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Snow (Lectures)

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 1.30 -- London, July 23, 1973:

There is song by Govinda dāsa, śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa e dina jāminī jāgi re, biphale sevinu kṛpaṇa durajana, capala sukha-laba lāgi re. He says that śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa: "I have worked without caring for scorching heat and severe cold." Actually people work so hard. He has to go to office. Suppose there is snowfall. So he cannot stop. He has to go. Or there is scorching heat. You have no experience in your country, scorching heat. But India, 122 degrees. Just imagine, this year. Still they have to go to work. So somewhere it is severe cold and somewhere it is severe scorching heat. This is nature's law. You have to suffer. While you are in cold country, you think that "India is very warm. They are very happy." (laughs) And in India they are thinking, "In England they are very happy." This is the way. This is illusion. Nobody thinks that there is no happiness within these three worlds, beginning from Brahmaloka down to the Pātālaloka. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). There is no happiness, even if you go to the Brahmaloka and get the opportunity of living like Brahmā, millions of years, and thousand times better standard of life. Still it is not happiness. They do not know it. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). Therefore mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate. Therefore our aim should be only how to go back to home back to Godhead. That should be.

Lecture on BG 2.7-11 -- New York, March 2, 1966:

So I am suffering. Or I have lost something or some friend, so many things. So sufferings of the body and mind, and then sufferings by the nature, nature. This is called adhidaivika, which we have to control. In every suffering we have no control, especially... Suppose there is heavy snowfall. The whole New York City is flooded with the snow, and we are all put into inconvenience. That's a sort of suffering. But you have no control. You cannot stop snow falling. You see? If some, some, there is wind, cold wind, you cannot stop it. This is called adhidaivika suffering. And the suffering of the mind and suffering of the body is called adhyātmika. And there is other sufferings, adhibhautika, attack by other living beings, my enemy, some animal or some worm, so many. So these three kinds of sufferings are there always. Always. And... But we do not want all these sufferings. When this question comes... Now here Arjuna is conscious that "There is a fight, and it is my duty to fight with the enemy, but there is suffering because they are my kinsmen." So he's feeling that. So unless a human being is conscious and awakened to the fact that we are always in suffering but we do not want all these sufferings.

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

Actually, different types of energies. Just like from the sunshine there are different types of colors, energies. That is creating this material world. Just like we can experience practically. When there is no sunshine in Western countries, when there is snow, all the leaves of the tree immediately falls down. It is called fall, the season. It remains only wood, piece of wood only. Again, when there is spring season, the sunshine is available, all at a time, they become green. So as the sunshine is working in this material world, similarly the ultimate bodily rays of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the origin of all creation. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). On account of the Brahman effulgence, millions and millions of brahmāṇḍas, or universes, are coming out.

Lecture on BG 2.55-58 -- New York, April 15, 1966:

"He is not disturbed by all these three kinds of miseries," miseries pertaining to the body and the mind, miseries due to other living entities, and miseries due to the natural disturbances, natural disturbance. Now, nature's disturbance: all of a sudden, there is flood; all of a sudden, there is heavy snowfall; all of a sudden, there is famine; all of a sudden, there is so many things which we have no control. We have no control. This is called supernatural disturbances. And disturbances offered by other living entities. We are living in the society with many other living entities, both man and animal, and there is possibility of miseries due to other living entities' behavior upon me. And besides that, due to my this bodily construction, either I have some mental agony or some bodily agony, or so many things.

Lecture on BG 4.19 -- New York, August 5, 1966:

These are the problems. Real problem, these are the problems. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam. A learned man, a man of real knowledge, he should see that "I am..." Not only war. Suppose there will be excessive heat. Oh, I am so much disturbed. There is no peace. Oh, there is excessive snowfall, cold. Oh, I am disturbed. So there are so many disturbances. So we have to get free from all disturbances. Because I do not want it, my nature does not tolerate these things, but I have been forced to tolerate.

That is your problem. That can be solved by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are talking the wholesale solution, not a particular thing. There are so many disturbing things, especially they are under the headings of these four principles: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). So... Mad-dhāma gatvā. Just the other day we discussed the śloka, that tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya: (BG 4.9)

Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:

That is happiness. In the field of spiritual platform that happiness is realized. So sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā sukham akṣayam aśnute. Akṣayam means that does not pass away, not flickering, not flickering. Here in the material world all happiness, the so-called happiness, they are all flickering. They come and go. Therefore one who is transcendentally situated, he does not care for happiness or distress because he knows, "Either this happiness or this distress, it has appeared and it will go. It will go. So why I shall be disturbed in distress also?" Because this nature of this world... Just like snowfall in your country. Snowfall... Now we are expecting snowfall. Last year there was snowfall. It has gone away. Again they are coming. So anything of this world, they come and go. They come and go. So we shall not be disturbed. In Bhagavad-gītā also, Lord Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna that

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino 'nityās
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata
(BG 2.14)

Even there are distress in this material world, we should learn to tolerate because these are ephemeral.

Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:

We have got in this material world duality. Just like this is now summer season; then again we will have winter season, snowfall. Śīta uṣṇa. Śīta means winter season, and uṣṇa means summer season. Śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu. Similarly, happiness and distress. Happiness and distress. Tathā mānāpamānayoḥ. Similarly, honor and dishonor. Because in this world, the world of duality, dual world, everything is to be understood by duality. We cannot understand what is honor if there is no dishonor. If I am not insulted, I cannot understand what is honor. So mānāpamānayoḥ. Similarly, I cannot understand what is misery if I have not tasted happiness. Or I cannot understand what is happiness if I have not understood misery. So similarly... I cannot understand what is cold if I have not tasted hot. This world is, world is of duality. So one has to transcend.

Lecture on BG 6.21-27 -- New York, September 9, 1966:

That is not real happiness. If you ask the tree, "Are you feeling happy?" the tree will say, "Yes. I am feeling happy standing here the whole year, and the wind and snowfall I am enjoying very much." Oh. You see? So that sort of happiness the tree may enjoy, but you are human being. You will say, "Oh, this is the standard of his enjoyment."

Similarly, there are different kinds and different grades of living entities. Their standard of feeling happiness and miseries are also different grades. Animal. In the animal kingdom, they have no sense. One animal is being slaughtered. The other animal is seeing because he has no knowledge the next turn is he is being turned..., being slaughtered, but he is chewing some grass. He is happy. He is thinking that "I am happy." Next moment it will be slaughtered, but he does not know. So these are all different grades of happiness. But the highest standard of happiness is described here, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam (BG 6.21).

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- London, March 10, 1975:

If you are not interested, then you are living a very risky life because you have to change your body. Dehāntaram. You can see. There are examples of so many types of body. Now, suppose if you live at the risk of your life and next life you become a tree, stand up for five thousand years in the snow, scorching heat, scorching, blasting and so many disturbances, and you cannot move an inch, and people may cut down you, your leaves, your trunk, or you, they are cutting so many... What is that life? And if you think, "No, I am living for five thousand years," what is the use of living such five thousand years? No. Don't risk life. Karma-bandhanaḥ. If you don't perform yajña, if you don't try to satisfy the Supreme Lord... Just like if you don't try to satisfy the government, then it is your risky life. You cannot say that "I am living very happily." Because you are cheating government or do not following the laws of the government, that is very risky life. Similarly, if you do not perform yajña, you cannot avoid it. Saha-yajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Montreal, June 3, 1968:

Now, those who are working, oh, they have no consideration that there is snowfall or there is scorching heat. Śīta ātapa, bāta, severe cold, and bariṣaṇa means heavy torrents of rain. Oh, he has to go to the office and work. Śīta ātapa, bāta bariṣaṇa, ei dina jāminī jāgi' re. Night duty. These are severe type of laboring. And the poet says, śīta ātapa, bāta bariṣaṇa, ei dina jāminī jāgi re. Why? Now, biphale sevinu, kṛpaṇa durajana, capala sukha labha lāgi' re. For that momentary happiness I am working so hard.

So everywhere in the Vedic literature this life, this materialistic way of life is condemned, is condemned. So Ṛṣabhadeva says that "This life is meant for tapasya." Tapaḥ. Tapaḥ divyaṁ putrakā: "My dear sons, you are so... If you think that this human form of life is meant for, oh, sex happiness and working day and night so hard, oh, this life is not meant for that purpose. That is visible in the cats' and dogs' and hogs' life. They are also laboring the whole day and satisfied by sex life. So your life is not meant for that."

Lecture on BG 7.7 -- Bombay, February 22, 1974:

Just like in this material world, we have got experience, the sun is the cause of all material manifestations. When the sunlight or sun heat... Just like Western countries, in this season, the sunlight and heat is practically not present. Therefore it is snowfall. There is no foliage in the trees. Every tree is deserted, due to the sun. And as soon as from the month of April the sunshine will be little more, mean, increased, at once the leaves will come out. In the Western world, this experience... Anywhere. The sun is the cause of everything, all this material world. So you can say that in this material world, there is nothing superior energy than the sun. Similarly, this is also a creation of God, the sunshine. It is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā: yac cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇām. Savitā means sun.

Lecture on BG 7.11-16 -- New York, October 7, 1966:

Something misery are due to the body, something miserable due to the mind, something miserable due to the nature. All of a sudden, it becomes very cold. All of a sudden, it becomes very hot, warm. Nature. All of a sudden, there is great snowfall. All of sudden, there is earthquake. So many miseries, due to nature, due to body, due to mind, and due to other living entities. Oh, somebody attacks me with dagger. A tiger attacks me with his jaws. So many difficulties, miseries in every step. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām (SB 10.14.58). So we should remember this. But due to the illusion, being covered by the illusion, we don't take account of these miseries. But we must remember that we are always in miseries. An intelligent person who is developed in consciousness, he inquires, "Why I am in miseries? I do not want miseries. Why I am in miseries?" When this question arises, then there is chance of becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Lecture on BG 8.20-22 -- New York, November 18, 1966:

This nature, this material nature, it has got its beginning and end. But that spiritual nature, that has no beginning and no end. How it is? You can understand by simple example. Just like this sky, and in some insignificant part of the sky there is some cloud, and the cloud covers us. When there is cloud or snowfall we see everything is covered. But that covering is only an insignificant part of the whole sky. That covering is not for the whole sky. Because we are very minute, small, so a few hundred miles, if it is covered, this sky, we see that everything is covered. Similarly, this material sky is within the covering, with the covering of mahat-tattva, matter. And as this cloud, when it is clear, the original sky you can see, similarly, this covering of material matter, when it begins... Just like cloud has beginning and end, similarly, this material nature has beginning and end. Just like your body. It has got its beginning and end—simply for some time.

Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 22, 1976:

If we get a nice body, human form or demigod, we may live very happily. Not happily, at least better than the animals. But if we get the body of an animal, then just imagine what is the suffering. If you get the body of a tree, now just imagine. A tree is standing in the open atmosphere. There is snowfall, there is scorching heat, but it has no power to move an inch. That is also life. And you can move from here to there. You have facility. So now, in the human form of life, you have got all facilities given by God. You take advantage of it. Don't put yourself again in the laws of nature and be liberated. Go back to home, back to Godhead.

This is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It is the most topmost humanitarian activities, to give them information that in this life... What we are informing? The same thing as Kṛṣṇa is, Kṛṣṇa is informing. We don't manufacture any ideas. That is not our business. Therefore we present this Bhagavad-gītā as it is. As it is. We don't change it. Why we shall change?

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- Los Angeles, August 20, 1972:

The sun is so big, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, and so powerful, blazing fire. You know, those who are scientific men, they know, the sun has got his orbit, and little deviation from the orbit can turn the whole world into snow, and turn the whole world into blazing fire. Where is our scientist friend? Is it not a fact? (Svarūpa Dāmodara makes reply) Yes. It is running under certain orbit exactly, because a little deviation from the orbit will create havoc, catastrophe. Immediately. Either fire or snow. So under whose order the sun is so strictly following the demarcation? Such a big body. Our, in our practical experience, if he has got heavy body, he moves like this. He's not steady. But such a huge body is exactly... According to astronomical calculation, they calculate, some one ten-thousandth part of a second, in this way.

Lecture on SB 1.8.23 -- Los Angeles, April 15, 1973:

There is no economic problem. You simply try to serve Kṛṣṇa. Then everything is complete. Because He's Hṛṣīkeśa. And so much... If Kṛṣṇa desires, there may be ample supplies. Just like in your country, there is ample supplies. In other country... I went to Switzerland: everything is imported. No supply. The supply is only, only snow. Take as much snow as you like. You see. Similarly everything is under the control of Kṛṣṇa. If you become devotee, then there is no snow supply—simply food supply. And if you don't become devotee, be covered with snow. That's all. Covered with cloud. Everything is under Kṛṣṇa's control.

So actually there is no scarcity. The scarcity is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious then everything is ample. There is no scarcity. This is the process. Tvayā hṛṣīkeśa... And here it is said: tvayā hṛṣī... Yathā hṛṣīkeśa khalena devakī. The world is full of dangers. But Devakī, Kuntīdevī says, "But because Devakī is Your devotee, You saved her from the distresses offered by her envious brother." As soon as the brother heard that "My sister's son, eighth son of my sister will kill me," oh, he was ready immediately to kill Devakī.

Lecture on SB 1.15.44 -- Los Angeles, December 22, 1973:

So one who goes to the northern side, it is to be understood he never comes back. Northern side means the Arctic zone, covered with snow. So this was known in Bhāgavata days. Not only in Bhāgavata days, some, about a thousand years ago also, there is Kālidāsa's book Kumāra-sambhava. Kumāra-sambhava, "The Birth of Kārttikeya." So in the book the beginning is asty uttarasyaṁ diśi himālayo nāma nagadhirājaḥ. Uttarasyaṁ diśi, in the northern side, there is mountain which is covered with snow, Himalaya. Hima means ice, hima. Asty uttarasyaṁ diśi himālayo nāma nagadhirājaḥ: "In the northern side, there is a hill or a mountain which is always covered by snow." Although at the present moment, Himalaya, there is one mountain that is also called Himalaya, Mount Everest, but I think this Arctic zone was referred. Because it is said that "touching both sides, water." Asty uttarasyaṁ diśi himālayo nāma nagadhirājaḥ, toya-nidhi avagāhya. Toya-nidhi. Toya-nidhi means oceans, both sides ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Avagāhya, touching.

Lecture on SB 2.1.1-5 -- Boston, December 22, 1969:

That is very risky job. You should always remember that if in my next body I am given a body like a tree, just see, in this part of the world, how condemned life. They are standing in the snowfall. You have got house. You are protecting yourself. They cannot even move. So there is possibility of getting such life.

So we should be so much responsible, how to avoid such laws of nature. We can have any form of life out of 8,400,000 species that are before you. You should always remember that "If by chance I slip to one of them, then how I have wasted my time." This is responsible life. Labdhvā su-durlabham idaṁ bahu-sambhavānte. Bahu-sambhavānte means after many, many appearances. This is appearance. This body, present body, is one of the appearances. It will never appear again. He'll... I will have to or you will have to appear in a different body. But this human form of life is a great opportunity.

Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 26, 1972:

And even if you are forced to stand up for one hour, you'll feel so much uncomfortable. But this tree, because it has not developed consciousness, it is standing up for 10,000's of years, and in open atmosphere, tolerating all kinds of excessive heat, rain, snowfall. But still, it is capturing. This is the difference between developed consciousness and undeveloped consciousness. A tree has also consciousness. Modern science, they have proved, they have got consciousness. Very much covered, almost dead.

But it is not dead. There is consciousness. So the more you develop your consciousness, the more you become a freedom lover. Just like in the human society, there is fight for freedom. But in the animal society, they do not know what is freedom. Ours also, the so-called freedom. But still, we have got some consciousness that we fight for freedom. And they fight for eating. That's all. So here, Parīkṣit Mahārāja... This emancipation.

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

We cannot avoid. If we actually want to avoid this body, working like cats and dogs, like animals, then we have to undergo tapasya, a very simple tapasya.

In this age, it is not possible that as big, big saintly persons they go to the forest and undergo meditation in Himalayan mountain under the snow and so many dif... No food, no shelter, secluded place, there are so many animals. That kind of tapasya is not possible in this age. You remain. We have constructed big, big nice building. But because the building is there, you simply come here as free guest and make life very easy for eating and sleeping, that is not tapasya. That is not tapasya. You must be very careful how to keep the temple very cleansed, yourself clean, worshiping the Deity. That is recommended. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan mandira-mārjanādau **. This is also tapasya. If you cannot read, if you cannot do any other thing, so try to keep the temple... Every corner of this temple is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 5.5.5 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973:

Just like you American people or Western people, you are supposed to be very learned, advanced in material science, also good-looking and richer than other countries, janma aiśvarya, or birth in a very powerful nation or family. This can be accepted—due to your past pious activities. But suppose you have taken this opportunity for your pious activities and somebody has taken birth in Greenland, always with snow, and there are so many inconveniences. Or take your birth in Africa. There there is no such facilities, they are not very good-looking, not very learned scholars, not birth is very nice, not aristocratic, not riches, poor. So from spiritual point of view, both of these kinds of facilities or inconvenience are one, because when you take your birth, you have to enter within the womb of a mother and stay ten months in a packed-up condition. Not only ten months. Nowadays it is going on, killing the child within the womb. Even you cannot come out. Before your coming out from the womb of your mother, you might be killed by your very mother or father. Because that movement is going on, abortion.

Lecture on SB 5.5.5 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973:

Therefore Govinda dāsa sings, śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa, e dina jāminī jāgi re, biphale sevinu kṛpaṇa durajana, capala sukha-laba lāgi' re. In this country, there is snowfall. Still, people will have to go to work very hard, day and night. But why? Why they are accepting such hard labor? Somebody is coming from India in this country. The climate is not very suitable in comparison to India, but they have come here to work hard. Why? Sex pleasure. That's all. He will get money and he will have home and sex pleasure or tongue pleasure. So therefore it is said, gata-smṛtiḥ. Actual. Actually, he has forgotten. His own business, he has forgotten, but he is entrapped by a process of sense gratification. Although it is very great hardship and miserable condition, but he is satisfied because this sense gratification is there. Gata-smṛtiḥ tatra tāpān āsādya maithunyam agāram ajñaḥ.

Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Bombay, November 6, 1970:

Five hours day. And nineteen hours night. So, of course, I was rising, as usual, early in the morning, so I wanted to go out. So I couldn't go out before half-past-nine to the Regent Park, and it was full of snow and ice, and it is very difficult to walk. So just like in this planet there are different places of different conditions, so it is natural to accept it that different planets have got different atmosphere, different opulences, different kinds of population, living entities. Keśava tuyā jagat vicitra. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung that "My dear Kṛṣṇa, Your creation is variegated." There are different types. Similarly, there are planets where hellish conditions perpetually continue. Just like you can compare the northern pole. It is a hellish condition within this earth. And similarly, there are planets, so, and they are suffering. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja inquired that

adhuneha mahā-bhāga
yathaiva narakān naraā
nānogra-yātanān neyāt
tan me vyākhyātum arhasi

"You have described 'For this kind of sinful activities one has to take his birth in this kind of planet or this kind of place.' Now please let me know how these suffering living entities can be delivered from this suffering condition, different varieties of suffering condition." Ugra. Ugra means very acute. "If there is any means to deliver them?" So that answer is given.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.101 -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:

There is a song, the devotee is singing that śīta ātapa bāta variṣaṇa. Śīta means severe cold, winter season, snow falling. That is called śīta. And scorching heat. You have no experience of scorching heat. In India we have got 110, 120, and I think Middle East, there is 135. Here you have got less, 50 in winter. So some way or other there is always trouble. This material world means we must suffer trouble. Either scorching heat or pinching cold or blast or ādhidaivika, ādhyātmika. These things should be discussed. But still we got to work, why? Only for love. That is the only cause. I love my children, I love my wife, or I love my country, my society. Love is there. But this love is not giving me satisfaction. We are disappointed. As I, yesterday I cited the example of Mahatma Gandhi. For his country's love, he did so much.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.313-317 -- New York, December 21, 1966:

So in that planet Lord Viṣṇu is there, within. But He is not within this material world. Just like even a devotee who is always engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is not in this material world, how Viṣṇu, the Supreme, He can be in the material world? He is not in the material world. Just like outside there may be snow falling, but inside, if you are protected by heating system and other things, you are not affected. The whole city may be overwhelmed by snow falling, but if you are protected by certain means and adjustment, then you are not affected. Similarly, Viṣṇu and Viṣṇu-bhakta, they are not affected by this material nature. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Therefore foolish creatures, when they see Kṛṣṇa is here, they think that "Kṛṣṇa is like one of us." But He is not. So here it is stated, pālanārtha svāṁśa viṣṇu-rūpe avatāra. He is providing. Bhūta-bhṛt. Kṛṣṇa's name or Viṣṇu's another is Bhūta-bhṛt. He is providing our necessities. Always know that.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.337-353 -- New York, December 25, 1966:

One should not ask God. But still, if one asks, he's accepted, because he has come to the point, Kṛṣṇa. That is his good qualification. He's in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So all faults there may be, but when one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, everything is nice. Just like there are so mu..., so much snowfall. As soon as there is rise of sun, everything finished. Everything finished. Kṛṣṇa sūrya sama. Only we have to wait when the sunrise will be there. Then all these disturbances will be at once cleared.

So we have to take to kṛṣṇa-sūrya and everything will be cleared.
kaliṁ sabhājayanty āryā
guṇa-jñāḥ sāra-bhāginaḥ
yatra saṅkīrtanenaiva
sarva-svārtho 'bhilabhyate

Sarva-svārtho 'bhilabhyate. There are nice verse. You see? Here it is said, yatra saṅkīrtanenaiva. This Kali-yuga, this age of Kali, we are condemning so much. But even the demigods, they, I mean to say, highly eulogize this Kali-yuga. Why? Why? Oh, here is a great opportunity. Simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, yatra saṅkīrtanena. Yatra means in this Kali-yuga, simply by this saṅkīrtana movement, simply by chanting, sarva-svārtho 'bhilabhyate, all interest is served.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.11-15 -- New York, January 9, 1967:

Then adhibhautika. Adhibhautika means miseries offered by other living entities. Just like at night, bedbugs. (laughter) (laughs) So, very nice situation, whole night there is no sleep. Why? Now there is adhibhautika. Adhibhautika. Or some enemy. This is... There are... These are all miseries, but we forget. And adhidaivika. Adhidaivika. Just like heavy snowfall, severe cold, severe heat, earthquake, famine, war. These are adhidaivika, forced by you by superior power. Nobody wants war, but it is forced. These are called adhidaivika miseries. So three kinds. Here it is stated, ādhyātmikādi tapa-traya tāre. So we are under the control of this material nature, and that trident is pierced on my chest. How can I understand? Now this trident I am experiencing every moment. These three kinds of miseries are there. Either this or that or three or two or one—must be there. Must be there. So those who are, I mean to say, enlightened, they can understand that we are miserable. We are in a miserable condition.

Initiation Lectures

Brahmana Initiation Lecture -- New Vrindaban, May 25, 1969:

So many things in the material world will happen. We have to practice to tolerate. Tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. Kṛṣṇa says, "You have to learn tolerance. The sukha-duḥkha, happiness, distress, they will come like seasonal changes." Just like there is sometimes rain, there is sometimes snowfall, sometimes scorching heat. How you can fight? It is not possible. Try to tolerate. That's all. Satyaṁ śaucaṁ śamo dama titikṣa ārjavam. Ārjavam means simplicity, no duplicity. Simplicity, ārjavam. Jñānaṁ vijñānam, knowledge and practical application in life. Jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyam. Āstikyam means to believe firmly in the scriptures. Just like Bhagavad-gītā we are studying, or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We should firmly believe what Kṛṣṇa says, not interpretation. This is called āstikyam. And nāstikyam means not firm belief, atheism. Just like Lord Buddha. Lord Buddha simply said that "I don't believe in the Vedas." Therefore he is immediately calculated as atheist, nāstikyam. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, veda nā māniyā bauddha haila nāstika: "The followers of Buddha, they did not accept Vedic, I mean to say, direction; therefore they are nāstika." What is that Vedic direction?

General Lectures

Pandal Lecture at Cross Maidan -- Bombay, March 26, 1971:

So the people may criticize, "If this world is false, the material world is false, then why should I take advantage of this material product?" They expect that those who are spiritualists, they should go to Himalayas, giving up, giving up everything material and meditate in a solitary place, in snow-covered area. But Vaiṣṇava philosophy does not think like that. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma. (CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126) He does not recommend, although He was a sannyāsī, He was in renounced order of life. He gave up His family, beautiful wife, very affectionate mother, very comfortable home, very prestige, too much prestige of His personality in the society. He gave up everything. He was in the prime age of His youthful life, twenty-four years only, but He gave up everything.

Lecture at Caitanya Matha -- Visakhapatnam, February 19, 1972:

Just like, we have got practical experience, in western countries where there is no sufficient heat and light, the trees and the flowers do not grow so luxuriously, because there is want of heat and light. And when there is snowfall, when there is no sunlight, everything, the trees become, without any leaf, dry, śuṣka. So, as it is the cause of the different leaves and flowers and fruit, is the heat and light of the sun, similarly, Kṛṣṇa has got two kinds of energies. That is also heat and light. That heat and light is spiritual energy and material energy. The material energy, not material energy, material energy is practically darkness, there is no light. The Vedic instruction is therefore that, don't keep yourself within this darkness, tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ. There is another sky. Just like in this sky, you will find it is darkness. Naturally it is darkness. Because there is darkness, therefore Kṛṣṇa has created the sun. It is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

That is innate knowledge, or logically necessary truth. This is also called a priori knowledge, or knowledge that exists independently. Then he says that there is knowledge acquired by experience, or a posteriori, accidental knowledge—just like snow is white, but it could be red; it's possible that it could be red—this type of truth which comes from our experience but it's accidental and it is not necessary.

Prabhupāda: So real truth is that God has got a plan, and one who knows it, that is real truth. One who hasn't got to be taught by another man but by nature, he knows it; that by nature he knows it, that is a symptom of his life, true life. And one who does not know it, that is not. That is explained in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, nitya siddha kṛṣṇa bhakta. That truth is there already, but he has forgotten it. Therefore by this propaganda of devotional service, chanting and hearing, he simply revives the truth.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Śyāmasundara: He says there are two types of truth. One is just like the principle of a triangle, there are three angles equal to 180 degrees, and the other type of truth is gathered by experience. For instance, we see that snow is white, but it is also possible that snow may be red.

Prabhupāda: But this is also experienced, that the three angles of a triangle make 180 degrees.

Śyāmasundara: But this truth exists independently, without any...

Prabhupāda: How independently? Not everyone knows what is a triangle, what is an angle, and what is a degree. When one comes to study geometry, then he understands. You cannot ask any child or any man who has no knowledge of geometry that these three angles of a triangle makes 180 degrees.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: But truth means it exists. Not this truth or that truth. Truth means that. That you may know or not know, but it exists. That is truth. So why is he making this example?

Śyāmasundara: Because there is also a truth that snow is white, they say snow is white, but that truth is not absolute because snow could be red also. But a triangle must always equal 180 degrees. That is an absolute truth, a necessary truth.

Prabhupāda: So any mathematical calculation is like that. Why this example? Mathematical means this: Two plus two equals four. That is always the truth.

Śyāmasundara: He is trying to prove that there are certain truths that we cannot deny they exist independent of our knowledge. Fundamental. And there are other truths that people say, like snow is white, which may not be true because our senses deceive us.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Śyāmasundara: He is trying to prove that there are certain truths that we cannot deny they exist independent of our knowledge. Fundamental. And there are other truths that people say, like snow is white, which may not be true because our senses deceive us.

Prabhupāda: That is your defective senses. But snow is white, that's a fact. Why should it be red? At least we have no experience with red snow.

Śyāmasundara: I've seen red snow.

Prabhupāda: How it is?

Śyāmasundara: Particles of lava dust gathered in the snow and in the air...

Prabhupāda: That is not pure snow. That is another thing. Pure snow is white. Just like water. Water, by nature, it is crystal. But when it comes in touch with the earth, it becomes muddy. So that muddiness is due to contact with something external. Snow is white by nature, but in contact with something else it looks red. But the truth that snow is white, that is truth. Not that snow becoming red... You are making, or by some other contact it is looking like that. But snow is white, that's a truth.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Śyāmasundara: But he says that there are two types of truth. There's innate truth...

Prabhupāda: This is innate truth: as three angles of a triangle are equal to 180 degrees, similarly snow is white. Snow is white, water is liquid, stone is hard, chili is hot, sugar is sweet. These are eternal truths, fundamental truths. Similarly, a living entity is eternal servant of God. This is eternal truth. It cannot be changed. Water is liquid. That is the natural position, but when water becomes hard, it is due to temperature, under certain conditions, but as soon as the temperature reduces, the water becomes liquid. So liquidity of water is truth. Similarly, whiteness of snow is truth. Similarly, servitude of the living entity is truth. But he is serving māyā. That is untruth. If we take that there are two types of truth, there cannot be two kinds of truth. Truth is one. What we take as truth, that is māyā.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: The opposite is māyā. Opposite to truth is māyā.

Śyāmasundara: Just like the sum of the angles of a triangle must equal 180 degrees. It is impossible to conceive of the opposite.

Prabhupāda: Similarly, the other example that snow is white. To think of snow not white, that cannot be conceived.

Śyāmasundara: He says that "snow is white" is not one of these eternal truths; that it is possible to conceive that snow could be red.

Prabhupāda: Why? You say that redness of snow is possible under certain circumstances?

Śyāmasundara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So that is possible in every case. Therefore the real feature of snow is not red. It appears to be red under certain conditions, but that is not truth; that is untruth.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: My point is that he says that there are two types of truth. No. There cannot be two types of truth. That is my protest. I say there is only one truth. When you think two types of truth, then you are mistaken. Then same thing: when you think that two plus two equals five, then you are mistaken. Two plus two is always four. That is truth. Similarly, snow is white always. That is truth. When you think it is red, it is untruth. But you cannot say it is another type of truth. Mistake cannot be accepted as another type of truth. Mistake is mistake.

Śyāmasundara: I think he says the same things, but the language is different.

Prabhupāda: There are two types of truth—what is that language? One truth is real truth, another truth is shadow truth. It is not truth, it is shadow. That is the exact language. The same example we can give: you see your face in the mirror as exactly the same, but it is shadow; therefore it is untruth. You cannot say that this reflection of your face on the mirror is another type of truth. Can you say like that? You cannot say that.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: No. Whatever he may say, we cannot accept that there are two types of truth. That is not possible.

Śyāmasundara: He calls this type of truth conditional truth.

Prabhupāda: The conditional truth is the untruth.

Śyāmasundara: Just like if I saw by my senses some snow that was red.

Prabhupāda: That is due to your defect of seeing a condition and not knowing the condition.

Śyāmasundara: But I can explain by sufficient reasons why that snow is red.

Prabhupāda: Just like a living entity is trying to become master—"I am the monarch of all I survey." That is untruth. The truth is that he is eternal servant. You cannot say that because one is trying to be imitation God, that that is another truth. You cannot say that. That is māyā. There cannot be a second God. God is one. That is truth, absolute truth.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: That is another proposition. Water is liquid, but when water becomes hard, that is artificial. But that hardness... Snow is white, that is truth. Otherwise nothing is truth except Kṛṣṇa. Relative truth. Kṛṣṇa is absolute truth. There are relative truths. So this is relative truth. Kṛṣṇa is substance. Now, from Kṛṣṇa everything is emanating by His energy. Water is also one of the energies, but that energy is not absolute truth, that water. But in that relativeness, the water's liquidity is truth. But it is relative truth.

Śyāmasundara: This is what he is saying, that there's absolute truth and relative truth.

Prabhupāda: Absolute truth is one. Then he can say that absolute truth and relative truth, not that two types of truth.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Śyāmasundara: Relative truths are governed by the law of sufficient reason. In other words, they can be most reasonably explained by reference to all of the conditions in which they are found.

Prabhupāda: Just like you can explain how the snow is formed-the molecular structure of the water, and how they become compact by temperature...

Śyāmasundara: He says that everything goes by steps in nature, and not by leaps. In other words, there is a law of continuity, like there are no gaps in nature. Everything is gradual. There is a gradual differentiation.

Prabhupāda: No. There are two ways-gradual and immediate also. Of course, in one sense... (break) ...little force, it goes quickly. The ball has no power. So wonderful things are happening in the material nature due to the will of the Supreme. Everything happening is the same process; it is undergoing the process, but the method, pushed by God, it takes automatically.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: So why...? The people in Greenland, do they develop hair?

Śyāmasundara: They don't have so much hair, but they develop very fatty tissues. Their eyes are slitted so there is not so much snow and bright light...

Prabhupāda: Then development of hair is not only the existent; there are other many conditions. You cannot say that development of hair is due to the condition as he says, natural condition. That is not a fixed-up...

Śyāmasundara: I was just using that as an example of how a species can adapt to its environment.

Prabhupāda: The question is that this development of body, is there any plan that this body should exist in certain condition of nature, and therefore he must have these equipments, either you say, tissues or veins or hair? Who has made these arrangements? That is the question.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Śyāmasundara: The first type of knowledge, centralized in the senses, such as "This snowball is white," he says that type of knowledge, there is no possibility of error, because it is knowledge that's direct or immediate. There's no mediation between. Immediate.

Prabhupāda: Therefore our proposition, to receive perfect knowledge from the authorities, that is perfect. As Kṛṣṇa says, evaṁ paramparā-praptam (BG 4.2). Kṛṣṇa is perfect, and whatever knowledge He imparts, that is perfect. If we take knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, then our knowledge is perfect. I may not be as perfect as Kṛṣṇa, but if I simply accept the statements of Kṛṣṇa, then my knowledge is perfect.

Śyāmasundara: He says that this type of conclusion such as "All men are mortal," there is no possibility of error because different people may arrive at the opposite conclusion...

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) What is that?

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Śyāmasundara: He says in a type of understanding that is direct, such as "This snowball is white," that there is no possibility of error because there is no distinction between what a thing seems to be and what it is in reality.

Prabhupāda: No. That is called direct perception. So direct perception is not perfect. It is no... Just like I see the sun (indistinct), but I see just like a disc. But it is not a disc. Therefore my direct perception of the sun is imperfect. When we go to scientific book, astronomy, then you can understand that it is so great, fourteen hundred lakhs, or fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than the earth. So this my direct perception, it has no value.

Śyāmasundara: What about the knowledge, for instance, "This snowball is white"? Isn't that a direct fact, this understanding by everyone?

Prabhupāda: Yes. The snowball is white, but it may be mixed up (indistinct) white. That is also very (indistinct).

Dr. Rao: Snowball is actually colorless. It is not white.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Dr. Rao: Snowball is actually colorless. It is not white.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Rao: I mean, so this proposition is incorrect. It is the rays of sun which are falling on the snowball, they are reflected, and then you see that snowball is white. Otherwise, snow is colorless.

Prabhupāda: Sometimes we see seven colors on the snowball. It is white. It is sunshine reflected there.

Dr. Rao: White light. You see white light, but white light is composed of seven colors: violet, indigo, blue, you know, (indistinct) and green, yellow, orange and red. So, but you are seeing white. (indistinct).

Devotee: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: But that is imperfect.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Śyāmasundara: His belief for..., the criterion for truth is called the correspondence theory, that a belief is true if it agrees with the facts with which it is supposed to correspond.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like this example, we see the snow as white, but it is..., does not correspond with the fact. Therefore it is not knowledge.

Dr. Rao: There is another example. They see water can (indistinct) in several (indistinct). One is the seawater, one is the (indistinct rest of comment)

Śyāmasundara: He also says that besides the correspondence, that fact must correspond with..., that a belief must correspond with the fact if it is to be true. Also he says...

Prabhupāda: So that fact does not correspond by direct perception, (indistinct) that we are seeing the snowball white, but scientifically it is not white; it is a combination of seven colors.

Dr. Rao: And even by saying white, it is (indistinct). You see sky, you see white clouds, you see white light, you see snow.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Dr. Rao: And even by saying white, it is (indistinct). You see sky, you see white clouds, you see white light, you see snow. (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Therefore we sometimes say "snow white." (laughter) "Snow white" means (indistinct). (laughter) So what is the standard of whiteness?

Dr. Rao: (indistinct comment) ...they are not transparent. But you can take very fine (indistinct) out of them, and they are transparent. So how can we say they are (indistinct). They are in fact transparent. It is ludicrous. That also science is attempting.

Śyāmasundara: He says another criterion for truth is coherence.

Prabhupāda: Therefore in our Vedic language they are called, direct perception, pratyakṣa. Pratyakṣa-jña.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Śyāmasundara: But isn't the understanding of the white light composed of seven other colors, isn't that also a fact of direct sense perception?

Prabhupāda: No. That is śabda. So a man sees this white snowball, he sees snow. He may not see the reflection of the sun, seven colors, but when he goes to a teacher, he can hear that there is seven colors. Therefore śabda-pramāṇa. The word, the sound, then he can be perfect.

Dr. Rao: (indistinct) Vedic truth?

Prabhupāda: No. Anything we receive knowledge directly by our sense perception, that is imperfect knowledge.

Śyāmasundara: Because even if we see the seven colors in the laboratory with instruments, we still don't understand the even simpler facts of which that is composed. There may be seven colors, but how to understand those?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore material knowledge is always imperfect. That is the conclusion.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Śyāmasundara: But he's using... He wants to use another word for facts. Instead of facts he...

Prabhupāda: What is the fact?

Śyāmasundara: ...he calls it propositions, or symbol, such as "Snow is white." Instead of calling it a fact, he would say, "It is proposition." (laughter)

Prabhupāda: What is the fact? He must say "This is fact."

Indian man: This is the same question in London. One of the (indistinct), that how can.

Purports to Songs

Purport to Bhajahu Re Mana -- New York, March 30, 1966:

He says that "I am working hard, day and night. And there is no question of winter or summer or rainy season. I have to work hard, day and night. If there is night duty in the winter season, I have to join my office at twelve o'clock at night. So I must go. There is snowfall. If I don't go, then I'll be absent. So I am working so hard, very hard." Śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa, jāminī jāgi re. "And what for I am working?" Now, biphale sevinu kṛpaṇa durajana: "Just to serve persons who cannot protect me, who cannot protect me." We think that my wife, or my husband, or my children, or my relatives, or my friends, and, oh, so many we have got, relationship with this material world And everyone is working to satisfy his relatives. A family man is working so hard because he has to satisfy his wife, children, friends and so many other persons. But one should be conscious that "These friends and relatives, they cannot protect me ultimately. They are Neither I can protect them, nor they can protect me."

Purport to Bhajahu Re Mana -- Los Angeles, January 7, 1969:

"You have experience of your material happiness. So material happiness means, the ultimate goal of material happiness is sex life. But don't you remember how long you can enjoy this sex life?" Capala. "Flickering. Say, for a few minutes or moment. That's all. But for that purpose you are working so hard?" Śīta ātapa. "Don't care for snowfall. Don't care for scorching heat. Don't care for torrents of rain. Don't care for keeping night, night duty. Whole day and night you are working. And what is the result? Simply for that flickering momentous enjoyment. Are you not ashamed of this?" So śīta ātapa, bāta bariṣaṇa, ei dina jāminī jāgi re. Dina means day, and jāminī means night. So "Day and night, you are working so hard. Why?" Capala sukha-laba lāgi' re. "Simply for that flickering happiness." Then he says, ei dhana yauvana, putra parijana, ithe ki āche paratīti re. "There is no happiness actually, eternal happiness, transcendental happiness, in enjoying this life, or this youthful age, or family, society.

Page Title:Snow (Lectures)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:17 of Aug, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=50, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:50