Pāpam means sinful activities, and puṇyam is pious. So people should consider in every activity, whether it is pāpam or puṇyam, whether it is virtuous or sinful activities. But the asuras, they do not know. Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca na vidur asurā janāḥ (BG 16.7). Those who are asuras, they do not care what is sinful or what is right. "I like it; I must do it." This is asura. There is no reference to the authorities, whether the action which I am going to do, whether it is pious or impious. Because by impious activities I will be degraded. Adho gacchanti tamasaḥ (BG 14.18). Jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthāḥ. If we become addicted to sinful activities, the result will be we shall be degraded. But they do not know. Even so-called religious priests, they support killing, condone it. Killing is impious, sinful activity, but in the name of religion, killing is also going on. If someone says, "It is my religion to cut throat," will it be accepted very nice thing? Sometimes... Just like here is the war. This is also religious war. But still, discrimination. Arjuna, because he is a Vaiṣṇava, a Vaiṣṇava means devatā, demigod. Viṣṇu-bhakto bhaved daiva āsuras tad viparyayaḥ. What is the difference between deva and asura? Who is called a devata, and who is called an asura? There are two kinds of men. One class is called deva, devata. The other class is called asura. Devāsura.
Virtue (Lect. Conv. and Letters)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Just like you will find in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. The Lord says,
- na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ
- prapadyante narādhamāḥ
- māyayāpahṛta-jñānā
- āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ
- (BG 7.15)
"Those who are always engaged in mischievous activities, those who are fools, those who are lowest of the mankind, and those whose knowledge has been deluded by the external energy, they do not make their surrender unto the Supreme Lord." But there are other persons who are virtuous. They are considered that ārto jijñāsur arthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha (BG 7.16). There are other persons who are distressed and in need of some wealth or inquisitive or really research worker in the field of understanding what is the Absolute Truth. And this morning we were discussing in the morning class that the person who are research scholar in the matter of understanding the nature of Kṛṣṇa, transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, he is called jñānī, or philosopher, and he is accepted, with bhakti, with devotional service, he is accepted as special for the attention of the Supreme Lord.
He has used very strong words, that persons who are miscreants, do not care for vice or virtue, never mind—they don't care which is vice and which is virtue—such persons, duṣkṛtina, those who are always engaged in vicious work, and those who are foolish... Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ. Narādhama means lowest of the mankind. And māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ, and one whose knowledge is deluded by the external energy. These people, they do not take the shelter of Kṛṣṇa. They do not like, although the opportunity is open for everyone. But we may not be like the miscreants, foolish, and lowest of the mankind. Let us become intelligent.
So human society, human society is so arranged that the people, the members of the human society, should be free from all anxiety. Therefore we require good citizens, good father and mother, good system of government, and pious, virtuous, cooperation between God and nature. Everything will be helpful for my spiritual realization, for my self-realization. If I am full of anxiety, how can I make progress in spiritual realization? It is not possible. Therefore it is the duty of the state, duty of the father, duty of the teacher, duty of the spiritual master to give chance to the small children to develop in such a way that he becomes fully realized spiritual soul at the end and so that his miserable life in the material existence is over. That is the responsibility.
Now, these four yugas are divided. Kṛte, kṛte means in Satya-yuga, when people were all virtuous. That is called Satya-yuga. So kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇum: "In the Satya-yuga what was attained by meditation on Viṣṇu..."
We shall always remember that whenever we call for meditation, that meditation is not on void. Void meditation is very much troublesome. Kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām (BG 12.5). You will find in the Bhagavad-gītā. Those who are trying to meditate upon the void, they are in very troublesome condition. And it is very difficult to achieve success. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. So meditation always means meditation on Viṣṇu.
So in the Satya-yuga, in the millennium when all people were virtuous, cent percent virtuous, at that time this meditation was recommended. Because their minds were not disturbed and they could sit down peacefully and concentrate his mind on Viṣṇu. That was the process recommended.
Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ (SB 12.3.52). Tretāyām means the next millennium. That is... It was recommended that people should perform sacrifice.
Now here also thrice: "Simply just chant Kṛṣṇa's name, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare." So this is the best kind of sacrifice. But because... Other sacrifices, they are also recognized. Just like yoga. Yoga is also recognized, but that was meant for in the Satya-yuga when all people were very much all virtuous, cent percent virtuous. There was no, I mean to say, sinful men at all. Now, as the age advanced, in the Tretā-yuga there was seventy-five percent virtuous and twenty-five percent sinful. In the Dvāpara-yuga, fifty percent virtuous and fifty percent sinful. And in this age, Kali-yuga, almost cent percent sinful, although it is calculated in the śāstra that seventy-five percent are sinful and twenty-five percent are...
When you begin to hear about Kṛṣṇa, then the hearing of kṛṣṇa-kathā, the topics about Kṛṣṇa, is puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. It is, even if you do not understand, it will increase your virtue. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi. We have accumulated so much dust by our material contact. By so many years' association with the matter, we have accumulated so much dirty things within our heart. That becomes gradually cleansed. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ, hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi. Hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām.
Any Vedic literature, especially Bhagavad-gītā... Bhagavad-gītā does not take into account what was you in the past life. That doesn't matter. Because we are in ignorance, we might have done so many things in ignorance, which is not approved, which is not virtuous. That is quite possible. Every one of us, we are subjected. Because due to ignorance, we do so many things, so nobody can say that "I am free from any sinful activities." Nobody can say. So that doesn't matter. But if we get, if we can learn the science of Kṛṣṇa, then, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says, api ced asi pāpebhyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ pāpa-kṛttamaḥ: "Even one is the most sinful man, but if he gets the Kṛṣṇa science, he is free. He is free, and he can go. He can cross over the material ocean of ignorance very easily."
Somebody is engaged in the activities of sinful activities, but he is not induced by the Lord that he should be engaged in sinful activities. Similarly, somebody is engaged in virtuous activities. So that virtuous activity is according to his own, I mean to say, association with the modes of material nature. Ajñānena āvṛtaṁ jñānaṁ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ (BG 5.16). But in this material world, either in the modes of ignorance or in the modes of passion or in the modes of goodness, they are all... Total, sum total, is ignorance. Sum total... Even a man is in the modes of goodness, that is also considered as ignorance because real knowledge, real knowledge is to know his relationship with the Supreme Lord. That is real knowledge. Unless one is elevated to that position, that what is his relation with the Supreme Lord, then all his so-called knowledge is also understood as ignorance.
So the fruitive activities, suppose pious activities. Pious activities, according to Veda, everywhere, if you are virtuous, if you give some money in charity, it is virtuous activities. If you give some money for opening hospital, if you give some money for opening schools, free education. These are certainly virtuous activities. But they are also meant for sense gratification. Suppose if I give in charity for distributing education. Then in my next life I will be getting good facilities for education, I'll be highly educated or being educated I shall get nice post. At the end, what is the idea? If I get a good post if I get a good position, how do I utilize it? For sense gratification. Nicely, that's all. Because I do not know anything else. That is fruitive activities. If I go to heaven, a better standard of life.
A gosvāmī knows the standard of sense happiness. In transcendental sense happiness, the senses are engaged in the service of Hṛṣīkeśa or the supreme owner of the senses—Kṛṣṇa. Serving Kṛṣṇa with purified senses is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the way of bringing the senses under full control. What is more, that is the highest perfection of yoga practice." Verse 27: "The yogi whose mind is fixed on Me verily attains the highest pleasure. By virtue of his identity with Brahman, he is liberated, his mind is peaceful, his passions are quieted, and he is freed from sin (BG 6.27)." Twenty-eight: "Steady in the Self, being freed from all material contamination, the yogi achieves the highest perfectional stage of happiness in touch with the Supreme Consciousness (BG 6.28)."
Devotee: (6.44) "By virtue of the divine consciousness of his previous life, he automatically becomes attached to the yogic principles—even without seeking them. Such an inquisitive transcendentalist, striving for yoga, stands always above the ritualistic principles of the scriptures. But when the yogi..."
Prabhupāda: No, let me explain this. "By virtue of divine consciousness." We are preparing this consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, divine consciousness. And the consciousness we go. Just like the flavor, the aroma of a rose flower is carried by the air and if the air passes through us we also experience the rose flavor. Similarly, when we die, this material body is finished. "Dust thou art, dust thou beist." This is made of five elements: earth, water, air, fire, ether. So the, so far earthy materials are concerned, that is mixed up. Somebody burns this body, somebody buries or somebody throws it for being eaten by the animals. The three system in the human society. Just like in India, Hindus, they burn the body. So the body is transformed into ashes—means earth. Ash means earth.
So if you have trained up your consciousness to the yogic principle, then you get a body, similar body. You get good chance, you get good parents, good family where you'll be allowed to practice this system and automatically you'll get chance again to revive your same consciousness in which you left your previous body. That is explained here. By virtue of divine consciousness. Therefore our present duty is how to make the consciousness divine. That should be our business. If you want divine life, if you want spiritual elevation back to Godhead, back to home, that means eternal life, blissful life full of knowledge, then we have to train ourselves in divine consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That you can very easily do by association. Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. If you keep divine association, then your consciousness is made divine. And if you keep hellish association, demonic association, then your consciousness is trained up in that way.
Śīlavatī: You said that as long as one is engaging in sex life one cannot become a yogi.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Śīlavatī: Yet the other day you were extolling the virtues of household life and you said, and you named some of the great ācāryas that were householders and you said...
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is bhakti-yoga. In this ordinary yoga system as it will be explained in this chapter, one has to strictly follow the life of celibacy. But in the bhakti-yoga system the whole idea is that you have to fix up your mind in Kṛṣṇa. So whatever position, householder life does not mean to indulge in sex enjoyment. A householder may have wife, may have sex life, but that is for having children only, that's all. A householder does not mean he gets license to legalize prostitution. That is not householder. Householder can simply have sex life to beget nice child, that's all, no more.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
When we were in the womb of our mother, the situation was so troublesome that we remembered at that time Kṛṣṇa. "Kṛṣṇa..."Just like when we are in great trouble we sometimes remember God. Similarly, that condition, packed-up condition, when the child's in the belly... You get consciousness back... Death means unconscious for seven months. That's all. That is death. There is no death. Death means I give up this body, enter the womb of another mother's body. And the mother nourishes by the materials..., the intestine joined with the belly. So mother supplies it through the pipe and the child grows. When it is fully grown, then he gets back his consciousness. So at that time it becomes very much troublesome to remain in that packed-up condition. So those who are pious, virtuous, they remember at that time, "O Kṛṣṇa, I am again put into this condition of..."(laughter) Oh, don't laugh. It is very serious subject. Try to understand.
Because real process is to surrender to God. That is the real process. But these jñānīs, yogis, and karmīs, they are not prepared to surrender to God. The karmīs will say, "Let us act nicely," I mean to say, "virtuously. We are karmīs. So God must give us the result." This is called karma-mimāṁsā. They say that... Just like the so-called scientists say that "God has created this universe. The laws are there. So we have to study the laws. What we shall do with the God?" Is it not? "God has created these... The physical laws are there. So let us study these physical laws. What is the use of studying God?" That is their view. The karma-mimāṁsā also, that, they say that "After all, if we act virtuously, then we shall get good result. So what is the use of worshiping God? Let us work virtuously." This is their view. Karmī. And jñānī. Jñānī also, they say. Jñānī, the scientists, they are jñānī, that "What is the use of worshiping God? Let us study the laws of God." So jñānī, karmī... And yogi, they are also of the same view. So karmī, jñānī, yogi, and the last is bhakta. So bhakta can see God very quickly because Kṛṣṇa recommends, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55).
Tamāla-kṛṣṇa: Another question, Prabhupāda, a different man.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Guest (3): Karma is the cause of also the cycle of death and birth. So virtuous karma of action, liberation of man are inclined to the supreme (?). If it is so, that is called mukta. If it is so, what is the first cause that should denial(?) me from the supreme or the action?
Prabhupāda: Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22). We have already mentioned. Kāraṇam, the first cause. Guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. As soon as you want to associate with the modes of material nature, then you are bound up, immediately, by the modes of material nature. Then your work begins. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. That is natural. Actually, every living entity is constitutionally the servant of Kṛṣṇa, but when he wants to enjoy without Kṛṣṇa, without becoming servant of Kṛṣṇa, he wants to enjoy independently this material nature, then he has to associate with the modes of material nature and he becomes bound up. Yajñārthe karma anyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). So you have to know or study all these understanding. Then you will understand what is what. That's all.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Just like a mother has got five children. One of them is suffering from fever, is ill. Now, very nice foodstuff is prepared. All the children come, and mother is supplying. And when the feverish child comes, "Oh, you don't sit here. You cannot take." "Why?" "Oh, you are diseased. You cannot take." Do you think that mother is partial to this child and that child? No. Anyone who is not supplied as he wants, that is due to his own disease, chronic. So if God does not supply him sufficiently, it is good for him. Therefore, in spiritual advancement a poor man is in more advantage because he can think of God. Provided he is virtuous, he will think of God. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Those who are miscreants, rascals, and lowest of the mankind, and taken all knowledge, and atheistic class of men, they do not know what is God. Others, those who are virtuous, those who are inquisitive, those who are wise, they will try and they will understand what is God. So my appeal to you is that you try to understand this movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It is not a bogus movement. It is scientific, authorized. Any scientist, any philosopher and logician may come and we shall prove that there is God and we have got eternal relationship with God. So if you want to (be) happy, then you must take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Otherwise the human race is doomed. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā (SB 5.18.12). Anyone who has no God consciousness, he has no qualification.
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: Perfection is happiness combined with virtue.
Prabhupāda: Happiness everyone thinks. Even a drunkard, he is feeling happiness. Is that happiness? The hog, by eating stool, is feeling happiness. Is that happiness?
Śyāmasundara: But it is not combined with virtue.
Prabhupāda: Why not virtue? If you get happiness, that is virtuous. That means he has no standard knowledge. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā (SB 5.18.12). If a man is not a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he has no good qualities. He may be a great philosopher, scientist, but he is a nonsense. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā, mano-rathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ (SB 5.18.12). By his mental speculation he is coming again and again on this material platform, that's all. He has no idea what is happiness, what is goal of life, the aim of life. He has no such idea. Vague. So therefore imperfect knowledge.
Śyāmasundara: A little bit. The first one's name is Jeremy Bentham, and his philosophy is that virtue is defined in terms of utility, and that utility is defined as that which enhances the happiness of men. So that the goal of society, according to the utilitarians, is the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So that is also our aim but that happiness is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat. Ātyantikam. Atyantikam means the greatest happiness. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya grāhyam (BG 6.21). That happiness can be perceived by transcendental senses.
Śyāmasundara: So you're talking about a qualitative happiness, the quality of happiness.
Prabhupāda: Yah, qualitative it must be. Ātyantikam. Ātyantikam means the actual, the greatest happiness.
Hayagrīva: He further writes, "The truth is that there is hardly a single point of excellence belonging to human character which is not decidedly repugnant to the untutored feelings of human nature." So he felt that virtues are not instinctive in man, virtues like courage, cleanliness, self-control, these virtues have to be cultivated. They're not...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore in the human society there is educational system. Man has to be made a right rational animal. Although he is animal, he has to be educated in nice way. That depends on education, system of education, but in that connection studying the whole world's education system, the Vedic education is perfect. Therefore every man should be educated as they are instructed in the Vedic literature and a summary of Vedic literature is Bhagavad-gītā. So every man should read it as it is without any unnecessary interpretation. That will make the man perfect educated.
Prabhupāda: ...that meditation is perfect. And if he is manufacturing something or bluffing others and bluffing himself by..., in the name of meditation, transcendental, it is useless. It has no value.
Hayagrīva: Well, he feels that if one knows himself one will be a sādhu, because knowledge is identical with virtue.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hayagrīva: And through meditation—they call..., he called it arete (?)—a person attains knowledge. Through knowledge a person becomes virtuous. When one is virtuous, he acts in the right way. When one acts properly, he becomes happy. Therefore the enlightened man is a man who is meditative, knowledgeable, virtuous and, because of his proper action, he is happy.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). This is the symptom of self-realized person. If one is self-realized, he is immediately happy, prasannātmā, jolly, because immediately he is on the right. Just like one is going on under some mistaken ideas, and when he comes to the real idea, he becomes very happy: "Oh, so long I was going on such a mistaken idea." So immediately the result will be happiness: "How foolish I was. I was doing like this, doing like that." So right..., as soon as one comes to the right position, he, the symptom is he is prasannātmā. What is that prasannātmā? Na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). Prasannātmā, happiness, means he has no more anything to hanker.
Hayagrīva: There is a great deal of emphasis in Aristotle on reason. He says happiness depends on man's acting in a rational way. The rational way is the virtuous way. The virtuous way is the way of intellectual insight. There is a suggestion of sense control but no bhakti. So is it possible to obtain happiness simply by controlling the senses by the mind?
Prabhupāda: Yes. So that is the process of becoming a human being. The lower beings, animals, they do not know this process. Just like they are busy only for sense gratification-eating, sleeping, mating and defense, their only business. But a human being can be engaged by proper guidance in contemplation. Just like Aristotle is contemplating or Plato is con..., this is human being's business. But such contemplation should be guided by authorities. Otherwise one can contemplate with his limited senses for many, many millions of years, it will be impossible to understand what is God.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Guest (1): Sama-darśinaḥ means to treat everyone as equal.
Prabhupāda: No, no, no. Sama darśinaḥ means there is no distinction between sin and virtue. That is sama-darśinaḥ. As soon as you see, "This is virtue, and this is sin," it is not sama-darśinaḥ.
Guest (1): Virtue and sin become the same in sama-darśinaḥ.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is sama-darśinaḥ.
Guest (2): In other words, the sin does not remain sin any longer.
Prabhupāda: That is another thing. But he has no vision that "This is sin, and this is virtue." That is sama-darśinaḥ. As soon as you make distinction, you are not sama-darśinaḥ.
Prabhupāda: You may interpret in a different. Sama-darśi, this is plain word. Sama-darśi means there is no difference, that's all.
Guest (2): But sama-darśi equals sama-darśi. The sin and virtue are the same.
Prabhupāda: No, here... Yes, that is sama-darśinaḥ because here it is said clearly, vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇa (BG 5.18). A brāhmaṇa, learned brāhmaṇa, and vinaya, very humble... That is the sign of goodness. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne gavi hastini śunica. Śunica means dog. Now he is seeing a dog and a learned brāhmaṇa-same. Now, dog is supposed to be sinful, and this learned brāhmaṇa is supposed to be virtuous. Therefore his vision, the virtuous and the sinful, the same. That is sama-darśi.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Haṁsadūta: "Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā, Supersoul, in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who relishes His messages which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted."
Prabhupāda: Yes. The chanting and hearing goes on. And if one agrees to hear and chant, then Kṛṣṇa helps from within. He cleanses. Suhṛt satām. Because He wants to reform them. Suhṛt satām. Everyone, especially the devotee. So He helps cleanse him. In this way, if he's given chance to hear, again and again, then the next verse... See.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. The ideal, if you be ideal class, gradually they will take your advice, what to do. Then immediately the whole degradation will be finished.
Satsvarūpa: Why will they take advice? Will they actually be attracted to the virtues?
Prabhupāda: Yes, naturally. Just like people come to see me. Similarly, everyone comes.
Akṣayānanda: Everyone is attracted to you, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So you should be such qualified that people will come to consult you, to take your advice, and... That is the way. (break) ...one after another. Just like if you are a qualified lawyer, when one has difficulty, he comes, consults you, what to do. If you are a qualified physician, then people will come to consult you. So you become qualified, ideal; people will come. Otherwise who will care for you?
Prabhupāda: Well, who is not self-controlled, he'll not be convinced because he'll think that he's rebellious, "I can do anything what I like. I can eat whatever I like." Now how he will like this idea of self-control?
Professor Durckheim: But one question, you see. These virtues have been always asked for by Christian churches also, exactly the same. But then today we realize that the virtues are on one level with the vices. But there's something different. If you pass through the (indistinct) step you get somewhere, you see where we can understand, for instance, if Christ says "Let the dead bury their dead." A phrase like this appeals to a different level. So I think as long as you...
Prabhupāda: No. It is not different level. The advice is given according to the time, person. So if people follow Lord Christ and, I mean to say, instruction that is also perfect. But they do not follow.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Dr. Patel: How could they stop it? By virtue of the strength of the mind. That man, if he has got no strength of mind, he should not...
Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa conscious. The government spent millions of dollars to stop LSD habit. But when they come to me, I say, "You cannot do it." They immediately stopped. Therefore U.S. government is sympathetic to this movement. They are surprised how these drug-addicted men are becoming servant of Kṛṣṇa. One Dr. Judah, he has written a book about us, that the "wonderful..."
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That Professor Kotofsky, I asked him, "Please arrange for a taxi." (indistinct) "Well, Swamiji, this is Moscow." So he came down to the gate—he was very virtuous—he showed me, "You go this way, actually there was 3 or 4 lane then you find a short lane, then you go this way, this way, then you get to your hotel. He showed me some short cut, personally. They... He could not call a taxi. And somewhere we went, we got a taxi, private taxi, and that man was begging for more than the fare.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So who can be learned more than Kṛṣṇa?
Indian man: To be honest about this whole thing as for memory level goes, I have forgotten the Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By the virtue of coming in contact with you realized people, we can also understand. Otherwise it's the gospel truth, written in scripture, holy men say we accept it. It's not our experience.
Prabhupāda: No, it's not experience. Then there is no. If you do not accept one authority, then there is no answer of your question.
Correspondence
1975 Correspondence
When one learns how to see individual persons without discrimination, then he becomes perfect. That is described in the Bhagavad-gita: vidya vinyaya sampanne/ brahmane gavi hastini/ suni caiva svapake ca/ panditah sama darsinah (BG 5.18). "The humble sage by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater (outcaste.)" It is only on the spiritual platform or Krishna consciousness or God consciousness platform that there is no such discrimination. So if you remain on the material platform and artificially desire no discrimination it is not possible.
1977 Correspondence
- "vidya-vinyaya-sampanne
- brahmane gavi hastini
- suni caiva svapake ca
- panditah sama-darsinah"
- (BG 5.18)
"The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater (outcaste)."
| Page Title: | Virtue (Lect. Conv. and Letters) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 12 of May, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=24, Con=8, Let=2 |
| No. of Quotes: | 34 |