Vaccine

Expressions researched:
"vaccinated" |"vaccination" |"vaccine" |"vaccines"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 3.14, Purport:

Demigods like Indra, Candra and Varuṇa are appointed officers who manage material affairs, and the Vedas direct sacrifices to satisfy these demigods so that they may be pleased to supply air, light and water sufficiently to produce food grains. When Lord Kṛṣṇa is worshiped, the demigods, who are different limbs of the Lord, are also automatically worshiped; therefore there is no separate need to worship the demigods. For this reason, the devotees of the Lord, who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, offer food to Kṛṣṇa and then eat—a process which nourishes the body spiritually. By such action not only are past sinful reactions in the body vanquished, but the body becomes immunized to all contamination of material nature. When there is an epidemic disease, an antiseptic vaccine protects a person from the attack of such an epidemic. Similarly, food offered to Lord Viṣṇu and then taken by us makes us sufficiently resistant to material affection, and one who is accustomed to this practice is called a devotee of the Lord. Therefore, a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, who eats only food offered to Kṛṣṇa, can counteract all reactions of past material infections, which are impediments to the progress of self-realization. On the other hand, one who does not do so continues to increase the volume of sinful action, and this prepares the next body to resemble hogs and dogs, to suffer the resultant reactions of all sins. The material world is full of contaminations, and one who is immunized by accepting prasādam of the Lord (food offered to Viṣṇu) is saved from the attack, whereas one who does not do so becomes subjected to contamination.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 1:

From this statement of Padma Purāṇa it is understood that material contamination is very subtle. Its beginning, its fruition and results, and how one suffers such results in the form of distress, are part of a great chain. When one catches some disease, it is often very difficult to ascertain the cause of the disease, where it originated and how it is maturing. The suffering of a disease, however, does not appear all of a sudden. It actually takes time. And as in the medical field, for precaution's sake, the doctor injects a vaccination to prevent the growing of contamination, the practical injection to stop all the fructifications of the seeds of our sinful activities is simply engagement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- Mexico, February 15, 1975:

Hṛdayānanda: (translating) Does the soul suffer with the mind, or he's always enjoying?

Prabhupāda: Yes, he creates. He's thinking in his own way; therefore he's creating a situation which will be botheration for him.

Hṛdayānanda: (translating) If we are so small, why is there a poison of the senses?

Prabhupāda: Poison? Yes, because we have come to the poisonous condition, the senses have become poisonous. Just like if you go to an area where there is infectious disease, you contaminate and suffer from the disease. So it is your duty not to go such a place where there is contamination. It is up to you. You create your own situation of suffering or enjoying. Yes.

Hṛdayānanda: (translating) She said if we have not already achieved perfection, then how can the soul achieve the perfection? It seems that he has to reincarnate slowly in time to achieve the perfection.

Prabhupāda: No, that is no argument. If you are diseased, you can be cured if you take the proper medicine, treatment. That's all. Disease is not hopelessness. Otherwise why the people go for treatment to a physician? Similarly, out of ignorance you are now in this miserable condition, but if you become treated by bona fide spiritual master, then you'll be cured. Originally every one of us—pure. Now, by material condition we are now contaminated. That... But there is process to get out of this material contamination. Then again we become pure. And as soon as we become pure, there is no more birth, death, old age, and disease. Finished.

Hanumān: How do we free ourself from māyā?

Prabhupāda: Just become Kṛṣṇa conscious and māyā will not touch you, just like you take injection, vaccine, and the infection will not touch you. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā. Find out this verse. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). Seventh Chapter. Read it.

Lecture on BG 5.7-13 -- New York, August 27, 1966:

So myself, the pure spirit soul, so I am now in contamination because I am absorbed in the material consciousness. So as soon as I transfer myself into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then I become aloof from this material...

Just like the example is given here, the leaf of the lotus flower, although it is in the water, it has no connection with the water. Not a drop of water will stay there. Not a drop, even a drop, although it is in the huge mass of water. Waves are going over it and so many things. Water it is moving always, but that particular leaf of lotus flower, it has no connection with the water. Similarly with all upheavals of this material world, one who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has nothing to do. Viśvaṁ pūrṇaṁ sukhāyate. Viśvaṁ pūrṇaṁ sukhāyate. Everyone is very much afflicted. They say, "Oh, it is very troublesome. It is very troublesome water, world. It is very troublesome." But a man who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he'll find, "Oh, everything is happy." There is no... So na lipyate na sa pāpena. And this contamination is... That is...

Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the antiseptic measure. Suppose there is some epidemic in the city, and one has taken the antiseptic vaccine of measure. He's not affected. Similarly this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the antiseptic method to become free from the contamination of this material world. So lipyate na sa pāpena. He's not affected by the counteraction or contamination of this material world.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.5.11 -- London, September 12, 1973:

In this age, people will be of short duration of life; manda, very slow; sumanda-matayaḥ, accepting some rubbish theology. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyāḥ (SB 1.1.10), almost all of them are unfortunate. Manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ: over and above that, they will be disturbed, especially by lack of rain, lack of..., scarcity of food grains, and overtaxed by the government, so much so that people will give up their hearth and home and go to the forest and hills in disappointment and confusion. So these are the symptoms of Kali-yuga, gradually degrading.

So this is also recommended, prāyeṇa... In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in another chapter, Twelfth Canto, it is said, kaler doṣa-nidhe rājan. These instructions were given by Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Mahārāja Parīkṣit. So he addressed the king, "My dear king, in this age the faults are like the ocean," kaler doṣa-nidhe rājan. Doṣa-nidhe. Nidhi means ocean. "There are so many faults in this age that it can be accepted as the ocean of faults." Kaler doṣa-nidhe rājan asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ. "There is one great opportunity. Although it is full of faulty things, still there is one hope. That hope is," kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51), "if one simply chants the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, then gradually he becomes purified from the contamination of this age." Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ: "He becomes free from the contamination of this age." It is just like vaccine. In contagious disease, there is vaccine, cholera. So this mantra, mahā-mantra, this is not ordinary sound. This is spiritual. So by chanting this mantra—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—one becomes free from the contamination of this age. And not only he becomes free from the contamination of this age, but paraṁ vrajet, he goes back to the spiritual world.

Lecture on SB 1.5.25 -- Vrndavana, August 6, 1974:

Prabhupāda: Because our present, in the present material condition, our heart is covered with so much garbage of different types of body... Just like all of a sudden something comes to your mind. It has no connection. Just like a bubble, comes out. Because so many dirty things are reserved on account of our material conditional life for millions and millions of years. Anādi karama-phale paḍi' bhavārṇava-jale. Anādi, we cannot... Anādi means... Ādi means the creation. So before this creation. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). We are in this material contamination not that in this millennium-before that. Just like millennium after millennium. Nārada Muni was speaking his life before this millennium. So anādi. Anādi means creation. But not only one creation, several creations, we are forgotten, or we are in this material world. Kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā... We are searching after material comfort, material comfort, sense gratification, in so many ways. So anādi karama-phale paḍi' bhavārṇava-jale, taribāre nā dekhi upāya. In this way we are going.

So consciousness is there, but the dirty things contaminated life after life, that is accumulated. We have to cleanse this. That is called viśuddha-cetasaḥ. Viśuddha-cetasaḥ. Just like infection of disease can be also disinfected by injection, by vaccine, similarly if you take this vaccine, or antiseptic... What is that called? Countering? Counteracting?

Devotee: Inoculation? Inoculation or...

Prabhupāda: So many. There are different terms. So this is the process. We are eternally related with Kṛṣṇa, nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti, and we're eternally very affectionate and obedient servant of Kṛṣṇa. That is our position. Somehow or other, it is covered. So that garbage that's covering has to be moved.

Lecture on SB 1.7.2-4 -- Durban, October 14, 1975:

Devotee: Anyone have any questions?

Guest (1): (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Karma is the result of your associating with the guṇas. Just like disease, a particular type of disease is a result of your contaminating the germ of the disease. The disease is secondary; the first—your contamination. There are three guṇas. That is material nature. You can contaminate the tamo-guṇa, then you'll get the body of tamo-guṇa. If you contaminate rajo-guṇa, then you'll get the body of rajo-guṇa. And if you contaminate or associate with sattva-guṇa, then you'll get the body like that. And if you become transcendental above the all these guṇas, then you'll become situated in your original, spiritual position. This is the way. Therefore our duty is how to avoid the base contamination. Just like you try to avoid disease—you take vaccine. Similarly, if you try to associate with the best quality modes of material nature—goodness—that is safe for your liberation. And if you contaminate the other two qualities, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa, then you'll be more and more entangled.

Lecture on SB 1.15.41 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1973:

So we cannot use the senses to see God. That is the defect. Therefore premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena (Bs. 5.38). By the bhakti process, by devotional service, you cleanse your mind, you cleanse your senses. As soon as your mind is cleansed, then senses are also clean. That is helped by Kṛṣṇa Himself, as He says in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ. As soon as Kṛṣṇa sees that you are eager to hear about Him... Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). By the first hearing you may not understand about Kṛṣṇa, but if you simply hear with little attention, although you do not understand, still, you will be pious. Because the dirty things means covered with impious activities. So if you hear about Kṛṣṇa, then gradually you will become pious, simply by hearing. Simply... Just like if there is injection, anti-some disease, vaccine. You understand or not understand, it will act. Suppose if you take poison, if you do not understand what is poison, it will act. Similarly, kṛṣṇa-kathā is so powerful that if you simply hear, even if you do not understand, then you will become pious. And by becoming pious... Because without becoming pious, nobody can understand Kṛṣṇa. It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām: "Those who are twenty-four hours engaged in pious activities..."

Lecture on SB 1.16.19 -- Hawaii, January 15, 1974:

Simply by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—simply by chanting the holy name...," kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya, kṛṣṇasya, so, mukta-saṅgaḥ, "he becomes free from all these contaminations, by one thing, simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa." Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ. There are so many contaminations, so many faults of this age, but simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one becomes kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ, he becomes free from the contaminated association.

Just like if there is some epidemic, disease, and if you take vaccine, it is supposed that you are free from the contamination. So this vaccine of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra will keep you fit without any contamination of this age of Kali. And that is happening. All over the world people are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. And practically we see, those who are chanting, they're becoming free from the contamination. If you follow the rules and regulations, very simple thing, and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra... That is our only request. Then, in spite of this contaminated age of Kali, you'll be saved. You'll be saved. That we are... That is our... Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means that we are preaching this cult.

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā

(CC Adi 17.21)

Without this, there is no other way of saving you from the contamination of Kali.

Lecture on SB 3.25.27 -- Bombay, November 27, 1974:

So if you want controlling the material nature, then you have to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. That is stated mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). Otherwise you're carried by māyā. You may be very big prime minister or anything, but as soon as māyā will dictate, "Please vacate your post and go away," you become a dog. You have to become. How you can challenge prakṛti? That is not possible. Because karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1), your next body will be offered to you. Therefore the atheist class man (indistinct). That is next life. Because his life is sinful he'll get his next life, he'll be punished. He'll be put into abominable condition of life. He does not like to think like that, but that does not mean that he escapes. There is a Bengali proverb that (Bengali). One body, one person, he thought that "I've done so much sinful activity that Yamarāja will come and capture me and punish me. So what is the way to avoid?" So he thought that "Let me smear over my body stool so he'll not touch me." (laughing)

So that is not possible, sir. You are under the control of māyā, material nature. You try to avoid it somehow or other, but it is not possible. It is not possible. According to the infection... Just like if you have infected some disease, artificial means will not save you. You must develop that disease and must suffer. There is no way out. Simply the way out is that if you take precaution, some vaccine, some injection, then you may avoid. Similarly, cannot... It is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). You cannot avoid the hands of māyā upon you, or material nature. We call "māyā," and the modern scientific word is "material nature." Completely under. You cannot avoid it. But mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). If you surrender to Kṛṣṇa... When Kṛṣṇa will save me? I am so much sinful. Yes. Kṛṣṇa can do that.

Lecture on SB 7.5.31 -- Mauritius, October 4, 1975:

Therefore this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is preaching back to Godhead, not go forward for meeting again and again birth, death, old age, and disease. That this portion of problem, we have already discussed yesterday. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānāṁ (SB 7.5.30). Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām means chewing the chewed. You have got sugarcane, many quantity. If somebody chewed the sugarcane, took out the juice, and if the remnants is thrown away, what you will get by chewing again that remnants? So punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). By our activities we are being placed under the laws of material nature—prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27)—infecting different modes of material nature. Just like if you infect that... This morning some medical officer came to inject me about the yellow fever. So why this injection, vaccine, against the disease? That means if I infect this yellow fever, I will have to suffer.

Lecture on SB 7.9.41 -- Mayapura, March 19, 1976:

Prabhupāda: We act according to our whims, and the resultant action is there immediately. The nature's law, God's law, is there. We have got experience that if we infect some disease, contaminous disease, then we must suffer from that disease. So it is not God's creation that somebody is suffering from some painful condition and somebody is enjoying. No. We infect ourself with some contamination because this world, this material world, is full of contamination, full of contamination. Just like when there is epidemic, the whole situation is contaminous. Therefore one has to take vaccine injection to protect himself. So anyone who has come to this material world must know that he has come in a place which is a place of epidemic. So you must have to remain very cautious. Otherwise you will have to suffer.

So in different ages, in different time, different types of medicines and vaccines are recommended, but in this age, Kali, it is so dangerously contaminous that no other process of medicine will act. Which is...? What is, then, the rescue? The only medicine is harer nāma. Therefore Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam, kalau... (CC Adi 17.21).

Devotees: ...nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā.

Prabhupāda: This is only medicine. To become free from the infection, this harer nāma is the only medicine, bhavauṣadhi. Auṣadhi means medicine. Parīkṣit Mahārāja said, harer nāma, this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, is not meant for the conditioned soul, because as soon as one chants Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, he immediately becomes free from the contaminous, contagious position. There is a verse, eka hari nāme yato pāpa hare, pāpī haya tato pāpa karti bare nāre (?). Once chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is so powerful that all the sinful reaction of life—immediately gone.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 6, 1972:

Pradyumna: "It is also stated that all these four effects become immediately vanquished for those who surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, and become engaged in His devotional service in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness."

Prabhupāda: Yes. This, these four kinds of stages of sinful activities, in stock, almost fructified, manifest, all the stages of sinful activities can be immediately nullified. Because it is assured by Kṛṣṇa, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. It is not imagination. If we believe in the words of Kṛṣṇa, then there is no question of denying this fact. Kṛṣṇa personally says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣa... Sarva-pāpebhyo (BG 18.66). The kūṭa-stha, phalonmukha, prārabdha, everything, it become immediately nullified, simply by this process, by surrendering: "Kṛṣṇa, I, I was mistaken. I got..., forgot your mastership; You are my eternal Lord. So I was bewildered. I was wandering. Now I have come to my senses. I surrender unto You sincerely. You accept me." This very thing will give you immediately protection from all sinful activities. Kṛṣṇa says,

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi...

(BG 18.66)

So where is the difficulty? Let us surrender to Kṛṣṇa and execute His will, whatever He... Surrender means I must be prepared to execute the will of Kṛṣṇa; not my whims, but Kṛṣṇa's will. The Kṛṣṇa's will is that you become Kṛṣṇa's devotee. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Where is the difficulty? You surrender unto Him, and He assures, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). Immediately he becomes relieved from the effects of illusory energy. So there is no difficulty, not at all difficulty. Let us immediately become surrendered to Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet. Think of Him always. Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ, to become His devotee, always think of Him. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). "Always worship Me. Always offer obeisances." These are the four principles. Anyone can do it. There is no restriction for any caste, creed, nation. Everyone. It is open to the human being. So if we actually want to be happy, we must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is no alternative. That is our point. Yes? Go on.

Pradyumna: "Those effects described as 'almost mature' refer to the distress from which one is suffering at present, and the effects 'lying as seed' means that in the core of the heart there is a certain stock of sinful desires which are like seeds. The Sanskrit word kūṭam means that they are almost ready to produce the seed, or the effect of the seed. And 'immature effect' refers to the case where the seedling has not begun. From this statement of Padma-Purāṇa it is understood that material contamination is very subtle. Its beginning, its fruition and results, and how one suffers such results in the form of distress, are part of a great chain. When one catches some disease, it is very..., it is often very difficult to ascertain the cause of the disease, where it originated and how it is maturing. The suffering of a disease, however, does not appear all of a sudden. It actually takes time. And, as in the medical field, for precaution's sake, the doctor injects a vaccination to prevent the growing of contamination, similarly, the practical injection to stop all the fructifications of the seeds of our sinful activities is simply engagement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness."

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the best injection. Take this injection and become free from all sinful reactions.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation Lecture and Bhagavan dasa's Marriage Ceremony -- New Vrindaban, June 4, 1969:

Prabhupāda: So in the material world we are all infected. This is the disinfecting process, simply remembering Kṛṣṇa, yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣam. So this initiation is to teach how to remember always Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa. This Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, as soon as we hear, we immediately remember Kṛṣṇa, His speech in the Bhagavad-gītā, His form, His name, His quality, His pastimes. Everything comes. So we have to practice that. Then we remain always uncontaminated. And if you forget Kṛṣṇa, then there is chance of... Just like in the medical science, if there is some epidemic disease, they give some vaccination. I think in Los Angeles you gave me some vaccination? (chuckles) What is that, flus?

Hayagrīva: Hong Kong flu.

Prabhupāda: Ah. Hong Kong flu. Yes. So everyone took that vaccination. So our Hayagrīva prabhu took me also. "All right, let us have." (laughter) So there was no attack. Fortunately, there was no attack. So similarly, this world is Hong Kong flu. (laughter) Māyā is always ready to attack. Always. So we have to take this injunction, this anti-vaccine, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro lāgi'. That song, Jīv Jāgo, Jīv Jāgo. "I have brought this medicine for killing this Hong Kong flu of māyā." Enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāro lāgi', hari-nāma mahā-mantra lao tumi māgi. Now you take. This is greatest contribution of Caitanya Mahāprabhu to fight against this attack of material influence. Everyone is subjected. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Under the three modes of material nature people are entangled.

Lecture at Initiation Fire Sacrifice -- Los Angeles, July 16, 1969:

So everything can be attained simply by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Everything. The means is the end and the means is the whole. It is not that we accept something and give it up and again come to another stage. No. If you have got conviction, if you have got faith, if you are strenuous, immediately you are in the platform. Apavitraḥ pavitro vā sarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi vā. So any stage of life, yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣam, anyone who remembers Puṇḍarīkākṣam, Kṛṣṇa... (aside:) Sit like this. Yes. Puṇḍarīkākṣam. Puṇḍarīka means lotus; akṣam means eyes. Puṇḍarīkākṣam. Yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bahyābhyantara-śuciḥ. Externally, internally, he becomes immediately purified. So keep on chanting, you keep yourself purified, māyā cannot touch you. Māyā's contamination will not touch you. Just like if you take vaccine, the infectious disease will not touch you. Similarly, if you keep yourself vaccinated with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the māyā has no power to touch you. And if you can keep, then you will be accustomed. Just like a child, when he learns walking, he requires little help. He may fall down, but that doesn't matter. He again stands up. Similarly, in the beginning there may be childlike falldown, but if you stick to the position, then one day you'll be able to walk freely, without any hamper. So this mantra, apavitraḥ pavitro vā sarvāvasthām, any condition of life, you can simply remember Puṇḍarīkākṣam, Kṛṣṇa. As soon as you chant "Kṛṣṇa," you remember everything.

Initiation Lecture -- Hamburg, August 27, 1969:

Guest: So māyā is temporary, and the only thing that is eternal is Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual energies.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Spiritual energy. That is eternal. That is eternal. So we are... Due to our ignorance, we have been very much serious with the temporary situation of māyā and we have forgotten the eternal position. This is our present conditional life. Now this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means His treatment to reclaim the living entity from the clutches of māyā. Then he is situated in his natural position. (break)

...contaminated, impure. Impure condition. Apavitra. And pavitra means pure condition. Apavitraḥ pavitro vā. One may be in impure condition and one may be in pure condition. Sarvāvasthām, in all conditions. Avastha means all conditions. Gato 'pi vā, situated, in any condition situated; yaḥ, anybody; smaret, remembers; puṇḍarīkākṣam. Puṇḍarīkākṣam means "the Lord whose eyes are like the lotus petal." Lotus eyes. Puṇḍarīkākṣam. Sa, that person becomes; sa bahyābhyantaram. Bahya means externally and abhyantara means internally. Bahyābhyantaraṁ śuciḥ. Śuciḥ means purified. Another śuci means brāhmaṇa. A brāhmaṇa is called śuci. A brāhmaṇa means a purified person. Not that by birth one becomes pure. No. The purificatory process. There are purificatory processes. Just like in infectious condition, those who are vaccinated, given injection, he is supposed to be purified. He cannot be attacked or infected by the disease. Similarly, in spiritual life also one has to remain purified. The whole process, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is to purify the people in general from the contaminated condition of material existence. Purifying. It is purifying process. A living entity by nature is pure because he is part and parcel of the Supreme Pure, God. But due to his impure condition, he has forgotten his eternal relationship with God. So this initiation means that one is being accepted as student by the spiritual master to promote him gradually to the purified state, where he can realize himself and God.

Initiation Lecture -- Boston, December 26, 1969:

So this initiation process means beginning of this life of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And we shall try to be situated in our original consciousness. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Real consciousness, as it is recommended by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that He identifies Himself as eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and this is liberation, and this is mukti. If you simply stick to this principle, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80), that "I am nothing except the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa," then you are in the liberated platform. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice. You keep yourself. And for keeping yourself in that consciousness, the simple method is this chanting, Hare Kṛṣṇa. You keep yourself chanting as many hours, twenty-four hours. Why as many hours? Twenty-four hours. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). Lord Caitanya says, "This is to be practiced twenty-four hours." And that you can do. It requires simply practice. Even in sleeping you can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Even in sleeping. And there is no bar. In sleeping, in eating, in going to the toilet room, there is no restriction. You can go on, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." You see. That will keep you in your svarūpa, in your real identification, and you'll never be attacked by māyā. Just like if you keep yourself vaccinated and if the period... What is called? Active. Then there is no fear of being infected. That is practical. If you get yourself vaccinated of certain type of infection and you keep yourself active... Just like doctors, they go, treat patients suffering from infectious disease, but they keep themselves always unaffected. They know the remedial measures, antiseptic, prophylactic processes. So this prophylactic antiseptic process is Kṛṣṇa-kīrtanam. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-kīrtanam. That is Lord Caitanya's blessing.

General Lectures

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Seattle, September 25, 1968:

Upendra: Swamijī, someone approached me and we were discussing about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And I said to approach Kṛṣṇa one must be pure, but he said, "What is purity?" Could you explain that technically? What is purity?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Purity means standing on the spiritual platform. That is purity. In the material platform there is no purity. So according to Bhagavad-gītā, that standard of purity, that means standing on the spiritual platform, which is called brahma-bhūtaḥ. Brahma-bhūtaḥ. So Kṛṣṇa says this purity,

māṁ ca vyabhicāreṇa

bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

(BG 14.26)

This Brahman understanding, or to stand on the Brahman platform, is purity. How one can attain that platform of purity? Kṛṣṇa says that "One who is engaged in devotional service to Me without any deviation," that means twenty-four hours in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, "he is pure." He is pure. If you can keep yourself always, constantly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, then you are pure. Otherwise... Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness, it doesn't make any difference. So just like if you keep always in touch with fire you are warm—there is no possibility of being cold—similarly, some way or other if you always keep yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness, then you are pure. Therefore we advise our students, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." As soon as you chant this sound, Kṛṣṇa, immediately you are in touch with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore you are, you keep yourself pure. Is that clear? Yes. So try to keep yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness without any deviation. Then you remain pure. That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī... (BG 7.14). (break) It is very difficult to get out of the clutches of this māyā, contamination. Very difficult. Mām eva ye prapadyante: "But one who keeps touch with Me, with full surrender," māyām etāṁ taranti te, "he's out of these clutches of māyā." So just like there is antiseptic, what is called, vaccination, to keep yourself from the contamination... There is epidemic, and under government order everyone is vaccinated, that "You take this. So you shall keep your..." This is material way of keeping oneself from contamination. Similarly, if you keep always yourself in spiritual understanding of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you remain pure. Yes?

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Socrates:

Hayagrīva: Transcendental to the modes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. No more affected by the modes of material nature. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). Such person is transcendental to the modes of material nature. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma (BG 14.26). That is brahma-bhūtaḥ stage. So every devotee, if he is strictly following the rules and regulation, he is in the brahma-bhūtaḥ stage. Just like there is epidemic, but one who has taken the vaccine, the epidemic cannot touch it. So that is like that. Brahma, when you come to the brahma-bhūtaḥ state, let..., there may be māyā, there may be so many activities of ignorance and passion—he has nothing to do with. He is free. That is brahma-bhūtaḥ state. That is wanted. That is perfection.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate. So everything should be done—that is called karma-yoga—in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Just like Arjuna is doing. He did not change his position as a fighter, as a warrior. But he acted according to the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he is recognized: bhakto 'si priyo 'si (BG 4.3). "You are My dear friend. You are My devotee." This is the process. So we have to purify. We cannot stop. That is not possible. The progress which is going on, let it go. But let it go, we do not want that, but it has come so far, it is not possible to stop it. But here is the remedy. You can purify it.

Popworth: What means do you suggest for purifying it?

Prabhupāda: The means is that... Our process is that wherever we go, we perform saṅkīrtana, chant the holy name of God. That purifies, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). It doesn't matter where it is. Even if we... We can go to the factory. Anywhere. We can go to the hell even. By, but this process, it is a very simple thing, chanting the holy name of the Lord. So what possible objection can there be? Suppose if we go to a motor car factory, and we ask them, "Please give us some chance. We shall chant here the holy name of the Lord." What their, what is the possible objection? You are very thoughtful man. You can say.

Schumacher: I don't see the point.

Prabhupāda: Eh? There cannot be any objection.

Schumacher: No.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So let us get this chance. Simple method. So we'll go. Let us go everywhere, hell or heaven. It doesn't matter. Let us have this chance and speak something about God. That's all. And we don't want anything from you in exchange, that "You give us some money." No. We don't want. If you give us something, welcome. It will be used for Kṛṣṇa's service. But we don't demand anything, that "First of all give me a hundred dollars, then I shall go." No. So... From the other side, there is no loss. But if they give us the chance for prosecuting, for pursuing, this Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement, everything will be purified. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni... (CC Antya 20.12). All problems will be solved. This is the beginning. Now, gradually, as people understand this philosophy, they will understand. They will understand. If they simply give us the chance. Sthāne sthitāḥ. Let them remain in their position. We don't disturb. We don't disturb. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Simply they will kindly give their aural reception what we are speaking.

Popworth: Well, the diagnostic's not altogether clear to me how the chanting is going to affect the pollution. How do you see...?

Prabhupāda: It is a purificatory process. Pollution means impure. So if you purify, then there is no more pollution. Just like infection. You have got some disease, infection. If you give some vaccine to purify the body, the infection is gone. It is like that.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Paramahaṁsa: It is said that a devotee is supposed to be fearless.

Prabhupāda: Fearless because devotee means one who has taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa. He's devotee. He's fearless. And one who has not taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa, how he can be fearless? Suppose there is epidemic disease, if you have got vaccination, then you can remain fearless. Otherwise, the epidemic will contaminate and then you'll have to suffer. So Kṛṣṇa is the vaccination to remain fearless.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: You have used the example, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that just like a little child, when he's near his father, he knows he has nothing to worry about. His father will protect him.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Devotees -- April 14, 1975, Hyderabad:

Devotee: We may not be able to actually stop death, but while we're here we can at least prolong our lifetime and...

Prabhupāda: That also you cannot do. Where is the proof?

Devotee: Well, at the atomic research plants...

Prabhupāda: Oh, that is another foolishness, I say. You have not done it. You are simply expecting. Hope against hope. That's all.

Devotee: But they are making different cures for critical diseases that are causing deaths...

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But that does not mean there will be no disease. That is already being done by many medical practitioners. Better medicine. But where is the medicine that will not be disease.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Gradually we are eliminating one by one all the diseases.

Prabhupāda: No, that you have not done. No disease... You have increased diseases. You have stopped one disease and increased another. Not stopped! But you have increased another disease.

Devotee: We have to learn though how to prevent all these diseases.

Prabhupāda: Therefore you are fool. You have to learn. That means you have to learn, means you are fool.

Yaśodānandana: But we are learning.

Prabhupāda: Don't assert it, that you have done it already, you shall do it... As soon as you say we have to learn, that means you are fools. And while you are student, why you are claiming all these perfections? You have to learn. That you have to learn from us.

Brahmānanda: Actually, when I was in Germany, there was evidence of how the scientists increased disease. They invented some vaccine to counteract influenza, and they injected all of Germany with this vaccine. But what happened is sometimes the body builds up resistance to these vaccines and produces another germ. So, as a result, another type of influenza was created, which was far more worse than the previous. It made people get fever for four and five days straight, 105 degrees.

Prabhupāda: That is the way of... They have discovered this streptomycin, for tuberculosis, that if one takes too many injections of streptomycin, then it does not act.

Devotee: He becomes immune.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Brahmānanda: So as a result of the vaccine they created a worse type of influenza, and they have nothing to counteract that worse type. So now they have to invent another type.

Prabhupāda: These rascals give trouble to the people, especially in India. They are not after the vaccine. They will catch people and force them. Just see. This is going on. (indistinct) ...others are avoiding, they are going, going this way, that way. Sometimes they fall, they do not know, and capture (indistinct) These rascals are creating havoc. Only to kick them on their face with shoes. That's all. The so-called scientists and biologists and... They do not know anything.

Morning Walk -- May 11, 1975, Perth:

Devotee (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda, is it that when a devotee is situated in the mode of goodness and that...

Prabhupāda: Devotee is situated above goodness.

Devotee (2): Transcendental.

Prabhupāda: Hmm.

Devotee (2): Is it still that there's greed and lust there, but he becomes transcendental to it? Or are the greed and lust...?

Prabhupāda: Degradation can take place at any moment. We are in the material world. It is the degraded place. So infection can take place at any moment.

Devotee (2): It's always trying to creep in.

Prabhupāda: But if you remain steady in Kṛṣṇa consciousness then it will not touch; you'll not be infected. If you take proper vaccine, so even though you are in the diseased condition, you will not be infected. Otherwise there is chance of being infected of anyone.

Room Conversation with Justin Murphy (Geographer) -- May 14, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Purport.

Paramahaṁsa: Purport: "Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, a great commentator on the Bhagavad-gītā, writes as follows: ye indrādy-aṅgatayāvasthitaṁ yajñaṁ sarveśvaraṁ viṣṇum abhyarcya tac-cheṣam aśnanti tena tad deha-yātrāṁ sampādayanti, te santaḥ sarveśvarasya bhaktāḥ sarva-kilbiṣair anādi-kāla-vivṛddhair ātmānubhava-pratibandhakair nikhilaiḥ pāpair vimucyante(?). The Supreme Lord, who is known as the yajña-puruṣaḥ, or the personal beneficiary of all sacrifices, is the master of all demigods who serve Him as the different limbs of the body serve the whole. Demigods like Indra, Candra, Varuṇa, etc., are appointed officers who manage material affairs, and the Vedas direct sacrifices to satisfy these demigods so that they may be pleased to supply air, light and water sufficiently to produce food grains. When Lord Kṛṣṇa is worshiped, the demigods, who are different limbs of the Lord, are also automatically worshiped; therefore there is no separate need to worship the demigods.

For this reason, the devotees of the Lord, who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, offer food to Kṛṣṇa and then eat—a process which nourishes the body spiritually. By such action not only are past sinful reactions in the body vanquished, but the body becomes immunized to all contamination of material nature. When there is an epidemic disease, an antiseptic vaccine protects a person from the attack of such an epidemic. Similarly, food offered to Lord Viṣṇu and then taken by us makes us sufficiently resistant to material affection, and one who is accustomed to this practice is called a devotee of the Lord. Therefore, a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, who eats only food offered to Kṛṣṇa, can counteract all reactions of past material infections, which are impediments to the progress of self-realization.

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:

Harikeśa: Because they are finding so many cures to diseases, they are trying now...

Prabhupāda: What the disease? What they have...? Have they found any cure for the cancer?

Siddha-svarūpa: Cancer?

Harikeśa: For certain diseases they are...

Prabhupāda: Certain diseases. Then we are calling of disease.

Ambarīṣa: There's always new diseases though.

Siddha-svarūpa: That's the whole thing. Like cancer is a new disease.

Ambarīṣa: For every old disease they find a cure for, there are..., a new disease.

Prabhupāda: No cure. They simply find out... They say, "It is better medicine," but it is not cured. What disease they have cured? What... Name particular disease, "This disease is cured."

Harikeśa: Well, they have some smallpox vaccine, and no one gets smallpox any more.

Prabhupāda: Yes, does it mean smallpox is stopped all over the world?

Harikeśa: It's very much cut down. There's hardly any smallpox...

Prabhupāda: Very much cut down, but it's very much increasing in another side.

Siddha-svarūpa: No, no, they have smallpox.

Harikeśa: In America there's no smallpox. So that means here...

Prabhupāda: That is all right. It is due to poverty, uncleanliness. So that is known to everyone. The smallpox takes place amongst the poorer class, unclean class. In India also, that is there. No gentleman's house, there is smallpox. Only these lower class, unclean.

Morning Walk -- December 12, 1975, Vrndavana:

Harikeśa: So therefore, in the beginning Kṛṣṇa gives you the big post, Brahmā.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Harikeśa: Now you're in charge of creating a whole universe.

Prabhupāda: Yes. If you want lord it over, "Alright you become Brahma." He gives so much facility.

Harikeśa: And then this Brahmā creates so many different desires, and then he goes through all the different bodies.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Akṣayānanda: Everyone becomes Brahmā first?

Prabhupāda: Hm? Yes. Or if you want to be a cat you can become.

Harikeśa: How can they say this isn't science? This is so incredible.

Prabhupāda: Desire is there. Desire is there. Just like in your country, the nudism going on. The desire is, "Ah, I shall remain free, naked." So Kṛṣṇa is giving you facility, "Alright, you stand here for thousands of years as tree, naked, nobody will criticize. You want to remain naked on the public street and you want to enjoy in that way, alright you become tree."

Harikeśa: Because desire is a function of consciousness, which is a symptom of the spirit soul, it's very powerful.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Harikeśa: Because it's spiritual actually.

Prabhupāda: Therefore it is said, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Abhilāṣ means desire. Anya means "except service of Kṛṣṇa." That is beginning of bhakti. As soon as he desires something material for enjoyment he has to come to Me. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). The mind and the senses; with these things he is struggling for existence. Otherwise he is part and parcel of Krs..., mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhutaḥ jīva-loka sanātana (BG 15.7). He is eternal but because he is influenced by the mind, desires, and the senses, sense enjoyment, he is struggling. This is it, a struggle. So when he is too much fatigued, Kṛṣṇa comes and gives you good counsel. "You rascal give up these all desires. Surrender to Me, I give you protection." But he'll not do that. And if he agrees then anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11), all material desires, zero. Then bhakti begins. And if you have got a little pinch of material desires, then you have to accept different types of body. It will create, naturally. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22). He is desiring under the influence of particular modes of nature, and he's getting body.

Harikeśa: One has to be very careful.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Otherwise even a devotee like Bhārata Mahārāja, he had to accept the body of a deer. A little careless. Then nature's law will act. Hm? If you do not become cautious and if you infect the smallpox disease, you have to suffer. Therefore a civilized man takes process, caution, "Oh there is smallpox disease, I shall not go there. Or if I go there, I must take vaccine." This is human civilization, caution. And if you are animal, you do not know. So human life means not animal life. Very reasonable, very cautious, educated, cultured, that is human life. Not animal life. Drink like animal, or eat like animal, have sex life like animal. Freedom, animal has got all freedom. So that freedom is not allowed to the human beings. That is civilization. The same example. The animal has got freedom and you'll see in Indian market, vegetable market, some cow comes and eats, takes so many vegetables and eats, but he's not going to the court. But if you take one small piece of chili without, then you'll go to the court. So therefore, law is meant for human beings, not for the animals. Those who want to be free, they are animals. So-called freedom means animalism. That is not humanism. Humanism means to follow the rules and regulations and the laws, and then he is human being. Because law is meant for the human being, not for the animals.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walks -- January 22-23, 1976, Mayapura:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sometimes the devotees question that the Kali-yuga is advancing, and in that sense the standards are deteriorating. Yet you are preaching that "Get everyone to the position where everyone is Kṛṣṇa conscious." How in the Kali-yuga advancing can everyone become Kṛṣṇa conscious?

Prabhupāda: They do not understand. If I say, "The epidemic is increasing. You take this injection, then you can be saved. If you don't take vaccination, then you'll suffer." This is our propaganda. "You take this vaccination; you'll be saved. The epidemic is very strong." But if you think, "Now, because there is epidemic there is no other way. What is the use of taking vaccination?" This is no argument. The epidemic is there; the vaccination is there. (aside:) This is tulasī? Tell them. The disease is there; the medicine is there. So intelligent man should take the medicine, precaution, and then he'll be saved. Two things are there. Kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. In Kali-yuga, if you don't take this, then there is no means of your save, safety. The two things are there. Why you are taking one thing? You take this thing or... (break) Everywhere two things are there: do's and don't's. So in order to make the process of do's you have to accept the process of don't's. That Nectar of Instruction, Rūpa Gosvāmī? He's instructing both the do's and the don't's. Huh? You have read it?

Harikeśa: Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca... (NOI 2).

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Harikeśa: Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca.

Prabhupāda: Ah. That is don't's.

Harikeśa: Utsāhān niścayāt...

Prabhupāda: This is do's. That is instruction. Why should you take one side? Take both sides.

Conversation with News Reporters -- March 25, 1976, Delhi:

Reporter (1): Swamiji, what do you suggest to your disciples to arouse what you call Hare Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the purificatory process. If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.... God is so kind. In this age.... It is meant for every age. Especially this age when we are so much fallen and so much suffering, and neither we are able to act very piously, therefore this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, if you chant, you gradually become purified. Then you come to your own consciousness.

Reporter (1): So how would you define sin? What is impurities or to sin?

Prabhupāda: You cannot understand impurities?

Reporter (1): I mean, give any clear-cut definition.

Prabhupāda: Just like when you are diseased and the doctor gives you some vaccine and injection to cure you, to make you purified.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Guest (2): There would be Kali-yuga. Then there will be Satya-yuga after. Is it not so, predicted?

Prabhupāda: I don't think. That is stated, what you are saying, that in Kali-yuga people will be so fallen. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā (SB 1.1.10). They are mandāḥ, bad, or very slow. Mandāḥ. And they have got their own manufactured ideas, sumanda-matayo. Not only mandāḥ, but they have got their own manufactured idea. And manda-bhāgyā, unfortunate. And upadrutāḥ. The first thing, three things, upadrava, disturbances... One disturbance is there will be no rainfall, and therefore there will be scarcity of food, and government will tax like anything. People will be so harassed that they will leave their hearth and home and go to the forest. this is awaiting in the Kali-yuga. But if you take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, you'll be saved.

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann

asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ

kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya

mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet

(SB 12.3.51)

He'll have nothing to do with this. If you take this vaccine—there may be epidemic-It will not touch you. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So we are preaching that, "Please take it." One who is fortunate will take it. And one who is manda-bhāgyā, he'll not take it. What can be done? Our business is to canvass, "Please take it. Please take it." So we will go on like that. People may take it or don't take it.

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Guest (1): The whole problem... We have not read Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So now read it. No, it is better late than never. You have never read Bhagavad-gītā; now read it. The movement is there for this purpose. Now read it.

Guest (8) (Indian man): The simple version is there also for a layman like us who do not know?

Prabhupāda: Even layman, if you offer your obeisances to God, it does it require any...?

Guest (8): I don't mean, sir. I mean about Bhagavad-gītā, the book. It is readable version, I mean? We don't know Sanskrit very well.

Prabhupāda: It is explained in English.

Guest (8): Ah, that is what I want.

Guest (1): It has been translated into fifteen languages.

Prabhupāda: Yes. These are all Bhagavad-gītā. These are Bhagavad-gītā. We have translated English, Chinese, Japanese, all European languages-Spanish, Portugal, Dutch, Swedish, Italian. They are accepting it. This is the process to know. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. The whole world is chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. We are known as "Hare Kṛṣṇaś." You read another verse aloud. Māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate.

Pradyumna:

māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa

bhakti-yogena sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

(BG 14.26)

Prabhupāda: Just like there is infection, and if you take a vaccine, then it will not infect, the contaminous disease. Similarly, if you take to bhakti-yoga, then you'll not be infected by these three guṇas. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya. You'll remain immune. This bhakti-yoga... Māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena (BG 14.26). Not vyabhicāreṇa, avyabhicāreṇa. Then you'll remain above the qualities transcendental. This is bhakti-yoga. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām (BG 9.14). If you cannot do anything, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours. Bas. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma... (BG 14.26). You remain on the brahma stage.

Room Conversation -- January 31, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They can make the chemicals, but life cannot come out of that.

Prabhupāda: Then why do you say that life comes from chemicals? Why do you make this false propaganda? That is our protest. You cannot do, it and still you make false propaganda.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In principle... Last month in December, this Khorana... He's from M.I.T., the Indian who got Nobel Prize a few years ago. He's one of the big scientists in this, called, molecular biology. Actually he synthesized this code gene, one of the small fragments of... They're called DNA molecule. It's supposed to be the molecule for all living systems. So the promise was about ten years ago...

Prabhupāda: Again promise. That promise we don't want.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, the promise was about ten years ago that once they synthesized this gene, complete synthesis, then they'll be able to make life...

Prabhupāda: "They will be." Again promise.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...in the test tube. But it's not working. They have synthesized now.

Prabhupāda: Then why do you talk nonsense if it is not working? Therefore you are nonsense.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So actually it is good. But we have come to a point now even in science that their promises are all going to go wrong.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That we want to prove. That is our propaganda. Therefore we have engaged you. Prove that they are all rascals. They are giving false promise.

Yogeśvara: But then they will say "We have produced so many successes also."

Prabhupāda: What is nonsense success? We don't take that success!

Yogeśvara: Well, we have polio vaccine, we have aspirin.

Prabhupāda: I am so successful that I am going to die tomorrow. I am so successful.

Morning Conversation -- April 11, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He said the object of the scheme was to attract women entrepreneurs by providing them special...

Prabhupāda: Entrepreneurs?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Business people. "Mr. Raja Gopalan said that the scheme would soon be advertised for attracting women by providing them special intrastructural facilities to operate as a closely knit unit."

Prabhupāda: Abortion. What is that abortion?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's not abortion, but some kind of opportunity for women to do business together.

Prabhupāda: The same, sense enjoyment, maithuna. All these rogues and thieves and bokā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (reading:) "Hoxar pleads for healthy land-man relationship. Mr. P. N. Hoxar, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, yesterday pleaded for developing a healthy and rational land-man relationship as the foundation to build the socio-economic superstructure. Unless such relationship is developed through proper land reforms, it is useless to talk about science and technology in employment-oriented planning, he added. Eighty percent of the people live in the villages and till the land which they do not own. The holdings were fragmented and the tenant was uncertain. They were burdened with debt to such an extent that they could not pay them back and fell into bondage of one sort or another."

Prabhupāda: Another rascal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "He said that industry must rest on a secure foundation and a healthy land-man relationship. It cannot rest where man owns thousands of acres of land and villages, but stays in Calcutta or Patna and is only interested in collecting money."

Prabhupāda: That I say always. Hm.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: We have already seen the defect.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (reading:) "Baboons imported for FP vaccine trials. Twenty-five baboons have been specifically imported from Africa for crucial experiments with the birth control vaccine developed three years ago at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. The five male and twenty female baboons which came two months ago are kept in the institute's animal house for use in trials before the vaccine could be cleared for use on women." About anti-pregnancy vaccine. "The baboons will be used in the experiments to find out if the sterility induced by the vaccine is reversible and whether the baby baboons, born after such reversal, are normal both mentally and physically."

Prabhupāda: Abnormal. (laughs)

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- April 18, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Come on. Give him one seat there.

Dr. Sharma: No, this is comfortable here.

Prabhupāda: That's nice. He is Dr. Svarūpa Dāmodara.

Dr. Sharma: I have met him.

Prabhupāda: He has sacrificed everything for developing this institution.

etāvaj janma-sāphalyaṁ

dehinām iha dehiṣu

prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā

śreya-ācaraṇaṁ sadā

The birth of human life should be engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service by life, by money, by intelligence, by words. Four, three, at least one.

etāvaj janma-sāphalyaṁ

dehinām iha dehiṣu

prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā

śreya-ācaraṇaṁ sadā

So did you read that book?

Dr. Sharma: Yes, I did. The commentations of Professor Trieste(?) is very interesting. But I liked one particular aspect of it. But the West has been almost ridiculing the evils of praising (indistinct) animal cult(?). For example it is ordinary or else it is extraordinary. There is a lot of difference in the (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: They do not know the value of the animals.

Dr. Sharma: Yes. They do not know. The real principle behind the praying to a tree or praying to stones or praying to idol worship, it signifies how grateful we are to the nature that is going around in praise of the Lord. Even to go (indistinct) the tree, the tree which happens to give the leaf, the shelter, the fruits, the roots, the bark of the tree—it has got so bulk of the nature created by God. And we are grateful to these things, and it shows how grateful we are to things, it shows a lot of gratitude we have. But that aspect of it is not being appreciated.

Prabhupāda: They have not been educated. Therefore, actually speaking, there is no real knowledge outside India. Mūḍha.

Dr. Sharma: Even the smallpox vaccination that was discovered by Edgar Jenner in 1796, it was really from the cow pox serum they discovered. The first vaccination he used on his own son. (indistinct) People who were living with the cows, they were not affected by smallpox, though the people did not have a cow in the house, they were affected the most. So it protects from cow pox, small pox.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Cow protection protects us from so many infectious disease.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Dr. W.H. Wolf-Rottkay -- Honolulu 18 June, 1975:

If a man has smallpox virus, then he is subjected to smallpox. It is not that everyone is infected and everyone is attacked with smallpox disease. Only the person who is infected, he is attacked.

In this connection Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita, purusah prakrti-stho hi bhunkte prakrti-jan gunan karanam guna sango'sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu (BG 13.22). Purusa means the living entity, or the soul. He is subjected to be infected by the modes of material nature. There are 3 modes of material nature, sattva-guna, raja-guna, tama-guna. And when they are mixed up, they become 3 x 3 = 9, and 9 x 9 = 81, and in each quality, there are millions of forms. Therefore the total number of forms is 8,400,000.

So, the diseases are there and the forms of disease are also there. Material form means diseased form. Therefore, one has to change this form—death. And he carries with him the infection and he develops another disease. In this way, the soul although part and parcel of God in diseased condition, they are forced to change body. That is transmigration of the soul from one body to another.

To be more clear, the disease is there. Just as the Small-pox disease is there. One has to become diseased, being infected. Similarly, the forms of the body are there. One has to infect the form and it develops. karanam guna sango'sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu. Because he is infecting different diseased forms, therefore he is developing different forms of body. There is no such case of Small-pox changing into Malaria. Small-pox is Small-pox, and Malaria is Malaria. By the desire of the living entity, he becomes infected with a certain disease or body. Krishna Consciousness is the vaccine for all the diseases (different forms of material bodies).