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Three gunas (Conversations): Difference between revisions

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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Discussion with Indians -- January 18, 1971, Allahabad|Discussion with Indians -- January 18, 1971, Allahabad]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Guest (5): ...if each and every person has an individual identity of (indistinct) soul above the body consciousness and unless you treat him as equal, there is little...</p>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Discussion with Indians -- January 18, 1971, Allahabad|Discussion with Indians -- January 18, 1971, Allahabad]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Guest (5): ...if each and every person has an individual identity of (indistinct) soul above the body consciousness and unless you treat him as equal, there is little...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, nobody... You cannot say... Even though they are equal, you can see equal but they are not equal. They are not equal. There are three guṇas, and in the Bhagavad-gītā that is analyzed, that "These persons are in the sattva-guṇa, these persons are in the rajo-guṇa, these persons are in..."</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, nobody... You cannot say... Even though they are equal, you can see equal but they are not equal. They are not equal. There are three guṇas, and in the Bhagavad-gītā that is analyzed, that "These persons are in the sattva-guṇa, these persons are in the rajo-guṇa, these persons are in..."</p>
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<div id="RoomConversationwithDrKaranSinghNovember251971Delhi_1" class="quote" parent="1971_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="29" link="Room Conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, -- November 25, 1971, Delhi" link_text="Room Conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, -- November 25, 1971, Delhi">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, -- November 25, 1971, Delhi|Room Conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, -- November 25, 1971, Delhi]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: That is a fact, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.</p>
<p>Dr. Singh: He must have the integration of the guṇas.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Integration of guṇas, sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]). That is transcendental position. You have to transcend all the three guṇas. Nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna. Traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā. The Vedic system is dealing with the three kinds of guṇas—sattva, raja, tama guṇa. And Arjuna was advised to come to the platform of nistraiguṇya, nirguṇa.</p>
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<div id="1974_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="7" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1974 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1974 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="MorningWalkMarch61974Mayapura_0" class="quote" parent="1974_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="31" link="Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura" link_text="Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura|Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: No, other Vaiṣṇavas. But... The on... This Vaiṣṇava party, they stress on Bāla-Kṛṣṇa, Gopāla. We also, we have got our Gopāla, as Mādhavendra Purī installed a Gopāla. That Gopāla is now worshiped, Nāthavara (?), by the Vallabha-sampradāya. That is Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Deity. It is admitted in the court. (break) ...the modern civilization is that they do not know that this, there is transmigration of the soul, and this constant change of body is not very good. They do not know anything. Neither they do know that there is change of body. Neither they feel that "The constant change of body is not very good. If there is any remedy?" These rascals, they do not find the final remedy. They are busy with the temporary problems. Real problem they set aside. (break) ...simply being bewildered by the three guṇas, sattva-rajo-tamo-guṇa, they do not know the ultimate goal is Kṛṣṇa. They do not know it. That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā.</p>
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<div id="PressConferenceApril181974Hyderabad_1" class="quote" parent="1974_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="67" link="Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad" link_text="Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad|Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Now, unfortunately, the leaders are teaching people how to enjoy illicit sex life, meat-eating and intoxication. Then how the society can be happy? It is not possible. If you become criminal or if you infect some disease, you must suffer. Similarly, in the material world there are three guṇas: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So if you associate with sattva-guṇa, then you become enlightened. If you associate with rajo-guṇa, then you are, I mean to say, pushed through passion. And if you are in ignorance, then you do not know what is right and wrong. Kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye. The symptoms of rajo-guṇa is excessive lust and greediness. And sattva-guṇa, they are in knowledge.</p>
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<div id="PressConferenceApril181974Hyderabad_2" class="quote" parent="1974_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="67" link="Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad" link_text="Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad|Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Therefore the society must be divided into four classes of men, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 4.13 (1972)|BG 4.13]]). There are three guṇas, and the sattva-guṇa, brāhmaṇa, a class of ideal men, must be there in the society so that people can follow them. Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ lokas tad anuvartate ([[Vanisource:BG 3.21 (1972)|BG 3.21]]). If there is no ideal men in the society, how they can be of good character? Therefore the brahminical class of men, I mean to say, in quality, satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjava, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam ([[Vanisource:BG 18.42 (1972)|BG 18.42]]).</p>
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<div id="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="8" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1975 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1975 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="RoomConversationwithDrJohnMizeJune231975LosAngeles_0" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="108" link="Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles" link_text="Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles|Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Bahulāśva: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the doctor's first question that he brought up that although we are conscious, our consciousness seems to be affected by different material arrangements. There's one philosopher William James, who is like the father of psychology. He says the same thing that consciousness can be affected by removing the material elements. So that is simply the arrangement of the modes of nature?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. The same three guṇas. If you contact with tamo-guṇa, then your consciousness is tamo-guṇa. Tamo-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, sattva-guṇa, and if your consciousness is always with Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa consciousness.</p>
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<div id="MorningWalkJuly141975Philadelphia_1" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="144" link="Morning Walk -- July 14, 1975, Philadelphia" link_text="Morning Walk -- July 14, 1975, Philadelphia">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- July 14, 1975, Philadelphia|Morning Walk -- July 14, 1975, Philadelphia]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: The process is bhakti-yoga. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān: ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]) "Anyone who has taken to this bhakti-yoga," māṁ ca vyabhicariṇi bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate, "he immediately becomes free from the mixture of these three guṇas." Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]). "He again revives his Brahman nature." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Brahma-bhūtāḥ prasannātmā: ([[Vanisource:BG 18.54 (1972)|BG 18.54]]) Then he understands that 'I have no connection with these all nonsense things. I am brahma-bhūtāḥ.' "</p>
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<div id="MorningWalkSeptember301975Bombay_2" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="195" link="Morning Walk -- September 30, 1975, Bombay" link_text="Morning Walk -- September 30, 1975, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- September 30, 1975, Bombay|Morning Walk -- September 30, 1975, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Dr. Patel: ...nirguṇa, nirguṇatvam, beyond the three guṇas of māyā.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: There is a verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, etad īśanam īśasya. This is the, what is called, īśanam, means controlling power, of Kṛṣṇa, that when He comes in this material world, He is not infected.</p>
<p>Dr. Patel: That is all the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas' teaching.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That is īśanam.</p>
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<div id="MorningWalkNovember41975Bombay_3" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="233" link="Morning Walk -- November 4, 1975, Bombay" link_text="Morning Walk -- November 4, 1975, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- November 4, 1975, Bombay|Morning Walk -- November 4, 1975, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Ye 'nye 'ravindakṣa vimukta-maninaḥ. They are thinking like that, "Now I am liberated." He's not liberated. Why? Tvayy aṣṭa-bhavat. Aṣṭa-bhavat: "He has no still information of You." If he is actually brahma-bhutaḥ, then he knows the Supreme Brahman, Parabrahman, and then he engages himself in His service. And when he is engaged in that service there is no question of material, tri-gunātmākam. Sa-guṇan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya... ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]). That is real Brahman, when he is above these three guṇas. Otherwise, if you think, "Now I have become liberated," maybe by your liberation liberated, but it will not stay. You'll fall down again. Just like this land. You can take it-here is land—but at night it will be water.</p>
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<div id="MorningWalkDecember161975Bombay_4" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="262" link="Morning Walk -- December 16, 1975, Bombay" link_text="Morning Walk -- December 16, 1975, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- December 16, 1975, Bombay|Morning Walk -- December 16, 1975, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Dr. Patel: All the lower, all this knowledge is no doubt traigunya. Superior knowledge. But spiritual knowledge is beyond the three guṇas.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]). We have to transcend all these guṇas, and that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Now they are realizing even in Western countries...</p>
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<div id="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="9" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1976 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1976 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="MorningWalkApril51976Vrndavana_0" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="67" link="Morning Walk -- April 5, 1976, Vrndavana" link_text="Morning Walk -- April 5, 1976, Vrndavana">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- April 5, 1976, Vrndavana|Morning Walk -- April 5, 1976, Vrndavana]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: When the heart is cleansed of the dirty things, rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ, the modes of rajaḥ and tamaḥ, ignorance and passion, then he is situated in the sattva-guṇa. There are three guṇas. If you become released from the tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa, naturally you are situated in the sattva-guṇa. Sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati. Tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye, ceta etair anāviddham. When the heart is not attacked by this rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa, then it remains fixed up in sattva-guṇa.</p>
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<div id="RoomConversationJuly61976WashingtonDC_1" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="189" link="Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C." link_text="Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.|Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: We can prove it that how by the sunshine everything is growing. How it is? Your molecule and so on, so on... You can describe. Actually, from the sunshine the trees are growing, leaves are coming. As soon as there is no sunshine, immediately they fall down, the leaves, and the tree becomes without any leaves. How this happens? The same process. The sunshine produces so many things. Similarly, by the glance of the Supreme, the material nature becomes agitated and the three guṇas become manifest. In this way these are described there. The same process. How from the sunshine the leaves are coming out, what are the molecular changes, if you can study the same process.</p>
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<div id="RoomConversationAugust141976Bombay_2" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="266" link="Room Conversation -- August 14, 1976, Bombay" link_text="Room Conversation -- August 14, 1976, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- August 14, 1976, Bombay|Room Conversation -- August 14, 1976, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Nirguṇa means bhakti. Nirguṇa means bhakti. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]). That is nirguṇa. When you are untouched by the three guṇas, then you are nirguṇa. That is not very easy job. That is not easy.</p>
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<div id="RoomConversationAugust161976Bombay_3" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="269" link="Room Conversation -- August 16, 1976, Bombay" link_text="Room Conversation -- August 16, 1976, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- August 16, 1976, Bombay|Room Conversation -- August 16, 1976, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Avyabhicāriṇī, yes. Māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate. Avyabhicāreṇa. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]). He is above three guṇas. So if I am still under the modes of material nature, that means I'm not in avyabhicāriṇī-bhakti. This is the warning. Therefore Lord Buddha rejected Vedas.</p>
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<div id="RoomConversationAugust171976Hyderabad_4" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="271" link="Room Conversation -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad" link_text="Room Conversation -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad|Room Conversation -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: But why? Because this intellect, highest or lowest, that is in relationship with the body. But it is beyond the body. It is not... sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]). It is beyond the three guṇas. The body is of the material guṇas—sattva, rajas, tamas. One man is good man, one man is passionate, one is foolish. Guṇa. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo'sya. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān ([[Vanisource:BG 13.22 (1972)|BG 13.22]])? Find out this. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi. Everything is explained. Bhagavad-gītā.</p>
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<div id="1977_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="10" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1977 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1977 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="RoomConversationJanuary211977Bhuvanesvara_0" class="quote" parent="1977_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="38" link="Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara" link_text="Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara|Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: There are three guṇas. So somebody is under sattva-guṇa, somebody is... So you cannot disturb the... Let them remain in their... But we... Our process is transcendental. Kevalayā bhaktyā. Kecit kevalayā bhaktyā vāsudeva-parāyaṇaḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 6.1.15|SB 6.1.15]]). Simply by bhakti we transcend all qualities—sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So we have nothing to do with the qualities of material nature.</p>
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<div id="RoomConversationJanuary271977Bhuvanesvara_1" class="quote" parent="1977_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="56" link="Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Bhuvanesvara" link_text="Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Bhuvanesvara">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Bhuvanesvara|Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Bhuvanesvara]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">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 ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]). Not vyabhicāreṇa, avyabhicāreṇa. Then you'll remain above the qualities transcendental. This is bhakti-yoga. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām ([[Vanisource:BG 9.14 (1972)|BG 9.14]]). If you cannot do anything, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours. Bas. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma... ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]). You remain on the brahma stage.</p>
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<div id="RoomConversationOctober181977Vrndavana_2" class="quote" parent="1977_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="260" link="Room Conversation -- October 18, 1977, Vrndavana" link_text="Room Conversation -- October 18, 1977, Vrndavana">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- October 18, 1977, Vrndavana|Room Conversation -- October 18, 1977, Vrndavana]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Traiguṇya-tad-viṣaya-veda-vitāyamānā. The māyā, māyā hi yasya jagad-aṇḍa-śatāni sūte (Bs. 5.41). Hundreds of universes. Māyā hi yasya jagad-aṇḍa-śatāni sūte traiguṇya (Bs. 5.41). This is made of three guṇas. And Bhagavān, sattvāvalambi-para-sattva-viśuddha-sattvam. In that existence there is no material contamination. (pause) The Bengal government for Panihati, what is their decision?</p>
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Latest revision as of 20:42, 20 May 2018

Conversations and Morning Walks

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Discussion with Indians -- January 18, 1971, Allahabad:

Guest (5): ...if each and every person has an individual identity of (indistinct) soul above the body consciousness and unless you treat him as equal, there is little...

Prabhupāda: No, nobody... You cannot say... Even though they are equal, you can see equal but they are not equal. They are not equal. There are three guṇas, and in the Bhagavad-gītā that is analyzed, that "These persons are in the sattva-guṇa, these persons are in the rajo-guṇa, these persons are in..."

Room Conversation with Dr. Karan Singh, -- November 25, 1971, Delhi:

Prabhupāda: That is a fact, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Dr. Singh: He must have the integration of the guṇas.

Prabhupāda: Integration of guṇas, sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). That is transcendental position. You have to transcend all the three guṇas. Nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna. Traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā. The Vedic system is dealing with the three kinds of guṇas—sattva, raja, tama guṇa. And Arjuna was advised to come to the platform of nistraiguṇya, nirguṇa.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- March 6, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No, other Vaiṣṇavas. But... The on... This Vaiṣṇava party, they stress on Bāla-Kṛṣṇa, Gopāla. We also, we have got our Gopāla, as Mādhavendra Purī installed a Gopāla. That Gopāla is now worshiped, Nāthavara (?), by the Vallabha-sampradāya. That is Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Deity. It is admitted in the court. (break) ...the modern civilization is that they do not know that this, there is transmigration of the soul, and this constant change of body is not very good. They do not know anything. Neither they do know that there is change of body. Neither they feel that "The constant change of body is not very good. If there is any remedy?" These rascals, they do not find the final remedy. They are busy with the temporary problems. Real problem they set aside. (break) ...simply being bewildered by the three guṇas, sattva-rajo-tamo-guṇa, they do not know the ultimate goal is Kṛṣṇa. They do not know it. That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā.

Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Now, unfortunately, the leaders are teaching people how to enjoy illicit sex life, meat-eating and intoxication. Then how the society can be happy? It is not possible. If you become criminal or if you infect some disease, you must suffer. Similarly, in the material world there are three guṇas: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So if you associate with sattva-guṇa, then you become enlightened. If you associate with rajo-guṇa, then you are, I mean to say, pushed through passion. And if you are in ignorance, then you do not know what is right and wrong. Kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye. The symptoms of rajo-guṇa is excessive lust and greediness. And sattva-guṇa, they are in knowledge.

Press Conference -- April 18, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Therefore the society must be divided into four classes of men, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). There are three guṇas, and the sattva-guṇa, brāhmaṇa, a class of ideal men, must be there in the society so that people can follow them. Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ lokas tad anuvartate (BG 3.21). If there is no ideal men in the society, how they can be of good character? Therefore the brahminical class of men, I mean to say, in quality, satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjava, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42).

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. John Mize -- June 23, 1975, Los Angeles:

Bahulāśva: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the doctor's first question that he brought up that although we are conscious, our consciousness seems to be affected by different material arrangements. There's one philosopher William James, who is like the father of psychology. He says the same thing that consciousness can be affected by removing the material elements. So that is simply the arrangement of the modes of nature?

Prabhupāda: Yes. The same three guṇas. If you contact with tamo-guṇa, then your consciousness is tamo-guṇa. Tamo-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, sattva-guṇa, and if your consciousness is always with Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Morning Walk -- July 14, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: The process is bhakti-yoga. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān: (BG 14.26) "Anyone who has taken to this bhakti-yoga," māṁ ca vyabhicariṇi bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate, "he immediately becomes free from the mixture of these three guṇas." Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). "He again revives his Brahman nature." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Brahma-bhūtāḥ prasannātmā: (BG 18.54) Then he understands that 'I have no connection with these all nonsense things. I am brahma-bhūtāḥ.' "

Morning Walk -- September 30, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: ...nirguṇa, nirguṇatvam, beyond the three guṇas of māyā.

Prabhupāda: There is a verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, etad īśanam īśasya. This is the, what is called, īśanam, means controlling power, of Kṛṣṇa, that when He comes in this material world, He is not infected.

Dr. Patel: That is all the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas' teaching.

Prabhupāda: That is īśanam.

Morning Walk -- November 4, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Ye 'nye 'ravindakṣa vimukta-maninaḥ. They are thinking like that, "Now I am liberated." He's not liberated. Why? Tvayy aṣṭa-bhavat. Aṣṭa-bhavat: "He has no still information of You." If he is actually brahma-bhutaḥ, then he knows the Supreme Brahman, Parabrahman, and then he engages himself in His service. And when he is engaged in that service there is no question of material, tri-gunātmākam. Sa-guṇan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya... (BG 14.26). That is real Brahman, when he is above these three guṇas. Otherwise, if you think, "Now I have become liberated," maybe by your liberation liberated, but it will not stay. You'll fall down again. Just like this land. You can take it-here is land—but at night it will be water.

Morning Walk -- December 16, 1975, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: All the lower, all this knowledge is no doubt traigunya. Superior knowledge. But spiritual knowledge is beyond the three guṇas.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). We have to transcend all these guṇas, and that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Now they are realizing even in Western countries...

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1976, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: When the heart is cleansed of the dirty things, rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ, the modes of rajaḥ and tamaḥ, ignorance and passion, then he is situated in the sattva-guṇa. There are three guṇas. If you become released from the tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa, naturally you are situated in the sattva-guṇa. Sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati. Tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye, ceta etair anāviddham. When the heart is not attacked by this rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa, then it remains fixed up in sattva-guṇa.

Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: We can prove it that how by the sunshine everything is growing. How it is? Your molecule and so on, so on... You can describe. Actually, from the sunshine the trees are growing, leaves are coming. As soon as there is no sunshine, immediately they fall down, the leaves, and the tree becomes without any leaves. How this happens? The same process. The sunshine produces so many things. Similarly, by the glance of the Supreme, the material nature becomes agitated and the three guṇas become manifest. In this way these are described there. The same process. How from the sunshine the leaves are coming out, what are the molecular changes, if you can study the same process.

Room Conversation -- August 14, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Nirguṇa means bhakti. Nirguṇa means bhakti. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān (BG 14.26). That is nirguṇa. When you are untouched by the three guṇas, then you are nirguṇa. That is not very easy job. That is not easy.

Room Conversation -- August 16, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Avyabhicāriṇī, yes. Māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate. Avyabhicāreṇa. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). He is above three guṇas. So if I am still under the modes of material nature, that means I'm not in avyabhicāriṇī-bhakti. This is the warning. Therefore Lord Buddha rejected Vedas.

Room Conversation -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: But why? Because this intellect, highest or lowest, that is in relationship with the body. But it is beyond the body. It is not... sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). It is beyond the three guṇas. The body is of the material guṇas—sattva, rajas, tamas. One man is good man, one man is passionate, one is foolish. Guṇa. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo'sya. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān (BG 13.22)? Find out this. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi. Everything is explained. Bhagavad-gītā.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: There are three guṇas. So somebody is under sattva-guṇa, somebody is... So you cannot disturb the... Let them remain in their... But we... Our process is transcendental. Kevalayā bhaktyā. Kecit kevalayā bhaktyā vāsudeva-parāyaṇaḥ (SB 6.1.15). Simply by bhakti we transcend all qualities—sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So we have nothing to do with the qualities of material nature.

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

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 -- October 18, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Traiguṇya-tad-viṣaya-veda-vitāyamānā. The māyā, māyā hi yasya jagad-aṇḍa-śatāni sūte (Bs. 5.41). Hundreds of universes. Māyā hi yasya jagad-aṇḍa-śatāni sūte traiguṇya (Bs. 5.41). This is made of three guṇas. And Bhagavān, sattvāvalambi-para-sattva-viśuddha-sattvam. In that existence there is no material contamination. (pause) The Bengal government for Panihati, what is their decision?

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