Surplus

Expressions researched:
"surplus" |"surpluses"

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 9.27, Translation and Purport:

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform—do that, O son of Kuntī, as an offering to Me.

Thus, it is the duty of everyone to mold his life in such a way that he will not forget Kṛṣṇa in any circumstance. Everyone has to work for maintenance of his body and soul together, and Kṛṣṇa recommends herein that one should work for Him. Everyone has to eat something to live; therefore he should accept the remnants of foodstuffs offered to Kṛṣṇa. Any civilized man has to perform some religious ritualistic ceremonies; therefore Kṛṣṇa recommends, "Do it for Me," and this is called arcana. Everyone has a tendency to give something in charity; Kṛṣṇa says, "Give it to Me," and this means that all surplus money accumulated should be utilized in furthering the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Nowadays people are very much inclined to the meditational process, which is not practical in this age, but if anyone practices meditating on Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours a day by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra round his beads, he is surely the greatest meditator and the greatest yogī. As substantiated by the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.12.32, Translation and Purport:

Just at this time, King Yudhiṣṭhira was considering performing a horse sacrifice to get freed from sins incurred from fighting with kinsmen. But he became anxious to get some wealth, for there were no surplus funds outside of fines and tax collection.

As the brāhmaṇas and vipras had a right to be subsidized by the state, the state executive head had the right to collect taxes and fines from the citizens. After the Battle of Kurukṣetra the state treasury was exhausted, and therefore there was no surplus fund except the fund from tax collection and fines. Such funds were sufficient only for the state budget, and having no excess fund, the King was anxious to get more wealth in some other way in order to perform the horse sacrifice. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira wanted to perform this sacrifice under the instruction of Bhīṣmadeva.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.17.25, Purport:

As described in a previous verse, cows and other animals should be given sufficient grass to eat. If despite a sufficient supply of grass a cow does not supply milk, and if there is an acute shortage of food, the dried-up cow may be utilized to feed the hungry masses of people. According to the law of necessity, first of all human society must try to produce food grains and vegetables, but if they fail in this, they can indulge in flesh-eating. Otherwise not. As human society is presently structured, there is sufficient production of grains all over the world. Therefore the opening of slaughterhouses cannot be supported. In some nations there is so much surplus grain that sometimes extra grain is thrown into the sea, and sometimes the government forbids further production of grain. The conclusion is that the earth produces sufficient grain to feed the entire population, but the distribution of this grain is restricted due to trade regulations and a desire for profit. Consequently in some places there is scarcity of grain and in others profuse production. If there were one government on the surface of the earth to handle the distribution of grain, there would be no question of scarcity, no necessity to open slaughterhouses, and no need to present false theories about over-population.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.14.12, Purport:

The wealth and riches acquired through previous pious activities should not be misused for sense gratification. Enjoying them for sense gratification is like enjoying the fruits of a poisonous tree. Such activities will not help the conditioned soul in any way, neither in this life nor the next. However, if one engages his possessions in the service of the Lord under the guidance of a proper spiritual master. he will attain happiness both in this life and the next. Unless he does so, he eats a forbidden apple and thereby loses his paradise. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa therefore advises that one's possessions should be given unto Him.

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi

yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya

tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam

"O son of Kuntī, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me." (BG 9.27) Material wealth and opulence attained through previous pious activities can be fully utilized for one's benefit in this life and the next if one is Kṛṣṇa conscious. One should not try to possess more than he needs for the bare necessities. If one gets more than is needed, the surplus should be fully engaged in the Lord's service. That will make the conditioned soul, the world and Kṛṣṇa happy, and this is the aim of life.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.11.16, Translation and Purport:

As an alternative, a brāhmaṇa may also take to the vaiśya's occupational duty of agriculture, cow protection, or trade. He may depend on that which he has received without begging, he may beg in the paddy field every day, he may collect paddy left in a field by its proprietor, or he may collect food grains left here and there in the shops of grain dealers. These are four means of livelihood that may also be adopted by brāhmaṇas. Among these four, each of them in succession is better than the one preceding it.

A brāhmaṇa is sometimes offered land and cows in charity, and thus for his livelihood he may act in the same way as a vaiśya, by cultivating land, giving protection to cows and trading off his surpluses. A better process, however, is to pick up grains from a field or from a dealer's shop without begging.

Light of the Bhagavata

Light of the Bhagavata 9, Purport:

Trade is meant only for transporting surplus produce to places where the produce is scanty. But when traders become too greedy and materialistic they take to large-scale commerce and industry and allure the poor agriculturalist to unsanitary industrial towns with a false hope of earning more money. The industrialist and the capitalist do not want the farmer to remain at home, satisfied with his agricultural produce. When the farmers are satisfied by a luxuriant growth of food grains, the capitalist becomes gloomy at heart. But the real fact is that humanity must depend on agriculture and subsist on agricultural produce.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 3.11-19 -- Los Angeles, December 27, 1968:

Revatīnandana: So when... When they say they have a surplus of grains now, they are burning these great mounds of grains, this means that in the future there will be no grains for this country to eat?

Prabhupāda: Yes. As soon as you make misuse, the supply will be stopped. After all, the supply is not in your control. You cannot manufacture all these things. You can kill thousands of cows daily, but you cannot generate even one ant. And you are very much proud of your science. You see. Just produce one ant in the laboratory, moving, with independence. And you are killing so many animals? Why? So how long this will go on? Everything will be stopped.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Calcutta, February 26, 1974:

Dvija means twice-born: first birth by the father and mother, and the second birth by saṁskāra, or by culture. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, they have got saṁskāra. Śūdras have no saṁskāra. Saṁskāra-varjita means śūdra. In this age nobody observes the saṁskāras. Therefore in the śāstra it is said, kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. In the Kali-yuga almost every person is a śūdra. Therefore there is so much chaos. The government is managed by the śūdras or less than śūdras, mleccha. Mleccha-rājendra-rūpiṇaḥ. Mlecchas have taken the post of government. It is meant for the kṣatriyas, means qualified kṣatriya, very brave, very powerful, very charitable, not going away when there is fight. That is kṣatriya's position. Brāhmaṇa means satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā. So people should be trained up as brāhmaṇa, as kṣatriya, as vaiśya. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). The vaiśya's duty is to produce food grains, agriculture, and give protection to the cows, and if you have got surplus foodstuff, you can make trade where there is shortage.

General Lectures

Lecture at World Health Organization -- Geneva, June 6, 1974:

Guest (5): No. That I understand. But I mean in regard to your own work, can you give an example of something having worked that..., whatever you mean by work?

Guru-gaurāṅga: Yes. Cultivating the land, for example. We have communities. New Vrindaban, in West Virginia; California. We are establishing in France. We can absorb as many people as wish to come, and we can feed them all, and we still have surplus in foodstuffs.

Prabhupāda: Yes. In Virginia, it has proved very successful. We are getting eighty pounds of milk daily. And from that milk...

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Eight hundred.

Prabhupāda: Eh? Eight hundred. Yes. Eight hundred, I am sorry. So that milk product is sufficient for give them nutritious food. We are preparing ghee. Just like in India, they utilize milk so nicely. And vegetables we are growing. They are making sweetmeats, sandeṣa, rasagullā. There is enough milk product. And ghee, luci, purī. They are satisfied. So that is the basic principle.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Prabhupāda: and as soon as they get opportunity to become (indistinct), by taking others' blood. Unless you feel in your heart (indistinct).

Śyāmasundara: His idea is that only the workers are entitled to the surplus value of the product (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: But actually the workers (indistinct) no longer work (indistinct). Just like the (indistinct). He was a worker in the mill. He was working, and as soon as he gets some money he sits down as a proprietor of the mill and after, he takes advantage of working others. Because (indistinct) happened and becomes capitalist. There are many instances. Just like in your country, Ford, he was some (indistinct).

Śyāmasundara: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Yes. But he got the opportunity to become capitalist. And there are so many in our country also (indistinct) that I was a (indistinct) I was out getting money, I was starving, and now I have become first-class. (laughter)

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- October 25, 1972, Vrndavana:

Gurudāsa: It seems that Bhavānanda prabhu is the best manager.

Prabhupāda: Manager anyone can become, but manpower... We have no Indian members chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Gurudāsa: No.

Prabhupāda: So how much men we shall import? And whether it is feasible by importing men to manage this facility?

Gurudāsa: Now, there seems to be a surplus of men in Bombay, from all the reports I've gotten. So some could come.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gurudāsa: But...

Prabhupāda: If we remain here and attract foreigners to come...

Gurudāsa: The manpower will come from them.

Prabhupāda: Not only visitors (indistinct), those who are spiritually inclined. In that way we may get opportunity.

Gurudāsa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: The other point is that when we manage these things, there are many guṇḍās in Vṛndāvana. They will try to create some trouble. Just like yesterday. You were present? This boy was fighting with one man. You were not present?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With David Lawrence -- July 12, 1973, London:

David Lawrence: Yes, I think this was the clinching argument in this program...

Prabhupāda: But they are doing... What they are doing? They're taking the milk and slaughtering the animals and sending to foreign countries for trade. New Zealand, Australia, they are doing like that. Just see.

David Lawrence: Or they're throwing down the surplus milk down coal mines.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

David Lawrence: They throw surplus milk down coal mines.

Prabhupāda: That's it.

David Lawrence: When there are people without any...

Prabhupāda: How they are wasting! You see? And they're putting the overstocked grain into the sea. America.

David Lawrence: Dumping tomatoes, bananas, all these things.

Prabhupāda: What kind of civilization? And producing Nixon on the head. (laughter.) Just see.

David Lawrence: Yes.

Prabhupāda: And they want to be happy. This is their position.

Room Conversation -- August 11, 1973, Paris:

Haṁsadūta: This is vaidikī.

Haṁsadūta: "...Do it for Me."

Yogeśvara: Vaidikī.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Haṁsadūta: "...and this is called arcanā. Everyone has a tendency to give something in charity. Kṛṣṇa says: 'Give it to Me.' And this means that all surplus money accumulated should be utilized in furthering the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Nowadays people are very much inclined to the meditational process, which is not practical in this age. But if anyone practices meditating on Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra around his beads, he is surely, he is surely the greatest yogi, as substantiated by the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā."

Yogeśvara: (indistinct) there's that Prof. Kotovsky who was raising an objection. He was saying that your four-class system may work well in a simple agrarian culture like in India, but here where things are much more complicated, it would never work.

Prabhupāda: It is already there. He is professor, why? (laughter) That is their rascaldom. They are doing the same thing. But still they are decrying the process. Why you have become professor? You remain ordinary worker. There is no need of professor. Why he has become professor of Indology? And there is two, amongst the workers also, there are two classes, manager class, worker class. You have to divide. Without division... (break) Just like this body is not a lump of matter. There is division. Without division, the body cannot work.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 27, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: If they were bad enough, we are now worst enough. We are now introducing meat-eating and drinking and... We are worst.

Devotee: Prabhupāda, in the newspaper the other day it said that the India government wants to start exporting beef.

Dr. Patel: Beef! Because they want to... Yes, we read it. They want to be..., slaughter the surplus cows because they are not yielding enough milk. There was very big article I read wherein they said that not only the milk is important, but the cow dung is as fertilizer in the fields much more than the modern day... (break) No? (break)

Prabhupāda: Why it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, go-rakṣya? Why not another animal-rakṣya?

Dr. Patel: Bāgha-rakṣya koro.

Prabhupāda: Why it is specially mentioned? Go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya.

Dr. Patel: They are doing bāgha-rakṣya here, not go-rakṣya. All the tigers are getting much... (break)

Prabhupāda: ...crying like jackals, they are.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- August 26, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So I know that even if it is given, 75,000, you'll never finish it. That I know.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: What we are doing is...

Prabhupāda: Then you will say, "Our estimate was wrong. We were mistaken." This is going on. Several times, "This is estimate," money paid—"No, it was wrong. Pay more." This is going on. What is the estimate, what is the right estimate, nobody knows.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: What we will do is now we're going to be producing surplus from our income. That surplus is going to be used for fixing up...

Prabhupāda: That is "to be." I am speaking what is done. That I am speaking. That is "to be." The "to be" is going on for the last so many years. Now you utilize... You are getting money, but still "to be." You are getting so much money, daily income, two hundred rupees, three hundred rupees. Still "to be." You do not know what will be the actual solution. So many big, big heads, and there is no solution. I do not know what to do. So many things unfinished.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: So far, there wasn't any surplus. Now there's a surplus...

Prabhupāda: Where is the surplus?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Now it will start coming. Now it is... From Jhulan-yātrā our income has picked up.

Prabhupāda: But you have got money?

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Now we will have a surplus.

Prabhupāda: You'll... Again "to be."

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: End of this month.

Prabhupāda: Again "to be." Again, at the end of this month, again "to be." Again "will be." Say "We have no money." That's all. Why do you say indirectly? "It will be." So many managers and so many discrepancies.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...the gūr?

Jayapatāka: We use it the whole year for the sweetening in the different preparations of prasāda.

Prabhupāda: We use ourself.

Jayapatāka: Yes. We don't...

Prabhupāda: Sell.

Jayapatāka: No. We don't have surplus yet.

Prabhupāda: (break) You also? (laughter)

Jayapatāka: Arch or anything be put on this gate?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Jayapatāka: Should we put any little arch on this gate?

Prabhupāda: Yes, why not? Later on. It is not very urgent. (break)

Satadhanya: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Other one?

Jayapatāka: Exit.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (break) ...arrange it so they don't know how to use it. They get caught.

Prabhupāda: Wherefrom you got it?

Morning Walk -- April 21, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: ...Chinese man, Indians, they will come in large number. But they will not allow. That is the difficulty.

Guru-kṛpā: There's more cows in this country than people.

Prabhupāda: They are killing?

Guru-kṛpā: They are eating them.

Prabhupāda: And other countries, they are starving for want of milk. Therefore I say the United Nation simply barking dogs. What is the value if they cannot adjust? United Nation, all the nations should take advantage all the facilities offered, but that they will not allow. And they are named, "United." Just see. Farce.

Devotee (1): In New Zealand they have a hundred million tons of surplus milk powder, and they can't sell it, so they decided to feed it to the pigs. They could send it all over the world.

Prabhupāda: Why not take it free and send it to India? (break) ...of the world. Everything is sufficiently there, but still, some are starving and some are enjoying for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Guru-kṛpā: The rascals, they try to blame everything on Kṛṣṇa by saying, "Why is Kṛṣṇa letting people starve?"

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is giving them sufficient. They are mismanaging. Still, Kṛṣṇa is still bad. Envious. Kṛṣṇa created this earth. Did He say, "This is for the Australians. This is for the Americans"? Did He say? Why you are keeping so much land as "Australia"? That is also Kṛṣṇa's fault? Australia was never given to the Englishmen. They came and they, by force they took it. So similarly America, the land was there.

Morning Walk -- June 18, 1976, Toronto:

Prabhupāda: Too warm, too cold, both are bad. (break)

Devotee: ...too warm, but it is not bad.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) In India it is actually so. (break)

Indian (2): ...land is getting the benefit by your lotus feet, actually pious.

Prabhupāda: (break) ...propaganda is going on to kill God. Pani haya svapisaca khanakila.(?) (break)

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...yesterday, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that India this year has produced a record crop of wheat, surplus.

Prabhupāda: Yes, if they work, they can do that. (break)

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In West Bengal they have huge quantities of rice surplus.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Hari-śauri: Could that be due to our saṅkīrtana activities?

Prabhupāda: Certainly. Bhavanti parjanyaḥ parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ. There was big valley like this in Tokyo. We walked, and there was a creek like this. Not so dirty. (break)

Indian (1): ...high commissioners, for the passport. They're so demoniac, they're not working at all, they're.... (break) ...politics and they sit there. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...is sympathetic with this movement. Everyone wants godlessness. And this movement is preaching about God, so nobody likes us. (break)

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation Pieces -- May 27, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Whimsical. Very, very difficult to deal with such unscrupulous government. But still, we have got open field all over the world.

Rāmeśvara: In America the book selling has now surpassed last year.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Rāmeśvara: We are trying to double. So it is not yet doubled, but it has gone...

Prabhupāda: Surplus.

Rāmeśvara: ...beyond last year.

Prabhupāda: Oh. That's nice. It is going to be doubled.

Rāmeśvara: We are confident. By your words it will double.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Be doubly blessed. Yes. I say, America is my fatherland. So New Vrindaban is developing? Be happy everywhere.

Kīrtanānanda: How can we be happy when you're not well?

Prabhupāda: Hm? Hm?

Kīrtanānanda: We can't be happy if you're not well.

Prabhupāda: I am always well.

Kīrtanānanda: Why can't you give us your old age?

Prabhupāda: When I see that things are going on nicely, I am happy. What is this with this body? Body is body. We are not body.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Gurudasa -- Los Angeles 12 June, 1972:

I am very glad to hear that the American officers in Delhi are very much favorable to our movement. It is very good news. If you can persuade them to give us foodstuffs directly, then we shall use it properly and America's prestige will be widely spread throughout India. We can organize for distribution of prasadam all over India, in factories, schools, and so on. If we simply have kirtana and distribute nice prasadam, everywhere there will be good respect for us. So I hope you will stick very closely to this matter of acquiring surplus foodstuffs from your government and seeing to it that the food is distributed widely throughout India by our Krishna Consciousness devotees. This is a very great favor to me. As Saurabha has advised, so that was also my plan, that there should be many gardens and courtyards at our Vrndavana center. The condition of the owner Mr. Saraf was that within three months construction work would begin. We have fenced the land but otherwise we have done nothing.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Tamala Krsna -- Los Angeles 5 December, 1973:

Regading the Government loan for our tourist hotel, we have already invested twenty lakhs so they may loan us at least 1 crore. Do it carefully. If we construct a very attractive hotel many tourists will come just like the Holiday Inn.

So far as the arrangement with Australia for trading books for ghee, go ahead and do it with my permission. Karandhara has agreed.

If you think there is a good opportunity for getting surplus food grains from the U.S.A. then you may come here for sometime to work on this scheme after Giriraja and Mohanananda have returned to Bombay.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Yasomatinandana -- Vrindaban 28 November, 1976:

Our mission is to protect our devotees from unnecessary heavy work to save time for advancing in Krsna consciousness. This is our mission. So there is no question of profit, but if easily there are surplus products, then we can think of trading. Otherwise we have no such intention. We want a temple, a gosala and agriculture. A community project as in Europe and America. We are making similar attempts in India in several places. Immediately I'm going to Hyderabad to organize the farm project there. We have 600 acres. We have the permission from the government. There is no question of ceiling.