bhagavad-gita As It Is. So far as the 10 sense organs, they are eyes, ears, nose, mouth, touch, these are the five sense organs for acquiring knowledge. The five moving organs are the legs, hands, tongue, genital, and rectum. Five objects of the senses are beauty, taste, smell, sound, and touch. The five gross elements are earth, water, fire, air, and ether. The four subtle elements are mind, ego, intelligence, and consciousness. Above these is the soul, and above the soul is the Supersoul.

Letter to Upendra -- Columbus, Ohio 8 May, 1969:

Regarding your question about the difference between mind and soul, the mind is one of the senses, and the soul is the owner of the senses, including the mind. The mind is material, just like the material body, but when the material coverings are taken away, as we revive our spiritual body, similarly we revive our spiritual mind also. At the present moment, my material mind, intelligence and ego is carrying me in different types of bodies, because mind has different desires, and it carries the soul just like finer air carries the flavor of the flower or some other smell. So the mind is an instrument, and the soul is the worker of the instrument.

Letter to Carl Lange -- Los Angeles 12 July, 1969:

Except for the Krishna Consciousness Movement, any other attempt for spiritual realization, such as drugs, voidness, impersonalism, bodily exercises of Hatha Yoga, etc.—they are all something like unconsciousness under some super-intoxicant. Srila Rupa Goswami has given a very nice example in this connection. He says that a conditioned soul remains in the slumber of unconsciousness just like a patient bitten by a poisonous snake. In India there is a class of snake-charmers and physicians who treat snake-bitten persons with a particular type of jungle herbs. This treatment is to bring the herb near the nostrils of the patient for being smelled, and then the patient comes back to consciousness and finds relief from the snake bite effect. In our conditioned life we are bitten by so many types of Maya snakes, and more and more we are put into unconsciousness of mind without any hope of eternal life. Krishna Consciousness is the only herb for such Maya snake-bite condition. So our duty is very responsible. We have to awaken so many snake-bitten patients under the spell of Maya. A sincere soul like you will be a great help in this movement of Krishna Consciousness. I am glad that you are reading our Bhagavad-gita As It Is and Teachings of Lord Caitanya. You will get much enlightenment from them. Also you should read Back To Godhead and Srimad-Bhagavatam, and surely your life will be sublime. In the future we expect you to be a great preacher of this movement to the world.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Ben -- Bombay November 22, 1970:

I am very much pleased to know that you are trying to set a fine example to your young son, Joseph, and your good wife. It is the duty of our students who are married men to train both their wife and children in devotional service to the Supreme Lord. The easiest program is that you add to your daily schedule a Kirtana chanting of Hare Krsna Maha-mantra both in the evening and the morning with your family and after chanting you can read something from our Bhagavad Gita As It Is or Krsna Book or our other literatures. You are already offering service to Lord Jagannatha and offering Him some nicely prepared fruits, milk, sweet smelling flowers and incense. That is the way for householders. For householders it is prescribed that one should hear the Bhagavad-gita or other transcendental texts of which we now have ample supply from the lips of the devotee of the Lord, one should accept a Bona fide Spiritual Master and follow his instructions and one should install the Deity in his home and carry on worship there. These three items will make your life perfect. So you simply try to observe these things and if you need some advice how to do it you can ask the elder devotees of our New York Temple. Be very strict in your observance of the four principles of regulation, namely no illicit sex life, no intoxicants, no eating of any meat, fish or eggs, and no gambling. Always chant Hare Krsna at least sixteen rounds daily and be happy.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Srutadeva -- Vrindaban 30 October, 1976:

ACBS/jda

"N.B. The tulasi or whatever leaves you sent were too old and dried out when they got here. Srila Prabhupada said the test is by smelling and tasting."

Page Title:Smell (Conversations and Letters)
Compiler:Rishab, Mayapur
Created:04 of Feb, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=46, Let=9
No. of Quotes:55