Lonely

Expressions researched:
" loneliness" |"lone" |"lonely"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.6.20, Translation:

Seeing my attempts in that lonely place, the Personality of Godhead, who is transcendental to all mundane description, spoke to me with gravity and pleasing words, just to mitigate my grief.

SB 1.6.21, Purport:

The balanced mode of nature is goodness. And to be completely freed from all material tinges is to become free from the mode of goodness also. To search the audience of God in a lonely forest is considered to be in the mode of goodness. One can go out into the forest to attain spiritual perfection, but that does not mean that one can see the Lord personally there.

SB 1.11.33, Purport:

According to Brahma-saṁhitā, the Lord is served very respectfully by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune. They are always in a lonely place also with the Lord. But still the association of the Lord is so inspiringly newer and newer that they cannot quit the Lord for a moment, even though they are by nature very restless and are moving about. The spiritual relation with the Lord is so enlivening and resourceful that no one can leave the company of the Lord, once having taken shelter of Him.

SB 1.11.39, Purport:

The wives of Lord Kṛṣṇa were made to forget the immeasurable glories of the Lord by the internal potency so that there might not be any flaw of exchange, and they took it for granted that the Lord was a henpecked husband, always following them in lonely places. In other words, even the personal associates of the Lord do not know Him perfectly well, so what do the thesis writers or mental speculators know about the transcendental glories of the Lord?

SB Canto 2

SB 2.1.16, Translation:

One should leave home and practice self-control. In a sacred place he should bathe regularly and sit down in a lonely place duly sanctified.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.4.12, Translation:

O honest one, your present life is the last and the supermost because in this term of life you have been awarded My ultimate favor. Now you can go to My transcendental abode, Vaikuṇṭha, by leaving this universe of conditioned living entities. Your visit to Me in this lonely place because of your pure and unflinching devotional service is a great boon for you.

SB 3.4.12, Purport:

The Lord was sitting in a lonely place just about to disappear from the vision of the inhabitants of this universe, and Uddhava was fortunate to see Him even at that time and thus receive the Lord's permission to enter Vaikuṇṭha. The Lord is everywhere at all times, and His appearance and disappearance are merely the experience of the inhabitants of a particular universe.

SB 3.5.24, Purport:

The Lord is the supreme seer because only by His glance did the material energy become active for cosmic manifestation. At that time the seer was there, but the external energy, over which the glance of the Lord is cast, was not present. He felt somewhat insufficient, like a husband feeling lonely in the absence of his wife. This is a poetic simile. The Lord wanted to create the cosmic manifestation to give another chance to the conditioned souls who were dormant in forgetfulness.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.12 Summary:

The brahmacārī should be trained to be satisfied with eating what is absolutely necessary, he should be very expert in executing responsibilities, he should be faithful, and he should control his senses and try to avoid the association of women as far as possible. A brahmacārī should very strictly abstain from living with women and should not meet with gṛhasthas and those too addicted to women. Nor should a brahmacārī speak in a lonely place with a woman.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.54.23, Translation:

Boasting thus, foolish Rukmī, ignorant of the true extent of the Supreme Lord's power, approached Lord Govinda in his lone chariot and challenged Him, "Just stand and fight!"

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 4.88, Translation:

"Truly the Personality of Godhead has been worshiped by Her. Therefore Lord Govinda, being pleased, has brought Her to a lonely spot, leaving us all behind."

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 13.35, Purport:

Bengalis are generally not very stout and strong. Therefore when a lone Bengali traverses the roads of Bihar, the plunderers on the road capture him, rob all his belongings and kidnap him for their own service. According to one opinion, the rogues of Bihar know very well that Bengalis are intelligent; therefore these thieves generally force the Bengalis into service requiring intelligence and do not allow them to leave.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 31:

"Dear Kṛṣṇa," the gopīs continued, "You are very cunning. You can imagine how much we are distressed simply by remembering Your cunning smile, Your pleasing glance, Your walking with us in the forest of Vṛndāvana and Your auspicious meditations. Your talks with us in lonely places were heartwarming. Now we are all aggrieved to remember Your behavior."

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 4.27 -- Bombay, April 16, 1974:

Therefore in the śāstra it is forbidden, mātrā svasrā duhitrā vā nāviviktāsano bhavet: (SB 9.19.17) "In a lonely place don't sit down even with your mother, even with your sister, or even with your daughter." Because generally our senses are not very much agitated in the present of mother, sister and daughter. But śāstra says, "Even though it is so, but don't sit down with your mother, sister and daughter in a lonely place." "Why? I am not a fool." But you are not a fool.

Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966:

So there is no harm to become a householder. It is not that... I am a sannyāsī; I have given up household life. And one person who is a householder... There is no difference, provided it is on the principle of religion. I am a sannyāsī. I am forbidden to make any association with women. I cannot talk even with woman in a lonely place. That is forbidden. I cannot talk with a woman. I give you one practical example. When my Guru Mahārāja, my spiritual master, was living... I am speaking about fifty years before.

Lecture on BG 8.12-13 -- New York, November 15, 1966:

So, so long we are here, we have to practice to love Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord. Then we can enter. This is the training. And if we are not trained up in that way, then, by impersonal endeavor, we can enter into the spiritual kingdom, but there is risk of falling down again. Because that alone, that loneliness, will create some disturbance, and he will try to have association. And because he has no association of the Supreme Lord, he will have to come back into this material world and associate with this material association.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.9 -- Auckland, February 20, 1973:

Mātrā means mother, with mother. Svasrā, with sister. Duhitrā, with daughter. Nāviviktāsano bhavet, "Never sit down in a lonely place even with your mother, even with your sister, or even with your daughter." Balavān indriya-grāmaḥ, the indriya-grāmaḥ, all the senses, especially the sex, is so strong that vidvāṁsam api karṣati, even one is very learned, very well educated, still he is attracted.

Lecture on SB 1.2.1 -- New Vrindaban, September 1, 1972:

Guest: You said that God created us because He was lonely. How could God, who is perfect, be lonely?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Devotee (1): He said that you say, he said you said that God created us because He waw lonely.

Prabhupāda: No, I didn't say lonely.

Guest: Oh, I misunderstood then.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Guest: Would you say that...

Prabhupāda: God cannot be lonely. Just like as soon as you say that President Nixon is coming, it does not mean he's coming alone. Because his position as President means whenever he goes he has got his secretaries, his military commanders, so many things. Similarly, God is never alone. God is always with many paraphernalia. So God is not lonely. Never.

Lecture on SB 1.2.3 -- London, August 24, 1971:

Dark well means a very deep ditch, well, but it is covered with grass. You cannot know that there is a deep well, but while walking, you may fall down within it. And it is already covered with grass, and it is very deep. If you fall down and you try to get out of it, because it is lonely place, nobody is there, nobody may hear you, and you may simply die without any help.

Lecture on SB 1.2.20 -- Vrndavana, October 31, 1972:

Ānanda cannot be impersonal. You can make experiment. Suppose if you are put into a big room without any man coming there, so you cannot feel very comfortable for long time. You will feel lonely. You shall try to come out. Just like we have got experience. Everyone has got experience, when we rise very high in the sky, but we cannot remain in that condition more than, utmost, eight to ten hours. Then we become very restless.

Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Chicago, July 6, 1975:

People suffered starvation, and poor men, they died out of starvation. But there was no report of stealing. No report. One American gentleman went there, "If this is the condition in our country, there would have been revolution. And these people do not even steal others' properties, dying starvation." Lonely man is going. He will arrest him, "Give me whatever you have got. Otherwise I will kill you." So this is bandī.

Lecture on SB 6.1.62 -- Vrndavana, August 29, 1975:

That is vidvāṁsam api karṣati. This Ajāmila is a learned brāhmaṇa. He is vidvān. He is not a fool. But vidvāṁsam api karṣati. Therefore it is forbidden, mātrā svasrā duhitrā vā: "Don't keep yourself in a lonely place and talk 'pish pish' with woman, even she is mother, daughter, or sister." Strictly forbidden. That "pish pish" will kill you.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Lord Caitanya Play Told to Tamala Krsna -- August 4, 1969, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: He stole away the child. So he was seeking some secret place, lonely place, so that he can rob of... In this way seeking, seeking, he traveled, and at last he came just in front of the house, and he dropped the child, that "Somebody may see that I have taken this child. Then I'll be beaten, I will be caught." So out of fear he fled away. And the guardians, ladies, they were very much anxious, "Who has taken the child? He was with ornaments." But they saw that the child is there. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu enjoyed for some time on the shoulder of the thief.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With Three College Students -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: These are the condition, first condition. So where you are getting these conditions fulfilled? You cannot practice yoga in a hotel or in a club. That is not possible.

Student (2): How do you decide whether a place is sacred or not?

Prabhupāda: Sacred place, generally we take as a lonely place, solitary place. If it is not solitary, it is not sacred.

Student (2): Is sacred the same as solitary?

Prabhupāda: Yes, they used to sit down in the Himalaya where the Ganges is coming. That is a sacred place. If you go simply on the Ganges side on the bank of the Ganges, Yamunā, you will find immediately purified your mind, immediately.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- August 12, 1975, Paris:

Brahmānanda: Right now he does not go to any social gatherings, he does not make any public appearances. He is afraid that as soon as he makes public appearances, then he will be called to give testimony. So he is actually being forced to live a very lonely life.

Prabhupāda: Lonely life means drinking. What he will do?

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Nandarani, Dayananda -- San Francisco 29 March, 1968:

When I was in Los Angeles, I asked Dayananda to speak, and I was very glad that he speaks very nicely. So he can speak, also, in the class, and if there is none else there, he can speak to you. So don't feel lonely. Try to understand Krishna Consciousness mutually, and this will give you transcendental pleasure.

Letter to Subala -- San Francisco 30 March, 1968:

Please don't feel lonely. Krishna is always with you and I shall pray for you and to Krishna also that you may make progress more and more in this faithful discharge of duties in Krishna Consciousness.

Letter to Sivananda -- Los Angeles 11 November, 1968:

Persons who want to take advantage of cheap reputation they imitate great personalities like Haridasa Thakura, who was alone chanting 300,000 of Holy Names daily. By such chanting, lonely chanting he got so much spiritual power that he could convert even a harlot to become a great devotee whereas an ordinary person falls easily a victim to such allurement.

Letter to Janaki -- Los Angeles 9 December, 1968:

So far as you writing you are lonely I think that there is no need for this. Such sentiments of wishing for me to be there is nice but a girl is meant for living with her husband and not her father, such girl is very lucky who can live with her husband. And you have specially nice, beautiful husband and not only that but he is devotee also so you are very fortunate. So continue to faithfully help your husband in executing the mission of his life to spread Krishna Consciousness and surely Krishna will bless you and grant you all happiness.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Hayagriva -- Los Angeles 31 January, 1969:

As for your nice sentiments about our first meeting on Houston Street, it was all arranged by Krishna. That was practically a favor shown to me by Krishna because I came in your country by superior order. I had been feeling lonely although I had the mission of starting this Krishna Consciousness movement. So Krishna sent you to me, and therefore our meeting was also the desire of Krishna.

Letter to Kulasekhara -- Tittenhurst 2 November, 1969:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated October 21, 1969 and have noted the contents carefully. In a new place sometimes one feels loneliness, but gradually this subsides. But this feeling is not very good for a Krishna Conscious devotee. When she has got her husband for companionship, what is the use of your wife desiring some female companionship? If this is available, that is good.

Letter to Kulasekhara -- Tittenhurst 2 November, 1969:

Also, I understand that there is one very nice girl who is coming to the temple often, so she may try to help this girl become elevated to Krishna Consciousness. These feelings of loneliness are simply temporary manifestations due to past conditioning, and we should try to concentrate our attention to our eternal friendship with Krishna. That will relieve us of all such botherations.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Govinda -- New Delhi 11 November, 1973:

Immediately return and live with devotees and take care of the Deities and tulsi. That is our main business. My Guru Maharaja condemned living alone in a lonely place. He wrote as follows:

dusta mana, tumi kisera Vaisnava

pratisthara tare, nirjanera ghare,

tavra hari-nama kevala kaitava

"O rascal mind, what kind of Vaisnava are you. In a lonely place your chanting of Hare Krishna is simply cheating"