View source for For the present generation, the chanting, vibration of holy name of God, is recommended in the scriptures. It is said that meditation was possible in the Satya-yuga, when people were cent percent pure. For the present, mostly, people are impure

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{{terms|"For the present generation, the chanting, vibration of holy name of God, is recommended in the scriptures. There is said that meditation was possible in the Satya-yuga, when people were cent per cent pure. And they are . . . for the present, mostly, people are impure"}}
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[[Category:Present Generation]]
[[Category:Chanting about God]]
[[Category:Vibration]]
[[Category:Holy Names of God]]
[[Category:Recommend]]
[[Category:Scripture]]
[[Category:It Is Said]]
[[Category:Meditation]]
[[Category:Possible]]
[[Category:Satya-yuga]]
[[Category:When]]
[[Category:People Were...]]
[[Category:Cent Percent]]
[[Category:Pure]]
[[Category:Mostly]]
[[Category:People Are...]]
[[Category:Impure]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Audio - BHAV]]
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<h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
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<h3>1968 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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The standard meditation is described in Bhagavad-gītā. That is very difficult job. You have to select a solitary place, you have to sit in a certain posture, you have to regulate your life, complete celibacy, eating, sleeping . . . there are so many rules and regulation that that sort of meditation is absolutely impossible for the present way of life. For the present generation, the chanting, vibration of holy name of God, is recommended in the scriptures. There is said that meditation was possible in the Satya-yuga, when people were cent per cent pure. And they are . . . for the present, mostly, people are impure. So they cannot execute meditation as it is described in the standard scriptures.
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[[Vanisource:680312 - Interview - San Francisco|680312 - Interview - San Francisco]]
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Interviewer: Guru means teacher.

Prabhupāda: Guru means not exactly teacher. Guru, the word, means heavy. Heavy. H-e-a-v-y, heavy.

Interviewer: Is guru and svāmī the same thing?

Prabhupāda: Svāmī means practically the same idea. Svāmī means the master of the senses. One who has not control over senses, he cannot become guru. The renounced order means he's strictly away from all kinds of sense gratification, especially sex life. Therefore, he's called svāmī. Svāmī means the master. One who has become the master of the senses, he can become the spiritual master of the society. That is the idea.

Interviewer: The svāmī . . . wow did I understand you to say the svāmī has no sex life?

Prabhupāda: No. Certainly not.

Interviewer: Certainly not. All right, now when you . . .

Prabhupāda: Well, actually sex life is allowed only to the householders. According to Vedic culture, sex life is restricted. There are four divisions of society. The brahmacārī is strictly forbidden for sex life. The vānaprastha, they are also forbidden for sex life, and the sannyāsī, they are also forbidden for sex life. So out of four divisions, three divisions are strictly forbidden of sex life. Only the householders, they can have restricted sex life with married wife, simply for begetting children. That is the Vedic culture.

Interviewer: Only for propagating children.

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Interviewer: Then there is a similarity to Catholicism. The priest is supposed to be celibate.

Prabhupāda: Certainly. Anywhere there is spiritual conception, sex life is not indulged. Anywhere, either it may be Christianity or Hinduism . . . sex life is materialism. That is opposite number of spiritualism. So people are trained gradually to refrain from sex life. And in the sannyāsa life he's completely trained. Therefore he's allowed to move in the society for preaching spiritual education.

Interviewer: Now, the whole world is heard of the Maharishi Mahesh. Is he part of the order?

Prabhupāda: No. I have heard so much in the paper.

Interviewer: He is the world's most famous guru at the present time.

Prabhupāda: He's not guru. But he's advertised his name like that. (laughs) A guru is different thing. But people are, in your country, in the Western part of the country . . . of the world, people are after some spiritual information. So anyone who comes professing as spiritualist, they is welcome, and if he flatters, then it is very convenient to get followers. So we don't follow exactly in that way. We follow exactly the principles of Vedic ways of life. So in that way, sex life for a sannyāsī is strictly prohibited.

Interviewer: So many of the people are going to him for meditation. Is meditation part of your philosophy?

Prabhupāda: Yes. But meditation as this Maharshi or any other svāmī or . . . are professing, that is not exactly the process of meditation. The standard meditation is described in Bhagavad-gītā. That is very difficult job. You have to select a solitary place, you have to sit in a certain posture, you have to regulate your life, complete celibacy, eating, sleeping . . . there are so many rules and regulation that that sort of meditation is absolutely impossible for the present way of life.

For the present generation, the chanting, vibration of holy name of God, is recommended in the scriptures. There is said that meditation was possible in the Satya-yuga, when people were cent per cent pure. And they are . . . for the present, mostly, people are impure. So they cannot execute meditation as it is described in the standard scriptures.

Interviewer: Is yoga part of meditation?

Prabhupāda: Yoga is a very broad term. Yoga means to connect with the Absolute Truth. That is yoga. Yoga means connecting link. So there are different varieties of yoga. Just like one staircase, it is the connecting link to the top floor. So that is, everywhere you can say staircase, but one who has crossed a few steps and one who has crossed a few floors, they are not on the same level.

Interviewer: I'd like to read one thing. This is evidently said by a man named Swāmī Śiva Premānada of New York's Yoga Center. He said: "If one has the time to put in about eight or ten hours a day for ten years, one might develop the power to see through a wall through meditation. I've seen people develop X-ray vision, but I've never seen the point of paying such a heavy price for it."

Prabhupāda: But I don't think it is practical that one can meditate for eight to ten hours or twelve hours.

Interviewer: For ten years.

Prabhupāda: But it is . . . yes, for ten years. It is most impractical proposition. Therefore, as recommended, we have to follow the regulation as recommended in the scriptures. For the present age, this meditation. Now, last night we had saṅkīrtana in the public library . . . where is that? Oakland. So all people immediately joined us as soon as we began to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
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