Expressions researched:
"transcendence"
|"transcendent"
Guru-gaurāṅga: "Translation: The Supreme occupation, dharma, for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted in order to completely satisfy the self."
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is self-satisfaction. Yayātmā suprasīdati. Ahaituky apratihatā. So the bhakti cult is open for everyone. Ahaituky apratihatā.
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa:
"The supreme occupation, dharma, for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted in order to completely satisfy the self."
Prabhupāda: So our, this movement is to create lover of God. It does not matter whether he follows Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism or this ism or that ism. One must be lover of God, and that is stated in the Bhāgavata. That is first-class religion which turns the followers to become lover of God, that's all.
M. Roche-dieu: In Christianity, mystics would emphasize the same thing.
Prabhupāda: That is the essence of religion, to know God and to love Him. That's all.
Prabhupāda: Now who will translate? You, one by one, line, the translation you speak.
Nitāi: O.K. "I offer my obeisances unto Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vāsudeva, who is the Supreme, All-pervading Personality of Godhead. I meditate upon Him, the transcendent reality, who is the primeval cause of all causes, from whom all manifested universes arise, in whom they dwell, and by whom they are destroyed. I meditate upon that eternally effulgent Lord who is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations and yet is beyond them. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge into the heart of Brahmā."
Prabhupāda: And this is Vedic knowledge.
Nitāi: "Who is the first created living being."
Prabhupāda: You read another verse, aham ādir hi devānāṁ maharṣīṇāṁ ca (Bg 10.2). Aham ādir hi devānām. (loud noise in background) Never mind, never mind. Don't bother. That's all right.
Prabhupāda: No, humbleness is of course good qualification, but the humbleness you will find in animal also, very humble. If you cut his throat, he will not tell anything. So humbleness also, that is another thing, but what should be the aim of life? What is the actual aim of life? If we forget the aim of life and simply become humble like ass, is that very good qualification? The ass is very humble. You load upon it tons of loads. It will not protest. Very humble.
Hṛdayānanda: (Spanish) He says that the goal of life is to achieve the transcendence.
Prabhupāda: Yes, right. The goal of life is realization of transcendence. So, that they are forgetting. They have made their goal of life as sense gratification. (translated into Spanish by Hṛdayānanda)
Professor: What kind of transcendence would that be?
Prabhupāda: Transcendence means the Absolute Truth. What do you mean by transcendence?
Professor: By transcendence, I understand it, the universal consciousness. The search for God.
Prabhupāda: Yes, right you are. This life, human life, is distinguished from animal life because the animal cannot inquire about transcendence. The human life, if it is not interested in transcendence, then he is animal. If simply he is interested with the bodily demands of life, namely eating, sleeping, sex and defense, these are bodily demands of life. So if we think that "Dog is eating on the street, and we are eating very palatable dishes, nicely made, very tasteful.
Prabhupāda: Therefore a human being is distinguished from the animal when he enquires about transcendence. And that is explained in the great literature Brahma-sūtra, or the philosophy of Vedānta-sūtra, athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now we have got this human form of life. We must enquire about the Brahman, or transcendence." So our bodily necessities of life should be simplified as much as it is required. We must save time for enquiring about transcendence. So unless we enquire about the transcendence, then we are two-legged animals. This is culture, this is the aim of life.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He's saying that in European history many, many people, in the name of looking for transcendence, there have been so many wars, hatred between men, and, you may know, in Spain they had what is called the Inquisition where they burned so many people. And so he's saying, psychologically, that his brain tells him that in the name of searching after transcendence there has been so much bad, so how is this different?
Prabhupāda: The difference is transcendence is beyond our mind, bodily activities, mental activities or intelligence. The European philosophers and transcendentalists, they do not know actually what is transcendence. They understand that there is something, but they do not know what it is. Therefore they speculate by their imperfect senses. Gradually it becomes craziness. Therefore you find that defect.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): So do you mean to say that this is just a contemplative thing that doesn't really have a active influence upon the society to change the different...?
Prabhupāda: No, we must first of all understand that our senses are imperfect. Just like we are sitting in this room. We have got our eyes, but we cannot see what is there, going on, beyond this wall. The sun is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, and we are seeing just like a disc. So the eyelid is just near the eyes, but we cannot see what is the eyelids. If the light is off, we cannot see. So we can see under certain condition. Then what is the value of our seeing? If we, even if we manufacture telescope, that is also manufactured by the imperfect senses, so it is also not perfect. So anything understood by manipulating our imperfect senses, that is not real knowledge. So our process of understanding real knowledge is to take it from the person who has the real knowledge. Just like if we contemplate or speculate who is my father, it is never possible to understand who is my father. But if we receive the words from mother that "Here is your father," that is perfect. Therefore the process of knowledge should be not to speculate but to receive it from the perfect person. If we receive knowledge from a mental speculator, that is not perfect knowledge.
Prabhupāda: Yes. You have to... Just like mother has seen the father. So her knowledge is perfect. But I have not seen my father. Because before my birth there was father, I do not know who is my father. The mother has seen the father. So you have to approach such a person who has seen the truth. That is the way of... Now you have to find out a person who has seen the transcendence and receive knowledge of transcendence from him. Then it is perfect.
Professor: (Spanish) What I mean is that, you know. We are all imperfect because we are imperfect. Right? So how can a master, a person who really understands or who claims to really understand be able to know perfection, to see the truth, how can he with his imperfect senses...
Prabhupāda: You are right, you are right.
Prabhupāda: I am not wanting. I am simply distributing the transcendental knowledge.
Professor: Will not transcendence be an illusion too?
Prabhupāda: No, no, there is proof. It is not emotion. What you say, you have no proof, but what I say I have got proof. What you say, you become your own authority. But what I say, I have got greater authority. Just like two lawyers speaking before the court—the lawyer who gives quotation from the authority, he gains the case.
Professor: Do you have any evidence?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Professor: Would you tell us your experiences in that field?
Prabhupāda: Yes, that, of course, it will take time for you to understand. Because unless you are lawyer, you cannot understand while the other lawyer is giving quotation. But the court will accept.
Prabhupāda: Not only one life, but millions of life, you will not be able to know—unless you change your policy.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): What is the value of the transcendence?
Prabhupāda: Because you are transcendence. You are actually seeking transcendence because you are transcendence.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He says that because he doesn't know what the transcendence is, there's no value for him. It's only a name. He doesn't know why to look for it.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So first of all, as I say, that you are also transcendence, you just try to know yourself first. Then you will know what is transcendence. You are the sample of transcendence, and if you see the sample, you can know the whole thing. Just like if you taste one drop of sea water, then you can understand what is the chemical composition of the sea water. Therefore your first business is to know yourself, that you are not this body. In this way, when you know yourself, then you know the original transcendence.
Prabhupāda: Risky life. The animal is always in danger. A dog is running, but at any moment he can be in danger. I have seen in my own eyes in New York. It is little in the off from New York. In I think in the month of December or January, a dog was jumping and he fell in the water pool and immediately died. It was so cold it collapsed immediately. So what is the use of this dog-like jumping? Besides that, in the animal society there is no question of culture, religion, philosophy, science. Animal, they do not require it. And why man requires it? That means human society is searching after the transcendence. But without knowing the way, how to understand, they are now engaged in different way. You find out this verse from Bhāgavatam, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā na yaś ceha karmabhiḥ. Find out. Kamasya nendriya-pritiḥ.
Hṛdayānanda: It's in the first volume.
Prabhupāda: Yes. You know that?
Hṛdayānanda: They still have doubts on this point that how can we know that it's worth our trouble, that if we dedicate our lives to this searching for the transcendence, how can we be sure that at the end of it we won't have wasted our lives? How can we be sure that the transcendence is actually worth searching for?
Prabhupāda: No, first of all you must understand the importance of the business. Then we can do it. If you do not understand the importance of the business, then you cannot do it.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He says that he feels that you've already answered this question, but that they didn't catch it, that he thinks the key is that you said that the truth is not outside, but it's actually within us. We have to find it within us.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He says why do you put so much emphasis on the personalism after liberation because it seems like to him that the ideal perfect thing would be the unity rather than having something separate.
Prabhupāda: That is your ideal, imperfect ideal. Because you are imperfect.
Professor: Are you perfect master?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, because I am heard from the perfect. I am not perfect, but what I say, that is perfect. Just like a child does not know what is this dictaphone, but he has learned from the father, "This is dictaphone," so when he says, "This is dictaphone," it is perfect. The child is not perfect, but because he has heard from his father perfect, so the knowledge is perfect.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): Is the final goal of transcendence, then, immortality?
Prabhupāda: All perfection.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): Then what would that be then? What would that be, that all perfection?
Prabhupāda: That is transcendence. You come in contact with the transcendence, all-perfect. Then you become all-perfect.
Professor: Is God perfect?
Prabhupāda: Yes, otherwise how He is God? He is dog.
Professor: Is transcendence God?
Hṛdayānanda: They don't want to miss anything.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): They want to know: is God the transcendence?
Prabhupāda: What is the transcendence? Find out the meaning.
Prabhupāda: Not "to," the verb, I mean to say, transcendence. So find out the noun.
Hṛdayānanda: Noun is not here.
Prabhupāda: Not here?
Hṛdayānanda: But I can change it into the noun. The transcendence: "That which goes beyond, that which exceeds the limits, rises above." And also transcendence means "that which transcends ordinary limits, the supreme, the preeminent." So I'll translate it.
Prabhupāda: This is the meaning is there, that our mind, our bodily activities, our words, they are all limited. They are all limited. Do you accept or not?
Professor: By time.
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be. It may be by time. Suppose a child, he can say, "I am now foolish for the time." But he is foolish at that time. That is not argument, that this child expects to become an M.A. That does not mean he can say he is M.A. at that time. So you cannot make time. Unless you are perfect in knowledge, you cannot say that you are in knowledge. Time, everyone has got the chance. In time he will be in perfect knowledge. That is not... There is no disagreement. But so long he is imperfect, he must admit that he is imperfect. Now, a businessman, a small businessman, he is trying to become millionaire, and if he says, "I will become millionaire in time," that does not mean he is millionaire. He must first of all become millionaire. Then he should claim.
Professor: Is it transcendent?
Prabhupāda: Yes, that occupier or...
Professor: I don't care who is the owner of my body. I know that it is not going to be eternally mine because this body is going to corrupt, is going to die, and we will have to bury it so that everybody will be happy. But I don't care about that because I...
Prabhupāda: That is animal. That is animal. That is animal conception. That is animal conception, that a dog doesn't care. Similarly, if you don't care, then you are no better than the dog.
Professor: I would not agree with that.
Prabhupāda: Why not? Because your conception, the dog conception, the same.
Professor: Well, you were saying beforehand...
Prabhupāda: No, no, the dog doesn't care whether he is the proprietor of the body or not. So if I don't care, then what is the difference between dog and me?
Professor: The difference between dog and men is a very slight one, that men can think, that men can reason.
Prabhupāda: So, you say slight; we say nothing. Unless one has got this transcendental knowledge, he is no better than the dog.
Prabhupāda: Yes, for eating, sleeping and sex life and defense, everyone has got knowledge. Dog has knowledge. You have got knowledge. But what is the distinction between you and dog? In your life, you can realize the transcendence. The dog cannot. That makes you distinct from...
Professor: Now, how can you be so sure of that? Have you ever been in a dog's mind? How can... As you have already said...
Prabhupāda: There is no need... There is no need because dog is busy for his bodily requisition. And if you are simply busy for your bodily requisition, then what is the difference between you and dog? We have to take the principle.
Professor: Why is that difference so important for you?
Prabhupāda: No, no, fundamentally what is the difference? The dog is whole day busy to find out his food, and if you are also busy to find out your food, then where is the difference?
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): You have given the example that one has to give up certain habits such as one should not smoke and things, but is it true that that is not the ultimate goal of transcendence?
Prabhupāda: No, that is a process.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): Can someone outside, who does not follow these practices, can he achieve perfection?
Prabhupāda: Maybe, but that is exceptional.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He said that Buddha achieved perfection outside of joining any particular religion, and that after reading so many things and hearing all different philosophies that it was actually the practice.
Prabhupāda: He changed himself religion.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He says that... It's some story that when Buddha was about to leave his body, he said that... Anyway, the conclusion of the story is that he also considered himself imperfect.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the greatness of Buddha. Because his followers were imperfect, he could not say more than what they could understand. Therefore he said that "I am imperfect." His mission was to stop animal killing. But people are very much accustomed to animal killing, so he did not say higher things that they could not understand. For them, if they could stop animal killing, that was perfection. For primary student, if he understands the mathematics, two plus two equal to four, that is his perfection. That does not mean there is no higher mathematics. Give them prasāda. Wait, wait. Bring it. Wait, wait little minute. (break) ...otherwise one cannot understand spiritual matter.
Prabhupāda: Yes. I think it is... Maybe it is described in Seventeenth Chapter. According to our free will, we are associating with certain type of the modes of material nature, and then we become subjected to that material modes. The same example: you infect some disease, contamination, and you gain the result of it. So our endeavor should be how to raise ourself to the first, to the sattva-guṇa. That we can do. And then transcend sattva-guṇa and reach the spiritual platform. Everyone is trying to improve his position, but they do not know what is meant by improvement. Improvement means mostly they are in tamo-guṇa, ignorance. So rise from tamo-guṇa to rajo-guṇa, rajo-guṇa to sattva-guṇa, and then sattva-guṇa to transcendence. That is improvement. So generally, people are suffering on account of association with tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa, whole material world, mostly tamo-guṇa and few of them in rajo-guṇa. The symptoms of rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa are lust and greediness. Just like yesterday you told me the students are talking about homosex. That means tamo-guṇa, that the education-students, they are discussing about homosex.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We get experience daily. In the daytime we have forgotten the night dream, and night dream we forget in this daytime existence. So which is correct? Therefore it is hallucination. (break)
Dharmādhyakṣa: ...one psychologist who believes man is his body but he talks very much about transcendence. Even the materialists now, they realize that the present condition is very miserable and this false ego is the cause of all problems, so they are seeking some form of transcendence. And many psychologists are talking about transcendence nowadays as the solution to life's problems.
Prabhupāda: What do they define about transcendence?
Dharmādhyakṣa: Well, actually they give all the characteristics of transcendence that are found in the Bhagavad-gītā but without saying that man is a spirit soul and without talking about Kṛṣṇa. They believe man should overcome duality, should be beyond attachment, should work for a higher goal in life, things like this, all the characteristics that Kṛṣṇa gives but without Kṛṣṇa.
Bahulāśva: It appears that they have taken these things from Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: Yes, they must. What is this department? (break) ...cial science.
Bahulāśva: How to live in peace. How to live, peaceful society.
Prabhupāda: And fall down from the tower?
Pradyumna:
"One who knows the transcendent nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world but attains my eternal abode, O Arjuna."
Prabhupāda: Somebody else?
Atreya Ṛṣi: There are some guests coming. (background movement)
Prabhupāda: Come forward. No, let them come in. So whether these gentlemen's questions are answered. If they have got any doubt, we can...
Atreya Ṛṣi: Through association they will ask more questions.
Prabhupāda: What is that verse?
Pradyumna: "One who knows the transcendental nature of my appearance and activities does not upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world but attains my eternal abode, O Arjuna."
Prabhupāda: So this is the process of becoming independent of the material body. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). This is the process. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, how to make one independent of this material body. Any other questions? Bring my beads. (long pause) My question is whether you like to remain dependent on this material body. Hmm? If you can live spiritually independent, whether you should remain dependent on this material body and whether to remain dependent on this material body is happy or it is distress? What is your realization? To remain dependent on this material body, is it very good or is it troublesome, huh?
Prabhupāda: That means here they are feeling the weight. You see? These protests, this combination, this endeavor to collapse our..., that means they are feeling more weight. And what is this movement, Transcendent...? They never formed against any case, anything, Transcendental... They know that is farce. There are so many other groups. Yogi Bhajan, Transcendental Meditation and what is he? Guru...?
Hari-śauri: Guru Maharaji.
Prabhupāda: Guru Maharaja. So many. Ramakrishna is not very prominent. Sai Baba. (aside:) Little, little, everyone. Who asked for them? Aurobindo. Even Aurobindo. Who will protest against Aurobindo? Aurobindo has got some influence in the Western.
So we request everyone to worship Krishna and chant the Mantra, irrespectively, never mind whether one is a devotee, a fruitive worker, or a salvationist at the ultimate goal. We don't disagree with anyone, namely the Karmis, Jnanis, Yogis, etc, although we are devotees. We simply request everyone to worship Krishna as the Supreme Lord and join with us in this great movement of Krishna Consciousness!
Please therefore accept this concrete proposal for common platform of transcendence and spread this movement by all means. Bombay is the most important city in India. There are many advanced gentlemen in Bombay interested in transcendental elevation. Why not join this movement which does not discriminate between human being to human being, and thus everyone, either Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs, or anyone also, all can join in this melodious Sankirtana movement and accept Lord Krishna Prasadam in Temple with great relish.
Personally I have no credit for myself, but I am trying to act as faithful servant of my predecessors and just presenting without any adulteration the message which I have received from my Spiritual Master. Similarly, if this message is presented by you all who have accepted me as the Spiritual Master, then all the people of the world may be benefited by receiving this transcendent message of Krishna Consciousness. Try to execute this mission wholeheartedly and faithfully, and all of you try to broadcast the message to your best capacity. I am so glad to learn that your two brothers are growing very nicely, and I hope in future they will be great help to this missionary activities, and so I think also of your nice sister, Saradia. Please try to guide them properly.
I note that you have got now $700.00; keep it intact and increase it up to $1200.00 at least, so that in case we have to go to India, you will have to purchase a return ticket. I am going to Montreal and later developments will be known to you gradually. Yes, that shark is all right. Thank you very much for your offerings.
That is the qualification of the spiritual master. In other words, this science is appreciated by service attitude only. It is never understood by any challenging spirit. One who is submissive and ready to give aural reception of the transcendental message, to him only the transcendence becomes revealed. So the more you become in service attitude for Krishna, Krishna will reveal Himself to you. Krishna is within you and He is awaiting your surrender and service, and as soon as He sees that you are seriously in serving mood, you will understand everything about Krishna—His qualities, His form, His pastimes, His entourage, and His abode. I am very glad to know that you are gradually stepping upwards by your service attitude and I would request you to prolong this attitude eternally, and Krishna will reveal Himself unto you continually. In other words, Krishna is unlimited, but the more we advance in service attitude, we appreciate Him in newer and newer features.
Some of them, when they are frustrated, try thinking of voidness or merging into the impersonal absolute truth. So voidness or impersonal idea of the absolute truth is just an opposite of material variegatedness. So this idea can also be accepted as the material concept of transcendence. So things are going on like this, not only now, but it is the nature of the material world.
Therefore, the Srimad-Bhagavatam has used the suitable word, dharma projhita. That means to kick out the so-called religious principles, economic development, sense gratification, and liberation. According to Bhagavata, these are all cheating processes, because by following such processes, the living entity can never be happy. Such principles in different forms according to different circumstances of candidate, place, and time, they are simply cheating formulas. So our Krishna Consciousness movement does not belong to any such cheating process.
So let us forget our past difficulties and in Krishna Consciousness, if anyone faces difficulties, it is considered as blessings, because without tapasya, or voluntarily accepting some inconveniences, nobody can realize the Transcendence. So when we are put into difficulties while discharging Krishna Conscious duties, it is to be understood that Krishna puts us in a field of austerities and penances which help us making progress towards realization of our goal of life.
Here in the USA, especially in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York, they are taking out Sankirtana Party in the streets and getting very good results. The student community in the above cities are gradually realizing our activities as very good. Yesterday evening we had very good meeting in Harvard University, and many students and professors attended. There were nice discussions and they are convinced that our activities are genuine and for the real welfare of the human society. And actually it is so. We are not adulterating the transcendental message with any mundane rubbish. If we stick to the principles of Lord Krishna, Lord Caitanya and the Goswamis, then surely they will appreciate. I hope this will meet you in good health.
| Page Title: | Transcendence (Conversations and Letters) |
| Compiler: | Rishab, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 22 of May, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=20, Let=5 |
| No. of Quotes: | 25 |