Doctrine (Conv. and Letters)

Expressions researched:
"canon" |"canons" |"doctrinaire" |"doctrinaire" |"doctrinal" |"doctrine" |"doctrines"

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 11, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Some of them.

Allen Ginsberg: Well it's... The chimneysweeper is the little boy who has to go into a chimney to sweep out the soot. And the man who hired the chimneysweeper cut off all his hair, and he had beautiful hair, so his friend told him, "Never mind because when your hair is gone you know that the soot cannot spoil your pretty white hair." So if you have no hair you don't have to worry what will happen to your hair, which is a very Vaiṣṇava doctrine also.

Devotee: Excuse me, Prabhupāda, it's five to eleven now.

Allen Ginsberg: Ok. We'd better let everybody retire.

Kīrtanānanda: Here, there's a little bit of food coming.

Devotee: Ah, prasādam.

Allen Ginsberg: Oh, it's a Gnostic doctrine, if it's not Vaiṣṇava.

Prabhupāda: Come on. You come, Mr. Ginsberg, take. First of all, you take. You take.

Allen Ginsberg: Thank you.

Prabhupāda: Take more.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 11, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Allen Ginsberg: Lately, Peter and I have been chanting together on stages, and lately we have been singing Rāghupati Rāghava Rājarāma. Is that part of your canon also?

Prabhupāda: No. There is no harm, but this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is recommended in the scripture.

Allen Ginsberg: The Hare Kṛṣṇa is the most pleasing of the chanting as far as I am concerned. Do we want to do that continuously, for as a complete?

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Allen Ginsberg: Do you want to do that continuously or do you want any other like Gopāla or...

Prabhupāda: I think this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra should be chanted.

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 13, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, they have many big, big temples in Burma and Japan.

Allen Ginsberg: Yeah. But the practice in the temples is like empty.

Prabhupāda: Maybe. That is a little different. That's all. But the temple worship and God worship is there.

Allen Ginsberg: In, like in Zen Buddhism and in...

Prabhupāda: That is later invention. Originally Lord Buddha, the statue of Lord Buddha, worshiped all, all over...

Allen Ginsberg: Originally there was no Buddha. There was a wheel for the doctrine, for the dharma. There was a wheel, and then for a parasol.

Prabhupāda: We see from historical, archeological evidences, all over...

Allen Ginsberg: Then, when the Europeans came to India...

Prabhupāda: It is not the question, Europeans.

Allen Ginsberg: Then they made a statue of a human-faced Buddha.

Guest (1): No, no. Buddha's temple was much before then. (indistinct)

Allen Ginsberg: What it had as a...

Guest (1): No. Buddha was a yuga-pracāra. That is very old, old.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Very old.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Journalists -- August 18, 1971, London:

Journalist (1): Yes. Therefore that's made living as children of God impossible.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because the one son of God is not allowing the other son to come in. And that he hasn't got the right to forbid. Just like your father has got ten sons. So all the tens sons have got the right to use the property of the father. That is law. Similarly, all the living entities, not only human beings. Birds, animals, birds, beasts—everyone. This is called spiritual, or transcendental, communism. According to Vedic civilization, a householder has to see that even a lizard in the room is not fasting, to see whether it has got his food. Even there is a snake in the house, the householder is to see whether the snake has got his food. A householder would stand on the street, and before taking his food, he will say loudly, "If anyone is hungry, please come. Still I have got my food." And if there is no response, then he takes prasādam.

Journalist (1): That's a very difficult doctrine for many people in civilization...

Prabhupāda: Because... That is civilized. That is civilization. Animal civilization is that one dog, as soon as the other dog is coming: "Yow! Yow! Yow! Why you are coming? Why you have come?" Just like here. Here, everywhere. The immigration department, "Oh, how long you will stay? Oh." So many things. Why? A human being is coming... Vedic civilization is, even one is enemy, if he comes to your home, you receive him as, so friendly that he will forget that you are his enemy. Yes. That is...

Room Conversation -- December 12, 1971, Delhi:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It seems that just like a mother when she is training her young child, because the child is very young and not yet very advanced in intelligence, sometimes the mother uses the method of fear to train her child. So similarly, according to the consciousness of the people the doctrine of love of God has to sometimes be preached with a little element of fear so that they'll accept it.

Prabhupāda: That creation of fearfulness may be sometimes not fact but fearfulness is there according to our actions. That everyone has got experience. Just like if you steal, then you go to jail. It is a fact. It is not a creation of fearfulness. It is a fact. If you contaminate some disease, then the typhoid or any other disease, you contaminate. So there is suffering and that is really fearfulness, that is not a false creation. So sometimes there are false creation, but actually for our misdeeds we have to suffer, that's a fact.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 12, 1972, Madras:

Prabhupāda: No. I think you are the best man to comment upon it.

Guest: True. Still, I am not presumptuous enough to comment on one who has actually taken up the work. That is the difference between thinking and doing. Thinking is easy. Doing requires inspiration, and you have taken it up.

Prabhupāda: I was thinking of taking up this task long, long ago. I wrote one letter to Mahatma Gandhi that "You have got influence all over the world, and you are acknowledged a man of spiritual understanding. Now you have got svarāṭ, you better retire and take up this preaching of Bhagavad-gītā all over the world."

Guest: He was doing if from the beginning, not exclusively that, but applying the Bhagavad-gītā to everything that he was doing. He was doing it really, but you are referring to concentrated, exclusive...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest: ...teaching of the doctrines and way life described in...

Prabhupāda: Sometimes I requested Dr. Radhakrishnan also...

Guest: Huh?

Prabhupāda: ...when he was vice-president.

Guest: Radhakrishnan? Nowhere in comparison with Gandhi.

Prabhupāda: No.

Guest: Radhakrishnan, highly intellectual, good man, but he was more of a... There was no inspiration he gave.

Prabhupāda: No, no.

Guest: God seems to have decided to spare him from that, from hard work.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughter)

Room Conversation -- February 12, 1972, Madras:

Guest: That will be danger. But so far as the Gītā Ācārya's teachings, He is a different person. There's no reference to early life in Vyāsa's Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is simply about an ācārya. Occasionally He says "I am Īśvara," but He's an ācārya primarily. I need not..., I am not trying to sermonize to you. I'm trying to explain what I feel.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest: Very difficult doctrine of detachment. The Gītā Ācārya says sannyāsa is difficult, and you are likely to become a hypocrite if you, if you...

Prabhupāda: Mithyācāraḥ sa ucyate.

Guest: ...if you prematurely take sannyāsa. Therefore try and compromise the principles of sannyāsa, that is to say of renunciation with worldly action, and, I mean, performance of duty, by performing the duties without caring for the results. That is the renunciation He has preached, I have understood.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with John Griesser (later initiated as Yadubara Dasa) -- March 10, 1972, Vrndavana:

Yadubara: I think a lot of other societies make compromises.

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Yadubara: Many other societies make compromises. Many other religious groups make compromises in their doctrine.

Prabhupāda: Yes, because they have no clear idea. They cannot push forward their concept. Just like the other day (indistinct) lady, she asked if Kṛṣṇa was a naughty boy. Yes, because He is God He must be naughty boy. Otherwise, wherefrom this idea of naughty boy comes if that quality is not in God? God is the origin of everything, creator of everything. So if He hasn't got this naughtiness in His person, then how this thing comes to be? That is the Vedānta version, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The Supreme Absolute Truth is that from which or from whom everything emanates. So wherefrom this naughtiness comes if it is not in the person of God? Wherefrom this stealing propensity comes if it is not in God? But because He is absolute, His stealing is also as good as his blessing. Mākhan-cora. Kṛṣṇa is stealing butter, that is worshiped, mākhana, by the very name.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Guest -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: So I do not know why these people protest against me. Kṛṣṇa says, Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says. I do not know what Śaṅkarācārya says, but...

Guest: When, when advaita-darśana was the main doctrine of ādi-śaṅkarācārya. So there should not be any dvaita between brāhmaṇa and śūdra.

Prabhupāda: (laughs) That is, from argument, it is all right. Yes. Why one should see Brahman and not-Brahman? Yes.

Guest: There is only one God.

Prabhupāda: There is only one God.

Guest: Eko brahma dvitīyo nāsti.

Prabhupāda: Nāsti. So...

Guest: Only one God dwells everywhere.

Prabhupāda: And Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ sambha...ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). He's the original seed-giving father of all living entities, in any form.

Morning Walk -- December 6, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: So it's a great risk.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Māṁ saḥ. Mām, mām means "me." Saḥ means "he". "He eats me." That is meat.

Bali Mardana: In Nepal, they kill thousands of black goats and buffaloes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But never they kill cows.

Bali Mardana: No.

Prabhupāda: Yes. We shall go this way? (break)

Prajāpati: They had a great difficulty. Because of poor fund of knowledge in the śāstras, they formed doctrines, so many doctrines, where groups of men got together and said. "This is what we believe." And they have so many doctrines. Many people killed, fighting over these doctrines, and even the intelligent people will simply, instead of trying to find out about God, simply try to clarify these doctrines more and more.

Prabhupāda: As soon as you say there are so many doctrines, that means that all of them are rascals. All of them are rascals. Otherwise, why there should be so many doctrines.

Umāpati: There's only one doctrine.

Bali Mardana: God is one.

Prabhupāda: Yes, God is one. God is good. That is only one doctrine. And why there should be different doctrines? That means those who have created different doctrines means they're all rascals.

Karandhara: Because they deviated from the central point and became preoccupied with their own speculation.

Prabhupāda: That's all. That, that is not the process. First of all you have to know that God is unlimited. You are limited. How can you approach Him with your doctrine? Because you are limited, your ideas, your thinking, is limited. So how you can approach the unlimited? That is foolishness.

Karandhara: These doctrines are simply veiled atheism.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Karandhara: Rationalized atheism.

Prabhupāda: They are called kutarkī. Kutarkī. "Bad logicians. Bad logicians." Kutarkī.

Prajāpati: So much of it is based on politics, also, Prabhupāda. They...

Prabhupāda: Yes, They, they, they're everything, motivated. So therefore they're imperfect. I have got... Just like this United Nations. They have gone there for becoming united, but they remain disunited forever. Just see. All the best men go there for becoming united, but forever they will remain disunited. Just see the practical. Because they're all imperfect, rascals, motivated. How they can be united? They cannot be united.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Guru-gaurāṅga: He has seen, but he will get today.

Prof. Regamay: And perhaps, some questions I could put to you?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prof. Regamay: But first I would like to express my thanks that you gave me this honor to receive me. So I have different questions because I'm in such a difficult situation that I have many Indian doctrines, and there was some difficulty because I know them only through the books, without (indistinct). And, for instance, one of the first questions I want to put: Viṣṇu Purāṇa, it's very similar and very coincidental to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes, Viṣṇu Purāṇa.

Prof. Regamay: Is that... Practically, can it be considered that it's the same kind of...

Prabhupāda: Yes, Viṣṇu Purāṇa is Vaiṣṇava literature. There are eighteen Purāṇas. Out of eighteen, six are sāttvika, and six are rājasika, and six are tāmasika. The sāttvika Purāṇas, they are Vaiṣṇava literature. Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Padma Purāṇa.

Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Nitāi:

na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ

prabhavaṁ na maharṣayaḥ

aham ādir hi devānāṁ

maharṣīṇāṁ ca sarvaśaḥ

(Bg 10.2)

"Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin for in every respect I am the source of the demigods and the sages."

Prof. Regamay: Yes. Thank you. Now, I'm still concerned with two of the incarnation which have... Because for me this is the doctrine of personalism and personal highest form of God. Now, among two of the incarnations, there is Kapila and Buddha. And Kapila is practically, finally, the classical Sāṅkhya-ist atheist. How could it be?

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is imitation Kapila, and there is... Original Kapila is Devahūti, son of Devahūti, Kapila.

Prof. Regamay: It's what we can't find in Bhagavad-gītā with...

Prabhupāda: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So Kapila, this Kapila is atheist Kapila. He's a different Kapila. Original Kapila is the son of Devahūti, son of Kardama Muni and Devahūti. That is described in the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He is incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, God. Kapila. And actually, he enunciated sāṅkhya philosophy. And this sāṅkhya philosophy which is known in Europe amongst the European scholars, that is the atheist Kapila. It is not the original Kapila.

Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: Dīpārcir eva hi daśāntaram abhyupetya dīpāyate vivṛta-hetuḥ (Bs. 5.46). They are not derived from any other power. They are all Viṣṇu-tattva. Dīpārcir eva hi daśāntaram abhyupetya dīpāyate, yas tādṛg eva ca viṣṇu-tayā vibhāti (Bs. 5.46). This is the expansion of Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu-tayā. Govindam ādi-puruṣam. He is always referring, Govinda, Kṛṣṇa. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **.

Prof. Regamay: Yet I still think of this problem why Lord Kṛṣṇa had to have an incarnation like Buddha who was teaching atheist doctrine and no...

Prabhupāda: That is described. I have described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Find out, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, first part.

Prof. Regamay: I read it in your commentary to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that he was, he didn't need to preach the worship of God because He was Himself God.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with Prof. Regamay, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Prabhupāda: Viṣṇu, yes. There are in Penang. Penang also I have seen. They admit that Buddha is the incarnation of Viṣṇu. That is admitted in the śāstra. That means these Ceylonese or Penangese, originally they knew that Buddha is incarnation of Viṣṇu. In Ceylon you have seen?

Prof. Regamay: I have seen.

Prabhupāda: Similarly, I have seen in Penang also, Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu-mūrti.

Prof. Regamay: And but he said also, the doctrine of Buddha, that man has not person, doesn't exist as person. He's only some moving elements, physical and psychical and nothing else.

Prabhupāda: Person. He is person. He is person. Lord Buddha is person.

Prof. Regamay: Yes, but Brahman is not person. Brahman.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Yogeśvara: He says that Buddha's philosophy did not admit a spiritual personal identity to the living being, that Buddhist philosophy was that we are simply this combination of chemicals.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is all right.

Room Conversation with Russian Orthodox Church Representative -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Karandhara: In the West also, in the past ten years there's been a resurgence of what's called fundamentalism. For so long the Christian liturgy, the Christian doctrine, got so hodge-podge and so wishy-washy that people were leaving because there was simply nothing there solid for them to grasp onto. Now fundamentalism, or the very basic principles that God is the Almighty and that we are sinners and if we don't repent, God's going to strike us down with wrath and anger, that basic principle of fear of God, that is receiving new support. Many people are coming back to that because even though it's a very vague thing, still it's something definite. "God is there, and if I do something wrong, He's going to cut me down," rather than, "Well, nothing's wrong, nothing's right," it's all hodge-podge, wish wash. People can't grasp onto that. There's nothing for them to...

Prabhupāda: That is Māyāvāda, "nothing wrong, nothing right. Everything is all right," Vivekananda's philosophy.

Room Conversation with Mr. Deshimaru -- June 13, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: No, no, buddha, actually buddha means knowledge, "one who knows," that is the meaning. So that is existing always. Now, we are talking your (sic:) Jain Buddha. Jain Buddha. No? What is the...?

Karandhara: Zen. Zen's a later development. The school of Zen started...

Prabhupāda: So we are trying to study this Zen Buddha. Buddha means, ordinarily, knowledge. Budhā bhāva-saman... (break) (French)

Karandhara: The Zen school is a liberalization of the old Buddhist doctrines. Previously, hundreds of years ago, to completely follow the Buddhist path one had to renounce all activity. He had to go away from civilization and live in hermitage. Zen...

Prabhupāda: Nirvāṇa. Finish everything.

Karandhara: Yes. Zen allows a man... According to the precepts of Zen, you can act within the world. You can be a businessman, you can be a soldier, you can be anything, and still attain the same state of perfection by acting without desire, by acting unattached to the results.

Prabhupāda: So that is our philosophy. We... Arjuna acted as soldier, and still, he was recognized as devotee.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Alcohol and Drug Hospital People -- May 16, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: It is mutual. It is mutual.

Guest (2): It's a mutual kind of support. But worshiping in a sense of religion or in a sense of a higher person, it's a different matter.

Prabhupāda: Worshiping means appreciating high qualities. Worshiping is not blind. If I know that you have some high qualities, I worship you.

Guest (2): Do you worship to a person or what? To his doctrines or...?

Prabhupāda: Worship means person. Worship does not mean imperson. Unless there is a person-to-person relationship, there is no question of worship.

Guest (2): Is... This picture of Śrī Viṣṇu, it's the person who you worship or...?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- July 25, 1975, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: ...first came to me that "We are trying to establish universal brotherhood." You were not present. Who was present? I said, "It is all bogus. You will never be able to do it." Immediately I told him." It is all bogus. You will never be able to."

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I noticed, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in your conversation with him that there was some mention that the Vedas were the universal doctrine. So he mentioned, I think, that his... What is that book they have? The Guru-grantha could also be accepted as universal. And I think you said something that it was only a branch.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation with the Rector, Professor Olivier and Professors of the University of Durban, Westville -- October 8, 1975, Durban:

Prabhupāda: No anxiety. No anxiety.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No anxiety. Yes.

Indian man (3): Excuse me, sir. We recognize six great religions of the world. Are you suggesting that the adherents of all the other religions of the world should accept as a science this doctrine of reincarnation or transmigration of soul? Are you suggesting that everyone, irrespective of the faith that they belong to, should accept the doctrine of reincarnation? Is that what you are suggesting?

Prabhupāda: (aside:) You don't.

Indian man (4): Another question is...

Indian man (3): I want an answer, please. Are you suggesting that every person, whether he is Muslim or Christian or Buddhist or Jew or Parsi or anybody else for that matter, should accept the Hindu doctrine of transmigration or reincarnation of soul in order that he may be called really a religious person or a scientific person?

Prabhupāda: Well, the difficulty is that we are talking of transmigration of the soul on scientific basis. But you are trying to give it a Hindu color. Why? To become... I have already explained. To become old man is equally applicable to the Hindus, Muslim, Christian. So why you say it is Hindu belief? It is not Hindu belief. It is a science. Why you are bringing "Hindu, Muslim, Christian"? I do not know why.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Mother and Sons -- June 13, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Unfortunately, there is no education to know what is God, and what to speak of loving Him. This is modern civilization. Ignorance. A civilization of ignorance. They do not know what is what. Simply speculating, wasting time, talking all nonsense. This is going on in the name of education, but actually they are in ignorance. They do not know what is what. They are reading so many philosophical speculation, horrible condition of the so-called philosopher, scientist. Simply "I believe," "In this believe, that believe." You believe.... Believe something. That is your (indistinct). But your belief is not final. That is creating chaotic condition. You believe some way, I believe something, he believes something. What is the profit? Chaos. So all these philosophers, scientists, they believe "I believe," as if his belief will be a doctrine. Why he believes like that? People also accept like that. Nobody questions that a person says "I believe," that means he is not in perfect knowledge. But in Vedic śāstra, there is no question of belief. This is the fact. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. It never says that "I believe there are so many aquatics." No. Clear declaration: Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. There are nine hundred thousand different forms of life in the water. Bas. This is Vedic knowledge. It never says, "I believe." What is the meaning of belief? You must know definitely and declare it. That is Vedic knowledge. Speculation is not allowed. Truth must be declared as it is.

Garden Discussion on Bhagavad-gita Sixteenth Chapter -- June 26, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: You have not recited this verse already? Oh, yes. Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttim, this is the... They do not know what to do, what to not do. Because they do not take any standard idea. They manufacture their own ideas.

Kulādri: In the Catholic Church, they used to have the doctrine, "No eating meat on Friday." Used to be standard, no meat-eating on Friday; they would only eat fish. Now within our lifetime they have changed it.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna: They have changed so many things. When I was a young boy they..., you had to be in church on Sunday morning very early, otherwise it was noticed. Now you don't have to be till later on. There is no more austerity in religion.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But if their standard is demoniac to begin with...

Prabhupāda: Therefore they are selling churches. Nobody is attracted. In London city there are so many churches closed. Nobody goes.

Answers to a Questionnaire from Bhavan's Journal -- June 28, 1976, Vrndavana:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So the teaching is the same in India as it is in the Western countries.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is being proved. Otherwise how they are worshiping Kṛṣṇa all over the world?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: This question here is "In doctrinal content and mode of individual and collective worship..." Is that to say that in your preaching in the Western countries and your preaching in India, you haven't attempted... In the Western countries where there is so many mlecchas, outcastes, so to speak.

Prabhupāda: That is accepted by Kṛṣṇa. Even one is mleccha. Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32). So there is no question. That is artificial. One is mleccha or one is brāhmaṇa, but that is artificial. That is skin. But within the skin of the mleccha or the brāhmaṇa the same spirit soul is there.

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Woman guest (2): Is it not as good to serve God as a Christian in a church?

Prabhupāda: That is have already explained, that you serve God in any position, but if you want to know about God more, then you have to come here. Now ask any Christian what is God, who is God, what is His form, what He is doing. Can he answer? Nobody can answer. He knows God is great. How great He is, who is that God, they cannot answer. To some extent it is all right, but if you want to know full extent, then you have come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. "Two plus two is equal to four" is mathematics, but if you want to know higher mathematics, you have to go some higher college. "Two plus two" is also mathematics, is it not? Everyone knows two plus two equal to four. So when you go to higher university, that "two plus two" does not change, but you know more about it. Because one has gone to higher university, the previous education, "two plus two," has changed, it is not that. But as a Christian you understand God is great, "two plus two," but how He is great, that you have to learn in the Vedas. That is real education. Because you do not know how He is great, therefore you do so many sinful activities. Otherwise, how it is possible to maintain slaughterhouse? Christian doctrine says "Thou shall not kill." But he does not understand; therefore his business has become to kill only. This is the defect. Why you are disobeying the orders of Christ, "Thou shall not kill"? Because you do not understand him properly.

Interview and Conversation -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Rūpānuga: That's important because they are saying these animals have no soul. They are saying lower form of life, they have no soul, so killing them is not important. So his work was important. It showed...

Prabhupāda: No, killing or not killing, that is another point. You can kill your own son. They are killing, actually. That is another point. But they have got soul. All the symptoms are there; how you can say there is no soul? Where is the difference between man's behavior and animal's behavior? So far eating, sleeping, sex, defense is concerned, the same thing. How do you say that it is different from the human being? Why they differentiate the animal from the man? What is the main point?

Sadāpūta: I think that scientifically that was just Christian doctrine that made them do that. Because the scientists turned around...

Prabhupāda: Christian doctrine is not perfect. But symptoms of animal and symptoms of human being, primary necessities eating sleeping, mating, defense that is there, everywhere.

Rūpānuga: They may agree, but they'll say that this...

Prabhupāda: There is soul. As soon as there is living condition, there is soul. As soon as the body is dead, there is no soul. This is difference. It is the Christian doctrine, not scientific doctrine, that animal has... What we have to do with Christian theory?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They have poor understanding of the nature of the soul.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: In Christianity, they speak of...

Prabhupāda: It is not very advanced.

Room Conversation -- July 19, 1976, New York:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This one is not, it's not bad, but it's not so accurate. "In size it was dwarfed by 'Operation Sale.' In popular concern it was outweighed by the Democratic National Convention. But for hundreds of Hare Kṛṣṇa followers, including many Indian immigrants to New York, yesterday's Ratha-yātrā festival was by far the most important event in an eventful month. Pulling three brightly-colored chariots down Fifth Avenue from Central Park to Washington Square, the religious group's adherents were celebrating one of the oldest holy days of the Indian calendar, the feast of Jagannātha, the Lord of the Universe, according to Kṛṣṇa doctrine. Most of the participants in the parade were young Westerners, followers from as far away as Caracas and Montreal. But the crowd included hundreds of Indians who brought the basic Kṛṣṇa faith with them from Bombay and Calcutta."

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, that nice. "Like many other immigrant groups who preserved their forms of worship once they came to America, the Indians who watched or participated in the parade were pleased to see that they could keep the faith even in New York City." (laughter)

Prabhupāda: These rascals, let them come, they become baḍa sāheb.

Bali-mardana: Become what?

Prabhupāda: Baḍa sāheb.

Hari-śauri: Baḍa sāheb, big Westerner.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "While Hare Kṛṣṇa propounds doctrines of world renunciation common to other varieties of the Hindu faith, the sect, officially known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, was founded in 1966 by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, whose fame as a guru came only after he arrived in the United States in the same year. For most of the Indians watching the parade, however, Hare Kṛṣṇa was close enough to their brand of Hinduism to make them feel at home."

Gurudāsa: That's good. It means that we're not a light cult. It means we have a great tradition.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, it's actually good.

Gurudāsa: They're recognizing that.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: " 'It's surprising that you find this right in New York City. It's our way of life,' said Nagan Patel, a civil engineer from Jersey City, who immigrated from Bombay. 'We love New York City and America. It's the most beautiful place in the world. No other country will give such freedom for our own ceremony.' "

Prabhupāda: That's a fact, that I say always.

Evening Conversation -- August 8, 1976, Tehran:

Terry: I have a question about this particular age. The world seems to be dividing itself between two kinds of materialists, the one which pays lip service to spiritual precedents but really devotes itself to self-aggrandizement, and the other which establishes an atheistic doctrine in the name of moral struggle with that greedy self-aggrandizement. In fact this atheistic moral doctrine has now taken over virtually the entire Sinic world—China, Tibet, Indochina. Is there some way that, the question is, what is the cosmic purpose for this and how should one come to terms with this prevailing, this increasingly prevailing notion that justice can be established in a material state or a material dimension?

Prabhupāda: In the material world there cannot be any peace, justice, morality. It is not possible. You may try to make some adjustment, but it will never be possible. So, by their concocted imagination, they are thinking, "This way will be beneficial," but unless they come to the spiritual platform, there is no question of peace, prosperity, justice. It is not possible.

Garden Conversation -- September 7, 1976, Vrndavana:

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: "This society was formed strictly for the purpose of spreading God consciousness. We briefly submit below the misleading information as reported by Blitz and humbly inform you of the fact." What I've done is I've shown each point that Blitz has incorrectly said and then responded to it. Should I read? Okay. "Point one. Blitz Ungodly Face of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. ISKCON: The International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is a worldwide community of devotees practicing the Vedic teachings, the eternal science of rendering devotional service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Society was founded by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, a pure devotee of God, who is coming down in paramparā started by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa five thousand years ago. In other words, the roots of this movement trace back to at least five thousand years. It is not a modern concoction. In India our Society is registered under the Society Registration Act #21 of 1860. As we are a registered nonprofit organization, we are required to maintain complete account of all donations received, both within India and from abroad. Thus keep a complete account of all our expenses. Our accounts are audited every year and submitted to the income tax authorities and the charity commissioner. Very briefly, the main object of the Society, as registered with the government is..." I've given them the three main points from your memorandum of the association. "To advance, transmit, and spread the ethical and philosophical principles of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, as revealed in the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And the doctrines and the observances which serve to promote and manifest the said ethical and philosophical principles in the furtherance of the subject. To build or to assist in building temples, schools, colleges, hospitals, and other buildings in connection with or for the advancement of the objects of the Society and to maintain, alter, and improve the same, including existing buildings, and to furnish and equip the same. To print, publish, sell, or cause to be printed, published or sold, or to distribute books, booklets, leaflets, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly newspapers, magazines, or other periodicals for the purpose of giving information for the work of the Society. We refrain from four categories of sinful activities, such as meat-eating, intoxication, gambling, and illicit sex life. Furthermore, our entire life is dedicated to reading, chanting, and preaching about Kṛṣṇa. We rise at 4 a.m. all over the world. So how can Blitz say that we are ungodly when we are following Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa's teachings?" This is my reply to point one. It's okay?

Prabhupāda: Yes, this is nice. Very good.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: We accept him as avatāra, śaktyāveśa-avatāra, empowered incarnation of God. That we accept.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. He says, "Like any other revealed scripture, the Bible's teachings are absolute, but are they to be understood literally or symbolically, and are they applicable for all men?"

Prabhupāda: Literally, not symbolically.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "What is the actual meaning of the sacrifice of the cross, Jesus dying on the cross?"

Prabhupāda: It has no meaning. The people were so rascal that they attempted to kill him. Because he was speaking of God. So we can understand the pollution of the then society, how intelligent they were. He had to deal with such rascals that he was speaking about God and the result is that they wanted to kill him first. He preached, "Thou shalt not kill," and they killed him first. This is their intelligence. Now people are advanced. Those doctrines, they are not (indistinct). That's all. The answer.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "Did Jesus die on the cross to redeem all the sins of the world?"

Prabhupāda: This is another sinful thought—Jesus has taken contract for ridding your sinful activities. That's a plea, what is called plea for the sinners, that they will continue acting sinfully, and Christ will take contract to counteract. This is most sinful conviction. Instead of stopping sinful activities, we have given contract to Jesus Christ to counteract it.

Room Conversation With Son (Vrindavan De) -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It means without any doubt, without any holding back. Completely outspokenly fundamentalists, very conventional.

Śatadhanya: That means we strictly adhere to the śāstra.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "In their view, controverted by most Western scholars..." Most Western scholars are in controversy with us about our view. "The basic Vedic documents form a constant theistic doctrine first presented to mankind five thousand years ago."

Prabhupāda: Just see. Such a good certificate.

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- Calcutta 22 October, 1967:

I am very much appreciate your lecturing arrangements in different educational institutions & I have full confidence in both you and Rayarama. Indian things may be exported but I do not know the varieties of goods that would be saleable there. For the time being I have arranged for musical instruments with Dvaraka & sons, & so also I am arranging for incense. If Indian Saris are required, that also can be arranged. But unless I definitely hear from Mr. Kallman what particular things he wants I can not guess what is to be done. The most important thing is that you let me know immediately whether or not I should start on the visitors visa. Visitors visa I've already got. I could start without delay but if you want me to apply for permanent visa it will take some time. So I shall await your immediate reply. Hope you are well.

Your ever well-wisher

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

N.B. If Kirtanananda honestly believes in his new doctrine, he should honestly return the certificate of his Sannyas which he very tactfully secured from me. He should not utilize this certificate without any allegiance.

Letter to Madhusudana -- San Francisco 30 December, 1967:

Whatever allocation of duty there may be, if we try to execute such specific duty sincerely, that alone can make us much more advanced in Krishna Consciousness. In the Bhagavad-gita, it is stated that for the fixed up devotee there is one duty. This duty is understood through the transparent medium via media of the Spiritual Master. It is better service to Krishna and Spiritual Master in a feeling of separation; sometimes there is risk in the matter of direct service. For example, Kirtanananda was giving me direct service by massaging, cooking for me, and so many other things; but later on by dictation of Maya, he became puffed up, so much so that he thought his Spiritual Master a common man, and was existing only on account of his service. This mentality at once pushed him down. Of course, those who are sincere devotee, they take direct service as an opportunity, but the illusory energy is so strong that it acts on this doctrine of familiarity breeds contempt. Kirtanananda was thinking I was existing on his service, instead of realizing I was giving him opportunity to do me some service.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Hayagriva -- Los Angeles 15 January, 1968:

After we reached Vrindaban, Kirtanananda became too much eager to return back. He was daily insisting me for his return back and once I told him that I have no money, how you can return? In reply to this, he said that he would go to the American Embassy as American citizen and take money from there and he would return. Then I was obliged to arrange for his return passage money and because he changed his program the society practically lost $1200 for his going to India and coming back again without any purpose. I thought that part of this money could be recovered if he would return to New York, stopping a few days in London to see the prospect of opening a branch there. He agreed, and I gave him letter of introduction, and required money for immediate expenses, but he had no desire to stop at London and he directly reached you. He was also very eager to take sannyasa and I awarded him the sannyasa order; and I do not know, he wanted a certificate of his sannyasa. We never took any certificate of our Spiritual Master or anyone, but he told me that it was required for facility of preaching, so I gave him the certificate, but unfortunately the whole thing was smashed by different doctrine. Now it is understood from the letter of Umapati that Kirtanananda does not believe in parampara or in the necessity of scriptural authority. He seems to feel that this is a sort of tyranny. That means, after taking sannyasa and understanding the philosophy for more than a year, he has changed the whole view, and I do not understand how you would like this recent doctrine.

Letter to Brahmananda -- Montreal 5 June, 1968:

I understand that the government of the U.S.A. is disgusted with the so-called Swamis because they have exploited the people in so many ways. That is a fact. And if I would have been in the government, I would have also considered like that. So, they have not got a very good opinion about these rascal Swamis. Under the circumstances, it will be difficult to get me admitted as a Swami, although I am not a Swami of the rascal group. But we have to prove it by action that this Swami is not like those Swamis. This remark was made by Mr. Alan Burke of the television company; He introduced me to the public as, "Here is a real Swami," and he showed me all respectful compliments. Anyway, I am not after respectful compliments by the public. But I am concerned more about my disciples. I want to see them quite able to preach this sublime doctrine of Krishna Consciousness, and therefore I wish to stay. Otherwise, I'm not attracted for any place, either hell or heaven, Anyway, if some lawyer assures that this religious ministership which is so bona fide, can be established, then you can promise him some sum of money after completion of the attempt. But I do not advise you to appeal for the last decision.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Hamsaduta -- Tittenhurst 2 November, 1969:

After all, Krishna Consciousness philosophy is as old as 120 million years at the least. So nothing can be compared with our philosophy either in the matter of antiquity, philosophy, ethics, science, morality, etc., all in correct vision and approved by great stalwart acaryas. So far others are concerned, they cannot be compared even. For example, if Lord Jesus Christ said "Thou shalt not kill", or "Thou shalt do no murder" to the people, it does not reflect very good social structure of the audience. Our philosophy is above all these things. Just like we prescribe to our students no illicit sex-life, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling, but they are not ends in themselves. The real end is how to serve Krishna and sacrifice everything for Him. And to learn this transcendental art we have got so many volumes of books. So the summary is that instead of diverting our attention to read such unauthorized books, better pay our attention to more authorized Vaisnava literature. These scriptures of the Buddhists and the Christians may be the words of God, but still the are not always applicable to us. It is just like a king may give some rules and regulations for some criminals in prison; but for the good citizens out of the prison these rules are not necessarily applicable. So these Christian and Buddhist scriptures were delivered for a different class of men, and we needn't spend our time in studying their doctrines. You should read our own books over and over again and as far as possible do not try to enter into controversy. We do not concern ourselves with any other religion. Our religion is to become the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna (CC Madhya 13.80).

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Sri Joshiji -- Paris 25 July, 1972:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 15, 1972, and I have noted the contents with great interest. From London now I am staying in Paris, and from here I shall go to Amsterdam and then to Edinburgh, again to London, and from there I shall go to Nairobi for installing Radha-Krishna deities in our own temple there. Your letter under reply gives me great pleasure when I understand from your childhood you are a great devotee of Lord Krishna, and now in your old age you are still anxious to preach the doctrine of Lord Krishna, namely, to surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.