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Thunderbolt (Conv. & Letters)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 21, 1970, Surat:

Śyāmasundara: They make such a tremendous sound that they break windows and everything else.

Prabhupāda: Now we are with Sambhu in Bombay. As soon as the aeroplane would come on top of the house it is just like thunderbolt. Yes. At least I was feeling like that. Vajrapa. You see? So this is called illusion. We are creating a civilization which is so much painful, but we are thinking that we are advanced. This is illusion. We are creating simply problems, and still, we are thinking that we are advanced. And Bhāgavata says that there is no problem. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18). You simply try for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And then how I shall live? That, the answer, is tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. Just like you don't aspire for miseries, but it comes upon you, it is forced upon you, similarly, happiness also will be forced upon you, whatever you are destined to receive. So don't try for happiness or discarding distress. That will go on. You simply try for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which, without your trying, it will never be fulfilled. You have to voluntarily try for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, revive it.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, -- November 25, 1971, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: So it is very interesting, scientific. So I would like all intelligent men to come and join this movement.

Dr. Singh: It is a great knowledge, it is a great thunderbolt, it is a great gift. (Sanskrit)

Prabhupāda: Yes. We can answer any philosophy.

Śyāmasundara: We have a...

Prabhupāda: Nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ, kecit... There is a verse that there are many means and ways to rectify the world situation. But simply by accepting this bhakti cult, everything can be solved. The example is given, nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ. Just like there is fog, if there is sunlight, immediately dissipated. You cannot dissipate it in any other way. You may some scientific process that this way and that way...

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1972, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: Because they're better looking, good looking, intelligent, powerful. Similarly, just like this controller or director of this rain department is Indra. This thundering, it is under his direction this thundering is going on. He throws the thunderbolts and cracks the mountain, and then we get chunks. That is his business. As in government there are different departments, similarly, God has got different departments, and the in-charge of that department is demigod. Creation, that's Brahma; sustenance or maintenance, Himself, Viṣṇu; and dissolution, Lord Siva.

Martin: How is human life better than that?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Bishop Kelly -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is stated in one of the Vedic literature, that:

nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema sādhya kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya
(Cc. madhya 22.107)

The inherent principle is eternally a fact, his obedience to God. But artificially he has covered it, artificially. The God consciousness is there in everyone, but by so-called material advancement, he has forgotten. He has his obedience to God, natural. Even the aborigines in the forest, they also submit to the manifestation of God's different energies. As soon as there is some lightning and there is thunderbolt, they immediately... They offer obeisances. As soon as they see a big sea, ocean, they offer obeisances. So that is inherent. But due to the material association it is covered.

Morning Walk at Marina del Rey -- July 14, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Hm.

Jayatīrtha: No rain, no sun.

Prabhupāda: No, in the Kali-yuga it will be like that. There will be cloud, even thunderbolt and lightning, but there will be no rain. That is stated.

Bali Mardana: That is very inauspicious. That is not auspicious.

Prabhupāda: No.

Jayatīrtha: In the Kṛṣṇa Book you say that this Kali-yuga is compared to the cloudy season.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Jayatīrtha: The Kali-yuga is compared to the cloudy season of...

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: The example is given, these cataka birds, they want water from the cloud and they will never come down to take water, take water down. Similarly, devotees will simply depend on Kṛṣṇa. They'll not accept anything from this material world. (break) Example is given that sometimes the cloud, instead of giving water, gives thunderbolt. Still, they will not take water from down. That is a cataka. Although it is... Sometimes they are punished—instead of water, they are given thunderbolt—but still, they will not take any.

Harikeśa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, I was wondering if it was more important to understand the universal make up or simply to accept what Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says.

Prabhupāda: That means you don't accept Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?

Morning Walk -- June 28, 1975, Denver:

Satsvarūpa: A lightening bolt hit the plane.

Prabhupāda: Lighting...?

Harikeśa: Thunderbolt.

Prabhupāda: Oh. Just see, slaughterhouse.

Satsvarūpa: You said in your lecture the other day in Los Angeles that when that happens that many people are killed in one place, it means that it's arranged by the Supreme. Just like Kurukṣetra.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is stated by Kṛṣṇa, that "You are thinking very patriotically that you will not kill. But it is already settled. They must be killed here. I have brought them. You kill or not kill, they will be killed. That is My plan. If you want, you take credit that you have killed." This is same arrangement. It is prearranged. War means it is bringing all the animals together and kill them, finish. And that is happening every few years after years. The Napoleon is coming for killing, and Hitler is coming for killing. Sometimes Nelson is coming for killing. But here in India the God comes for killing. Lord Rāmacandra came for killing the Rāvaṇas and Kṛṣṇa came for killing the Kauravas.

Morning Walk -- November 26, 1975, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: No, our God is not unknown. Known. We know God's residence. We know God's father, God's mother, God's activities, God's friends. Everything we know. There is no "maybe."

Harikeśa: Just like in the former days when the savages saw thunderbolts...

Prabhupāda: The savage... You may be savage. We are not savage. You may be savage, but we are not savage. We are civilized.

Harikeśa: Therefore we don't have so many unknown things, so we don't need God.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 3, 1976, Nellore:

Harikeśa: I mean, after all, all this talk about God was simply there because of man's desire to explain the unknown. He saw a thunderbolt and...

Prabhupāda: It is unknown to the rascal man. It is known to the sober man. (laughter) He should become sober instead of becoming a rascal. That is required. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne (BG 5.18). Ācāryavān puruṣo veda: "He knows, who has accepted the ācārya." This is Theosophical Society, I think. Huh? That trademark. Or Rāmakrishna Mission.

Acyutānanda: No, Salvation Army.

Prabhupāda: Salvation Army, oh.

Morning Walk -- March 11, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: He was waiting if Caitanya Mahāprabhu would accept him again. But when he saw that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is not so lenient, he committed suicide. Vajrād api kaṭora. Harder than the thunderbolt and softer than the rose. This is the position.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But, Prabhupāda, if you were as strict as.... If you were that strict...

Prabhupāda: No, I am not Caitanya Prabhu. I am not.... Why you are comparing me? I am an ordinary man.

Guru-kṛpā: So in ISKCON, if someone falls down, it means that he should commit suicide?

Prabhupāda: No.

Room Conversation -- July 17, 1976, New York:

Indian man: Right. In fact, several people, even in our community in Poughkeepsie, received letters from Satya Sai Baba's followers that "Here is a letter. Make ten copies and send the ten copies to ten different people. If you don't, Satya Sai Baba's thunderbolt will come and strike your family, and they'll be destroyed." Now no guru ever puts a thunderbolt on his devotee, and I said, "If that is a guru, I'll stay ten thousand miles away from him, because my guru is very kind and he'll bless me." I said, "No guru should ever put a thunderbolt on his devotee."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. You can turn towards this.

Indian man: At Monticello in Catskill... I don't know if you know it. Monticello in Catskill Mountains here? Just about fifty-sixty miles north, there is Muktananda.

Hari-śauri: Muktananda.

Room Conversation -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Thunderbolt.

Jayapatākā: Thunderbolt. And the policemen said that never—even the chief minister came here once—not even half so many people came, and that was announced for one week. This was announced for one day and more people came than ever before. He said, "This really shows me that the people are hungry for spiritual answer. They have no one to lead them."

Gargamuni: And these leaders are simply envious, that's all. The only reason why they're not helping us is because they're envious. Because so many people are interested and no one is interested in them.

Correspondence

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Jadurani -- Calcutta 13 October, 1967:

You are already allotted a nice service & if you continue this reponsibility anywhere you live & at the same time chant at least 16 rounds a day you will do all right in any circumstances. You have written to say that I am "as hard as the thunderbolt & softer than a rose" is quite right in the line of Krishna Consciousness. I am very sorry to inform you that Kirtanananda is playing the part of a foolish man after his return to N.Y. & it is necessary for me to play the part of a thunderbolt for his nonsense activities. He has unnecessarily instructed something to Damodara which is not sanctioned by me. Since he has developed this nonsensical attitude so much so that he is dictating something which is not sanctioned by me, all his instructions should be neglected. Please inform this to all centers.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Advaita -- Calcutta 7 October, 1970:

I understand you have left and it is a thunderbolt for me. How is that?

What are your demands? Or have you also been contaminated? Please tell me frankly. Where is your wife and child? If there is any disagreement with your Godbrothers, you may live separately. That doesn't matter. If there is any severe misunderstanding, I request you to come to India and live with me and start a press here.

I shall await your reply with great anxiety. Please let me know everything in detail by return mail.

Page Title:Thunderbolt (Conv. & Letters)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:17 of Feb, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=12, Let=2
No. of Quotes:14