Expressions researched:
"active"
|"actively"
Devotee (girl): Swami, even when we dream about Godbrothers and Godsisters?
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Devotee (girl): Even when we dream about Godbrothers and Godsisters?
Prabhupāda: No. That is not māyā. I mean to say, dreaming... Yes. Sleeping means stopping your active life. So that is a waste of time. We should rather... The mind is always active, and dreaming means the mind is acting. So dreaming is not always bad. Dreaming sometimes very good. What I mean, sleeping is not very good.
Kīrtanānanda: His actions are quite automatic under the laws of material nature.
Prabhupāda: Yes. No, action is there. Because you are living entity, you are active.
Kīrtanānanda: Yes, but they are being dictated.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like a man in fever talking nonsense. So that is due to fever.
Prabhupāda: Therefore I am speaking to you again." So a mantra should be captured from the disciplic succession. According to Vedic injunction, sampradāya-vihīnā ye mantrās te nisphala mataḥ: "If the mantra does not come through disciplic succession, then it will not be active." Viphala. Mantrās te viphalāḥ. Viphala means "will not produce result." Mantrās te viphalāḥ mataḥ. So mantra has to be received through the channel; then it will act. Mantra cannot be manufactured. Mantra must be from the original Supreme Absolute, coming down through disciplic succession, channel. It has to be captured in that way, and then it will act. Sampradāya-vihīnā ye mantrās te nisphala mataḥ. So according to our Vaiṣṇava sampradāya, the mantra is coming down through four channels. One is coming through Lord Śiva, one is coming through goddess Lakṣmī. Not one, different. One thing is coming in different channel. One through the channel of Brahmā, one through the channel of Lord Śiva, one through the channel of Lakṣmī, and one through the channel of Kumaras. So they are called four sampradāyas. So one has to take mantra, either of these four sampradāyas. Then that mantra is active, and if we perform that mantra in that way, it will act. Sampradāya-vihīnā ye. And if one does not receive this mantra in either of these sampradāya, channels, then viphala, it will not act. It will not give fruit.
Prabhupāda: That is for the voidist, not for the spiritualist. The spiritual life there is enough activity for even scientists. That they do not know. They mean spiritual life is void. That is negation of the present activities only, negative idea. But actually when you stop material activities your real activity begins. That is spiritual life. The spirit, spirit soul is active. You cannot stop it. You cannot stop it. Now it is acting through the coverings of material, matter, therefore it is imperfect activities. But if the activity is uncovered by material things that is real activity.
Prabhupāda: If you are part and parcel of God then we must be active in serving God. That is my analogy.
Dr. Weir: But I don't see the need for analogy. That statement is sufficient.
Prabhupāda: Why not? Why not? There must be a need. If you think, if you know that you're part and parcel of God then you must act for God.
Dr. Weir: You see, I would go the other way round and say that as long as I know that God is part and parcel...
Prabhupāda: You cannot (indistinct). God is the spirit and you are spirit. Therefore you have to take lessons from God. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated there mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke (BG 15.7), that these living entities they are My part and parcels. So, because part and parcel of God, therefore the part and parcel must be active on account of God. That is real life. Why stop activity? That is real life.
Prabhupāda: Now I do not know what other people give analogy, but my business is that we take it from Bhagavad-gītā that living entities are part and parcel of God. Therefore, just like this part and parcel of my body is active in relationship with this body but if it is cut off from the body, it is no more active. Similarly, those who are not active in rendering service to God, they're as dead as this finger cut off from the body. So they have to be awakened to that consciousness. Just like a tree, you cut it, it has no consciousness to protest. But, even an ant, a small ant, because it has developed consciousness, you try to kill it, it'll protest. Therefore the more consciousness you develop, you become active. That is nature's law. That is nature's law. Developed consciousness does not mean to become dead.
Dr. Weir: This is what I've said earlier on that the whole of the...
Prabhupāda: Yes. So therefore if one comes to God consciousness, he becomes more active.
Prabhupāda: Just like, somebody, there is a child, a child is active, but his frivolous activities, or mischievous, have to stop when he's active in taking education. You see. The same child, his energy for becoming active is transferred for taking education. He's no more acting mischievously breaking this, doing this, doing that. The activity is there. Now that is purified. Similarly, spiritual life means the spiritual activity, that is purified activity. These boys, they have given up drinking, meat-eating. That does not mean they stop eating. They're eating better things. Therefore they have given up the nonsense eating. So that is spiritual life. Spiritual life means activity purified.
Prabhupāda: Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). The exact word is there that if one gets good engagement, he can gives up bad engagement. But he cannot make it inactive. That is not possible because soul is active. It is living. How he can make it inactive? That is not possible. Nirvāṇa means stop nonsense, but take to spiritual life. That is next athāto brahma jijñāsā. Nirvāṇa does not mean to stop activities; to stop nonsense activities. Come to the real activity.
Reporter: On that, sir, he has put the real question which I was fumbling to ask. So...
Prabhupāda: No. Kṛṣṇa fought. Kṛṣṇa...
Reporter: In the Kṛṣṇa conscious scheme there is also active struggle and activity?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Certainly. Niyataṁ kuru karma tvaṁ karma jyāyo hy akarmaṇaḥ. Instead of sitting idle, if you act badly, that is good.
Reporter: Ah. There you are, sir.
Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa's advice. Kṛṣṇa does not say sit idly. Neither Arjuna was advised like that. Neither... Arjuna wanted to be nonviolent, sit idly. Kṛṣṇa never did so. Kṛṣṇa said, "Oh, you fight. You are kṣatriya. It is your duty." And in order to raise him to that fighting position, this position, He taught him Bhagavad-gītā. So don't think that Kṛṣṇa bhaktas are idle, sitting only. No. That is mistaken idea. Kṛṣṇa bhakta can do anything under the direction of Kṛṣṇa.
Devotee: It's really a difficult problem.
Prabhupāda: Ah, no problem. GBC means now they should tour very extensive. That is the first principle, the GBC. Not sit down (in) one place and pass resolution. No, they must be active. They must act like me. As I am old man, I am traveling all over the world. Now to give me relief, the GBC members... I shall expand into twelve more so that they can exactly work like me. Gradually they will be initiators. At least first initiation. You must make advance. That is my motive. So, in that way I want to divide it in twelve zones. And we have to make more propaganda throughout the whole world. Now if you think that the world is so big, twelve members are insufficient, then you can increase more than that and make the zone similarly divided. It is world affair after all.
Prabhupāda: Therefore, they should adopt this Kṛṣṇa conscious platform. Paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vāstava vastu vedyaṁ atra (SB 1.1.2). So it is a very scientific movement. I would like that persons like you, you should take some little active part to push on this movement. (pause)
Śyāmasundara: Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Śyāmasundara: What do we mean by renunciation?
Prabhupāda: Renunciation, practically, there is no question of renunciation. According to our philosophy... Just like father and the son. So son cannot renounce father's protection or the property. Some way or other, he has to take advantage of it. But... Therefore renunciation means that as every son has got a right on the property of the father, similarly, every living entity has got right to live at the cost of God. But they should not encroach upon others' right. That is renunciation.
Lord Brockway: Over eighty-five years. I'm very fortunate.
Prabhupāda: Yes, he's older than me. Still, he looks very nice.
Śyāmasundara: Yeah. Still active in the Parliament.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Lord Brockway: And I know little about your religion and your philosophy. I do not belong to any religious denomination, though I believe in the spiritual basis of the universe.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Not only men, all living entities.
Lord Brockway: Oh, yes, I mean men in the human aspect. Men and women are the sons and daughters, the children of God. I would say two things about that, that I think that those who sincerely have that conviction can be inspired to serve the coming of the brotherhood of mankind, but in experience I would not limit it to those who have that experience. And I find in life that many people who do not have religious convictions at all have a humanist conception which leads them to be very active for peace in the world, a human brotherhood, compassion, and all those characteristics which you have described as the capacities of those who share your religion. And in life they will express that even if they have the deeper recognition which you have described. I think the third thing that I would say about what you have said is this: it may be, I do not know, that there is a form of life after death. I don't know. I think if there is, the best preparation for it is service to one's fellow human beings in our present life.
Prabhupāda: Yes, but one thing is...
Lord Brockway: Yes?
Prabhupāda: ...that whatever service you render, because this world is of three qualities, the service will be, of course, of three qualities: goodness, passion, and ignorance. These are described there.
Reporter: Bhakti is the quality...
Prabhupāda: Yes, quality of karma. Just like Arjuna, Arjuna was fighting. So he was giving the certificate-bhakto 'si. Bhakto 'si: "You are My devotee." So everything is karma, whatever you do. It is activity. But we have to see the quality of that activity. What is the quality of it. Yes, how you can live without being active? You are living being. That's not possible. Simply we have to see the quality of our activity. That makes one karma-yogī, jñāna-yogī, dhyāna-yogī, bhakti-yogī. Everywhere there is karma. Without karma there is nothing.
Reporter: Hm. Can I ask you another...
Prabhupāda: Therefore it is called karma-miśra-bhakti. It is not unalloyed bhakti.
Śyāmasundara: My spiritual body won't be the same as...
Prabhupāda: Yes, just like father and son. Son is also individual. Father is also individual. Although the son is born of the body of the father, of the mother. But he is individual. He is individual. He can disobey father or he can obey the father. So long he obeys he is happy. When he disobeys he is unhappy. (to child) Is that all right? Eh? You want to be happy or unhappy? Obey your father, that's all. (laughter) Very simple philosophy. Yes.
Graham Hill: (indistinct) at home he is very active.
Prabhupāda: Yes, ...that's nice. Yes. So he sometimes becomes disobedient? Sometimes? Eh? Why? (laughs) That means you have got independence. Is it not? Yes. That means he has got independence. Yes. This is a fact. Similarly we are sons of God, we have got little independence. We may remain with God, we may give up His company and come here to find our own fortune. And to find our own fortune we are becoming implicated and taking birth in different species of life. That is our ignorance. You are obedient to your mother?
Girl: Sometimes.
Prabhupāda: Sometimes, not always.
Karandhara: Prabhupāda, many theologians will say privately that they believe in God or they want to believe in God but they cannot speak of God to the common people because the people are so agitated, they don't want to hear of God.
Prabhupāda: No, we are speaking. We are speaking to the common man. We do not hesitate. We say, "Here is Kṛṣṇa, God."
Prajāpati: The most active or the most powerful of the theologians, they are very, very conservative Christian, and they say, though, that if they believe in Jesus, they cannot hear of Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Why? If they are actually theologians, why they should not hear? Jesus Christ says that he's the son of God. But why not of the father. And what is this?
Karandhara: They make reference to one... He supposedly said that he was the only way, that no man could come to God the father except through Jesus.
Prabhupāda: Yes, so we accept the only way. Take Bible, and we shall prove there is Kṛṣṇa. Take Bible, yes.
Prabhupāda: Gap of understanding because the basic principle is wrong, because everyone is fool. And they are trying to understand things with their foolish background. There is the wrong. They are trying to be advanced in knowledge on the foolish background. They do not accept that, that they are foolish rascals. And they are trying to advance in knowledge, active-foolish, fourth class men. Their background is wrong. No scientist, no politician, no philosophers, at the present moment, believe in this, that there is soul, and the soul is transmigrating from one body... Nobody believes it. So their whole background is foolish. So their so-called advancement must be all foolish. They're all fools, rascals, animals. An animal does not know that there is soul and the soul is transmigrating from one body to another. This is animal conception. You cannot teach these pigeons that "You are spirit soul. Your body's different from you." They will, they have no power to understand. So if a human being cannot understand, what is the difference between these pigeons and cats and dogs and him? Then basic principle is wrong.
Prabhupāda: Everything is natural...
Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...they call radio-active elements.
Prabhupāda: Everything is natural. What you have produced? Everything is natural production.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, based on these elements, they calculate, they can calculate, they say very exactly the, how old the earth is. How old is the...
Prabhupāda: That's all right. We know how old the earth is.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: How old it is?
Prabhupāda: Just like earth is at the beginning of Brahmā's life. Now Brahmā's life, you cannot calculate even one twelve hours. So how you'll calculate? He has to live for a hundred years. So now, at the present moment, if his one day's calculation is mid-day now, at the present moment...
Yaśomatīnandana: This is, is this the later half of his life?
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Yaśomatīnandana: Is this the later half of Brahmā's life?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Everyone is advancing means he's going to die later on. Not only Brahmā, everyone one of us.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: It is better than doing something than doing nothing.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That dog also doing, jumping, always. "Yes, we get... Bow! Bow! Bow! Ra, ra, ra, ra!" That kind of... Active business. What is called? Active foolishness. They remain foolish, but still, they are active. That means they are simply creating dangerous position. That's all. Jagataḥ ahitāḥ. It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā. These demons, their progress means only for the mischief of the world. That's all. That is demonic progress. Kṣayāya jagato... For the destruction of the world and for mischievous condition of the world, their progress. Is it not? Kṣayāya jagataḥ ahitāḥ. Kṣayāya means "for destruction and for mischievous condition." Therefore, despite all advancement of so-called scientific knowledge, the world becoming more and more in dangerous and destructive condition.
Prabhupāda: ...less dangerous than the active foolish. (devotees chant japa) (break)
Prajāpati: In the Bhagavad-gītā it is indicated by Śrī Kṛṣṇa that when we approach a bona fide spiritual master our relationship is twofold. We render service and then we also make inquiry.
Prabhupāda: Yeah.
Prajāpati: Now, you have answered all our inquiries so thoroughly in our books that to make inquiry at this point seems like..., you've already answered all the questions. So how may we... What is the proper relationship at that point to make inquiry?
Devotee (4): Read the books.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Read the books, yes. Why I'm working so hard? Read the books. (break) ...don't find him in the class also.
Prabhupāda: What do you have to say about this? Do you understand, desireless and desireful?
Satsvarūpa: People some... Pseudo transcendentalists, they sometimes criticize us like that. They say, "Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees, you're just too active." They're think that we're fruitive, always running around, always trying to sell books, always very active. That's because they don't understand that desirelessness. They talk like that, and then they'll smoke a cigarette the next moment as they criticize us. They say, "You should not have to do anything if you're transcendental. Why do you have to work so hard?" And then they'll show that they have some very gross desire. (pause) (break)
Prabhupāda: ...therefore they see that this, their conception of Kṛṣṇa, there is mother, there is father, there is friend—"So what is this? Here also we see the mother, father, friend. So how they become free?" They cannot understand. Their brain is so poor they cannot understand. Therefore they: "It is also māyā. To think of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme, having father, mother, friends, playing pastimes, this is also māyā." Therefore they are called Māyāvādīs. They cannot conceive that in the spiritual world exactly the same things there are, but the position is different. That is absolute, without any designation.
Prabhupāda: Then when it is sprouted, then active service. That is dāsya-rasa.
Dr. Patel: This is, in the very, I mean, very, the early preaching of all our Vaiṣṇava families...
Prabhupāda: Yes,
Dr. Patel: ...that all sannyāsīs and sādhus must be treated very well...
Prabhupāda: The sannyāsīs and sādhus, they are on the śānta-rasa, as you are. Yes, śānta-rasa, appreciating the greatness of the Supreme Absolute Truth. That is śānta-rasa. Brahman, Paramātmā. The Brahman feature of the Lord, all-pervading... Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. That appreciation, that is śānta-rasa. Paramātmā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). This is also śānta-rasa.
Guest: As you rightly say, that if we do anything, actively, then they may send your boys going out of India, foreigners. Americans.
Yaśomatīnandana: They will kick us.
Guest: "Yes. Throw them out." They will argue on that ground and they will say that "You are not required. You are nuisance," or whatever the reasons.
Prabhupāda: Any, no reason. No reason. No reason. "We don't want you."
Guest: Without finding any reason. But if that's so, then we may propagate, try to get another, then they'll again take the same action, because they'll know that we are trying to create the public opinion against the government. They can again take the same action of removing the boys.
Prabhupāda: No, same action, but that is our propaganda, preach.
Prabhupāda: Everything, there are three qualities, everywhere.
Dr. Patel: More rajas is in monkeys because they are more active. (break)
Prabhupāda: They are researching for something which is useless. Therefore tamas. Rajas-tamo-bhavaḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye (SB 1.2.19). This is the effect of rajas tamas: kāma and lobha, greedy and always hankering after.
Dr. Patel: But sometimes real scientists speak out the truth. (break)
Prabhupāda: Don't give pain to others. Others, painful condition. If you feel pain by certain condition, that is...
Dr. Patel: Ātmavat sarva bhūteṣu.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Pañcadraviḍa: Because they are not serving Him... (break) ...relationship. They are not actively serving Him. They are engaging themselves... We see practically that some people say they are theists...
Prabhupāda: Then what is the meaning of service?
Pañcadraviḍa: Service means a relationship of serving out of love. So people are simply serving their stomach or...
Prabhupāda: "So if I haven't got love, then why I am coming to church?"
Satsvarūpa: Well, we're educating them what is God. They go to church, but they don't know. "What is your idea of God?" We ask them.
Prabhupāda: "Whatever it may be, when I offer my prayers, I remember there is some God. I may not have clear idea. I have got my own conception of God." So what is the answer?
Satsvarūpa: Well, there are symptoms if you... We don't discourage, as Pañcadraviḍa Mahārāja says, but if you are following God, the best religion is that which develops love of God.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is answered. "If I haven't got love for God, then why I am coming to church?"
Pañcadraviḍa: If you have love for God, why you are coming to church?
Prabhupāda: No. "Because I have got love for God, therefore I am coming to church. At that time I could have earned some money."
Prabhupāda: (laughter) But he could not defend that he has got brain, yes. So however these men may declare very, very big, we know that "You have no brain. You are as good as animal." Therefore Bhāgavata says, śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ: (SB 2.3.19) "These classes of men are no better than the dogs, hogs, camels and asses." Bhāgavata school will not approve of these rascals as human being. They are so strict. If one is not on the platform of God consciousness, he is not human being. He is animal. That's a fact. But we should not hate the animals because our mission is to bring them to the human consciousness. You cannot expect that your audience should be all highly brain. No. Preaching is required because they have no brain. Therefore your duty is to tolerate all difficulties and bring them to the sense of brain. Not that "These people are animals; we shall not mix with them." Then you have no missionary activities. Then you sit down in a place and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then don't open centers. That is also dangerous. If we imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura, "Let us all chant and do nothing," then the māyā, the women, they are very expert. They could not conquer over Haridāsa Ṭhākura, but she'll conquer upon you. And become victim. Therefore we have to be active. We cannot imitate Haridāsa. Anyone who has imitated the Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he has fallen down. He has fallen. He must fall down because imitating the highest personality, for which he is not fit. Therefore he's going to fall down. When by preaching, by chanting, we will be expert, then it is possible.
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Kṛṣṇa says that "One who is always active within is very dear to Me." Does this mean we should struggle to keep our minds engaged all the time in Kṛṣṇa's service.
Prabhupāda: Active within? Active within?
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: "Active within."
Prabhupāda: What is that, "active within"?
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: It is in the Third Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: "Active within." What is that "active within"?
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Thinking of Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: That is very good. Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā. Yes. We should be always active in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, within or without. That is wanted. Antar bahiḥ.
Jyotirmayī: His main point when he quotes Bhagavad-gītā is to show that it is a philosophy of action, it is dynamic, that Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna to fight. So there was a war. It is dynamics, not just sentiment, philosophy. It is active.
Yogeśvara: Yeah. Neti, neti. Getting rid of the bad elements.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is practical, practical action. Yes. (French)
Yogeśvara: So he says, "Therefore we're coming back to our original point of discussion which is that real religion is not a question of a man's motives, but it's a question of his actions."
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Yogeśvara: "What it motivates, what does a man do, how his religion is lived. That's a point."
Prabhupāda: Yes. That we are preaching. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are not sitting idly and smoking gāñjā. It is not like that.
Professor La Combe: Even now, nowadays, now they are...
Prabhupāda: No, their influence is gone, Ārya-samāja.
Professor La Combe: No, I mean the Ārya-samāja is no more very active now.
Prabhupāda: They cannot active, because whatever activity they had, they finished. The stock and energy is gone.
Professor La Combe: How long will you stay in Paris?
Prabhupāda: I am going on Sunday morning.
Professor La Combe: To Frankfurt.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: You can become a life member and read all these books and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. There is no loss. Suppose you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa there is no material loss on your part, but if there is any gain, why don't you take it?
Prof. Pater Porsch: No, my question was perhaps a little, not quite clear. Many of us here, myself felt, represent not only our personal selves but are here on behalf of certain institutions and we are active in some form or other of public service, these gentlemen probably also. And in what way, for example, would we serve your movement by giving a clear explanation about the aims of your activity, for example, removing prejudices and supporting Sanskrit studies and the better distribution of the Bhagavad-gītā in this form, in such ways, perhaps?
Prabhupāda: Yes. We are writing these books for distribution.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): So do you mean to say that this is just a contemplative thing that doesn't really have a active influence upon the society to change the different...?
Prabhupāda: No, we must first of all understand that our senses are imperfect. Just like we are sitting in this room. We have got our eyes, but we cannot see what is there, going on, beyond this wall. The sun is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, and we are seeing just like a disc. So the eyelid is just near the eyes, but we cannot see what is the eyelids. If the light is off, we cannot see. So we can see under certain condition. Then what is the value of our seeing? If we, even if we manufacture telescope, that is also manufactured by the imperfect senses, so it is also not perfect. So anything understood by manipulating our imperfect senses, that is not real knowledge. So our process of understanding real knowledge is to take it from the person who has the real knowledge. Just like if we contemplate or speculate who is my father, it is never possible to understand who is my father. But if we receive the words from mother that "Here is your father," that is perfect. Therefore the process of knowledge should be not to speculate but to receive it from the perfect person. If we receive knowledge from a mental speculator, that is not perfect knowledge.
Prabhupāda: There is no danger internationally. Suppose... Just like the Buddhists. They have got their all pilgrimages in India. Because Lord Buddha is Indian. He spread Buddhism all over the world. So all the Buddhist relics and pilgrimages are in India. Gaya Pradesh and other, Benares... So India government allow them free, freedom to come here as pilgrimage. So you are now Vaiṣṇava. Why they should not allow you to come to your pilgrimage in India, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's birthplace? You have adopted Lord Caitanya, Lord Kṛṣṇa's birthplace. Legally, they cannot. They should, rather, make arrangement. But, from political point of view, they're thinking that "These Americans have taken to this religious garb. Actually they are intending something political." That is the general impression. C.I.A. What can be done? Therefore I was stressing this point that you Americans, if you make your country strong, Kṛṣṇa conscious, that will be good for the whole world. Actually you are doing that, but they are misunderstanding, in a different way. They cannot believe that an Indian guru can control so many American young boys on religious prin... Because nobody could do that. Just like all other, Mahesha Yogi and... He, they might have some American followers, but they are not coming here, taking so active part.
Prabhupāda: Mystic prayer means to think of God's activities. So that is smaraṇam.
Jesuit: Smaraṇam. Not so much thinking of them as just being really in His presence and open to receive love and to be active. Do you know what I mean?
Prabhupāda: Well, but bhakti is activity. Bhakti is not passive. Active. Just like hearing. It is activity. Similarly glorifying, this is activity. Smaraṇam, remembering, memorizing, that is activity.
Jesuit: That is true. I see that. I think I sort of see a higher form of activity, where the senses really have taken over...
Prabhupāda: Sense means activity.
Jesuit: Intuition. Something higher than...
Prabhupāda: Sense, when you use your sense, just like śravaṇam, hearing. So you use your sense. So this is activity.
Prabhupāda: That is neutrality, that neither spiritual nor material-on the marginal stage. It is called simply realizing how God is great. That is neutrality. But real devotion begins when one understands that "God is so great, I am rendering my service to this world uselessly. Why not render service to God?" That is called dāsyam, beginning of active devotion. We are active in the material world. It is useless. Simply wasting time and making one entangled in repetition of birth and death. Material activities. This is called pravṛtti-mārga. Pravṛtti-mārga means sense enjoyment. And for sense enjoyment we have to accept so many different types of bodies, 8,400,000. Everyone is busy in sense enjoyment. The tiger is busy, the hog is busy, the dog is busy. The man also, if he becomes busy like tigers and hogs and dog, then he's going to become again the same species of life.
Prabhupāda: There is such sign?
Bali-mardana: Yes, because that volcano over there it is still active. It is smoking. It is always smoking.
Śrutakīrti: Siddha-svarūpa had said every twelve years it erupts, and I think it's been ten years since the last one or something. So it's expected that in two years...
Prabhupāda: The last time it devastated? No.
Śrutakīrti: I don't know. He said some damage, yes.
Bali-mardana: Paritally, not completely.
Paramahaṁsa: Partial devastation.
Prabhupāda: No, when volcano is in smoke, that is dangerous. That is dangerous.
Upendra: But the argument is that these bombs will create more disturbance than just the blowing up. They create what's called radio-active fallout.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that will do. But the war will stop because the party which will be able to drop the bomb first, he will be victorious.
Harikeśa: They've got these fancy...
Prabhupāda: Then after effects, what will happen, that is another thing. But the war will not continue for ten years or five years, like that.
Yadubara: Actually, we're more active than ever before.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We are rich man's son, Kṛṣṇa's son. Why shall I work? That is the nature. A rich man's son never works. He enjoys. We are dancing and taking nice prasādam. Why shall I work? What do you think? Poor man will work. Rich man, why they will work? He will enjoy. Kṛṣṇa says, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). He is the proprietor of all planets, and we are servants of Kṛṣṇa, a rich man's servant. Why shall I work so hard? The ass will work hard, not a human being. And that is the instruction of Rsabhādeva. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). This human life is not meant for working so hard simply for food and sex enjoyment. That is the business of the hogs. The hogs do like that.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: She said that she had difficulty to take an active part, because then she would have to take an active part in all such movements.
Prabhupāda: Hmm. That's it. That is the difficulty. She said frankly.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Because we asked her to attend the cornerstone ceremony at Māyāpur.
Prabhupāda: So, shall we take a chance?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think it might be nice.
Prabhupāda: All right. Then write two registered letters, one to Jaya Prakash Narayana... (break) ...astrologer, who was telling me?
Brahmānanda: Oh, Bhāvānanda Mahārāja, he knows. The astrologer in Māyāpur?
Bhāvānanda: Oh, Mr... In Svarūp Gañj there's one big astrologer. So he saw your photograph, and he said, "This is the face of the most powerful spiritual personality on the planet."
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Then which foodstuff suits you?
Devotee (1): Fruits are more... they keep me more active.
Prabhupāda: So you take fruit. Fruit is also offered to the Deity. There are varieties of prasādam. So whichever suits, you can take. Anything artificial is bad.
Yadubara: Śrīla Prabhupāda, in Los Angeles they are charging money for the prasādam, and we find that it's cheaper to buy our own prasādam and offer it ourself.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Yadubara: They are charging money in Los Angeles for the prasādam each meal, so we find it is cheaper to...
Prabhupāda: Prepare your own?
Yadubara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So you do that.
Prabhupāda: So make him active like you.
Bernard Manischewitz: I have a question. May I ask? Is it sometimes possible that a person is reborn in the same body (indistinct, Prabhupāda coughs).
Prabhupāda: Same body? What is that?
Brahmānanda: Is a person reborn in the same body?
Prabhupāda: Yes, you are reborn every moment. You were like this child sometime. Is this body the same? You think your body is the same when you were a child like that, lying down on the lap of you mother? Is the same body?
Bernard Manischewitz: No, my body is different from a child's body.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So different body means you are changing body every moment, imperceptibly. That is the medical science.
Prabhupāda: Just see. (laughs) It may cost two cent. And you have got your sugar also. In this way organize. Avoid machine. Keep everyone employed as brāhmaṇa, as kṣatriya, as vaiśya. Nobody should sit down. Brāhmaṇas, they are writers, editors, lecturers, instructors, worshiping Deity, ideal character. They have no anxiety for food, for clothing. Others should supply them. They haven't got to work. Sannyāsī is always preaching, going outside. In this way keep everyone fully engaged. Then it will be ideal. Otherwise people will criticize that we are simply eating and sleeping, escaping, so many, so many. And actually that is the position. Unless one is fully engaged, oh, that is not good. That is tamo-guṇa. Tamo-guṇa, and rajo-guṇa very active, and sattva-guṇa, intellectual activity. Both of them, active, only tamo-guṇa, not active. (indistinct) Tamo-guṇa means sleeping and laziness. These are the symptoms of tamo-guṇa. Every saintly man can avoid these two things—laziness and sleeping. Of course, as much you require, sleeping allowed, not more than... And keep everyone active, man or woman-all. Then it will be ideal society.
Prabhupāda: More... Not advanced. More degraded. These atheists, they have been taught to worship the form of Lord Buddha, and Buddha is incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, so one day they will be delivered. But these rascals will never be delivered.
Pṛthu-putra: I read in one of your books so many names about different groups of these Māyāvādī philosophers. Are they still existing today and active?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Anyone who thinks godlessness, he is Māyāvādī, that's all. Anyone. All these impersonalists, they are all Māyāvādīs. And mostly they are now impersonalists.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Not sleep. Not sleep.
Prabhupāda: No. This is the term used, "lazy," but real term is dhīra. The Sanskrit word is dhīra. And everything... Just like high-court judge, he is dhīra. He is... Before giving judgment, he thinks three days, silently. That is your... That is not laziness. His brain is working how to give nice judgment. That is required. But because we do not understand what is dhīra, we think that "This man is sitting idly and drawing four thousand rupees." Because we know, "Unless one is active like dog, running there, running there, he is not a busy man." And he cannot appreciate the work of the author, the work of the high-court judge. They think they are lazy. Therefore he's using the lazy, but lazy and intelligent. Otherwise he is not lazy; he is dhīra. The word is dhīra. Dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Unless one is dhīra, one cannot understand that there is soul within the body. (break) Kṛṣṇa uses this word, dhīras tatra na muhyati. One has to become dhīra, sober, silent. Then he can understand. Not these busy dogs.
information... (break)
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: New Delhi is a very social city. There are a lot of kalākendras so there's a lot of active...
Prabhupāda: No, because the government servant, they haven't got to earn money. It is father's property. They are getting money and balance time, kalākendra. And government servant means (Hindi)
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: No work.
Prabhupāda: No work. Especially in this country. Sixty percent of the government servants, they sleep. They do not do anything. I have seen it.
Prabhupāda: Acchā.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It's a very big temple, that temple. Of course, I don't know how bona fide the persons who speak at night are, but every night there are speakers, and many people coming. It's a very good temple. I was very impressed by it. Nice rooms for people to stay upstairs, very active, always being cleansed by people.
Prabhupāda: That is temple.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And first-class prasādam.
Prabhupāda: So we have got so many examples. Introduce this. (end)
Prabhupāda: As if there is no sound.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In Allahabad we met a man like that. He was moving around so much that he was more active than if he had talked.
Prabhupāda: No, that "ooohh." That is the...
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Even Basarilal Nanda, I have heard, one day a week, on Sunday, it's his silence day. He doesn't speak to anyone on Sunday.
Acyutānanda: Yes, Mahatma Gandhi.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a good day to ask him for a donation.
Prabhupāda: (break) What is the use of becoming silent? What is the utility?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: For people who are rascals it is a very good idea. Then they won't talk nonsense.
Prabhupāda: Yes. For them it is all right.
Prabhupāda: No, no, how you have...? How do you...?
Jayapatākā: Oh, how did I find... How did...? Well, I know that influentially he is, in the district level, he is very influential. I mean to say that he has got very good relations with all the government people and all the local people. Whenever I go somewhere to invite them for any festival, any function, they would always speak highly of Surendra dāsa and that he had just about a week ago before, he had already invited them for the Caitanya Maṭha. So he is very active in that way, something which we don't have time or understanding to do, so many of us. He knows how to receive people and make them feel very nice and show them around. He has a nice personality like that, and he is very active.
Prabhupāda: So if you engage, him do you think we shall get some good service?
Jayapatākā: I don't know the... I know that he is able to perform good service. As far as whether he'll... Other people tell me that since he's been working for the Caitanya Maṭha... (end)
Prabhupāda: Well, "no more activities," that's all right, but He is active. Suppose I am walking. I may not walk half an hour. That means I have got the capacity of walking. That you cannot say, that my walk... Because I have now stopped walking, you cannot say that I cannot walk. Is another nonsense. How you can say "dormant"? He is active.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dormant implies He was active.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Was active, He is active, but you, you rascal, you cannot see. You cannot say, "Once He was active. Now He is no more active. He has finished His activity." That you cannot say. Dormant? What do you mean by dormant? Huh? Dormant means potential. He can act. And He is acting. That acting you have to learn, how He is acting. He appears to be not acting, but He is acting. That is knowledge. Just like airplane is running. A intelligent man knows that "The pilot is there. He is acting. Therefore it is running." And a foolish man will say, "The airplane is going automatically." That is the question of observation. A foolish boy... I have given this example many times, that I was thinking that in the fan there is a ghost. But the idea is, there must be somebody. Although I was a child... I could not explain how the fan is running in my childhood. I was thinking there must be some ghost. And in the gramophone box I was thinking there must be one man within this box. So this is foolish thinking, but I was convinced that without somebody, it cannot sing or it cannot run. Even one is very innocent child, he can think like that. So whole thing is going on, prakṛti, the activities of material nature... Just like there was cloud and rain. Now it is not raining. So there is activity already. It is being managed. So you cannot say that God is dormant. He is acting because His creation is acting, and God says that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: (BG 9.10) "Under My direction the nature is working."
Devotee (2): He asked if you're pleased if your disciples do things like Sharma, if they, like, go to live in trees and do artificial renunciation?
Prabhupāda: No, he's trying. That's all. But active service is more important.
Hṛdayānanda: Hm. That is your example.
Prabhupāda: But something is better than nothing. If he goes, goes away to practice somewhere else, better give him chance to practice this. He's not doing anything bad. That is good. That is... But the better service is to be active servant, servitor.
Hari-śauri: That's your mercy on us.
Prabhupāda: Caitanya Mahāprabhu, personally He gives example. He could have done at His home. Why He took sannyāsa and went out of home?
Devotee (3): We have one boy at the temple, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and he doesn't want to do any work. He simply reads, and he says that "I will not do any work now, but when I become realized by reading," he says, "then I will engage in work."
Prabhupāda: No, no, he's reading. That is working. If he's... But he is sleeping, that is another thing. In the name of reading, sometimes we sleep. If that is not done, it is all right. He's reading. That's all right. But if he shows that "I am reading," but he's sleeping secretly, that is bad. To see that he's not sleeping, he's actually reading.
Reporter: I'd like to ask one.... Is your role in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in the United States particularly or worldwide? Ten years ago, when you first came to the United States, did you take a very active role in the organization, and I'm wondering whether you do much of that now?
Prabhupāda: No, although the volume of work has.... (break) ...a hundred times, but these American disciples, they are helping me, so I haven't got to work personally so much. I simply give the instruction and they carry out, but the work has increased voluminously, there's no doubt it. I came here alone in 1965 without any help practically. Where to live, where to sleep, there was no destination. Sometimes some friend's house, sometimes some friend's house, practically loitering on the street. And in this way were passed more than one year. I arrived here in 1965 in September, end of September, 17th of September, in Boston. Hm. Is it Boston?
Devotee (1): Yes, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: That is another proof. That instead of, in spite of the brain is not working, the soul is there.
Richard: Okay, but just let me finish this, and then we'll leave it. The.... Okay, how am I going to say this? Is her spiritual, is her spirit in a less active state from when her brain was alive?
Prabhupāda: Spirit is always active.
Richard: It's always active at the same level?
Prabhupāda: Not same level, because you are understanding the spirit through the body. So body is changing. Just like the soul, when he's in the boy's body, it is talking so many nonsense things. But you don't take it seriously. But when you are grown up, if you talk such nonsense things, then you'll be taken as a nonsense, because the body has changed.
Richard: Okay, what I was leading up to was, her brain is dead, she has no...
Prabhupāda: Not dead, it is not working.
Richard: It's not working, okay. It's not working. She's getting no sensory input. She's not aware of the physical surroundings, and yet you maintain that her soul is still alive and still very active. Now would her state, her physical state, enhance the soul's activity or detract from...?
Prabhupāda: It has nothing to do with it.
Richard: But it's still very active.
Rāmeśvara: Yes, just like if my car breaks down, that does not mean I have broken down. I'm the passenger.
Richard: Can't she be in touch with her soul in a coma?
Hari-śauri: She is soul.
Devotee: She is soul.
Hari-śauri: That personality, that is the soul.
Rāmeśvara: No, when the machine, when the conscious, when the body is broken like that, she cannot become self-realized.
Rādhāvallabha: She's active on the mental platform.
Prabhupāda: She's covered with the body, but she's different from the body. Just like you are covered by your dress, but you are different from the dress.
Prabhupāda: What is this forceful?
Hari-śauri: Well, if someone is very active, then it's only natural that some people will not be very keen on him, because he likes to get things done. Those that are a little slow, sometimes they complain. Maybe just that he's only been there a month or so. He's only been there not too long, so it's natural that it will take some time for the devotees to adapt to doing the things according to his direction rather than the way that they've been used to doing it. There's always some transition.
Prabhupāda: You can know more about him from Haṁsadūta. As well Bhagavān.
Jagadīśa: Bhagavān recommended him. He had been in Paris before coming to America. But his complaint was that he didn't speak French, so he didn't like to stay in France. Then he came to America, and he was distributing books with Tripurāri Mahārāja.
Prabhupāda: Oh, he is very intelligent, there is no doubt, intelligent, and for preaching work he is good. But for becoming the manager in London, there were.... What is that boy in Bombay?
Hari-śauri: Oh, Prabhaviṣṇu?
Prabhupāda: Prabhaviṣṇu. So, who would become the president, there was war. (laughter) Haṁsadūta wanted Prabhaviṣṇu, and Mādhavānanda wanted that he would become president. In this way, there was great faction. So the management was being done nicely. He was attracting Indians, faithful, they were following. But there were several complaints that he spent very lavishly on his personal account.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: With all of the situations that take place in the material world, they may not be able to see how God is actually active in the material world, that whether there's a war or whether...
Prabhupāda: Well, that you should.... Why you should remain in ignorance how God is acting? If you are serious about God, then you must know. Just like a statesman, he knows how government is acting. Ordinary man, he knows government is acting, but he does not know how government is acting. But advanced in knowledge, they know what is the constitution, how the government is acting. That is the difference. Therefore lawyer is appointed when there is some trouble. He can find out where is the defect. That is advancement of knowledge. (end)
Prabhupāda: Everything is coming from Him.
Rūpānuga: Spirit soul, he has his activities and he's active and...
Prabhupāda: He may be inactive, but his subtle desires is active. That is creation. Matter is supplying, that is pradhāna of life.
Rūpānuga: So he creates the situation for the matter, but he doesn't create the matter itself.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He wants, "I want this," and God is there, He asks material energy to supply the ingredients, and he creates his own situation.
Prabhupāda: Spiritual life is never retired. It is eternal. There is no question of retire.
Interviewer: I was wondering whether perhaps you would personally take a less active role.
Prabhupāda: No, I am not taking any very great active part. They are doing. I am simply reading.
Rāmeśvara: Prabhupāda is saying that the disciples are working so hard.
Interviewer: Oh, I see.
Rāmeśvara: But I was explaining to her that you are traveling all over the world, visiting your centers, and at the same time writing so many books.
Prabhupāda: That may be lessened. That may be lessened, but that does not mean retirement.
Prabhupāda: I am training each one of them as leader so that they can spread extensively. That is my idea.
Interviewer: So, in other words, you started this whole movement here in the United States ten years ago. Would you say that the United States had the most active, financially, group of followers.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Rāmeśvara: She wants to know, seeing you chose the United States to begin this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement ten years ago, now do you find that in the United States there is the most active membership financially speaking. In terms of contributing to this movement, supporting the movement, is the best field America?
Prabhupāda: No, without finance we can go on.
Interviewer: Does that take on a positive aspect as well so that by not only do I not kill animals and I don't kill men, do I, am I obliged under your system, am I obliged to actively help...
Prabhupāda: Yes, suppose if you are coming to kill me, then I must take advantage of killing you first.
Interviewer: I understand that, and obliged to go beyond.
Bali-mardana: Are you also obliged to help animals, to help other human beings.
Prabhupāda: Yes, we are maintaining animals, giving them food, giving them security of life in all our farms the animals are very free.
Prabhupāda: You retired? Or...
Yogeśvara: He's still active.
Translator: Still has a few years to go.
Prabhupāda: Arjuna was a commander.
Bhagavān: Have they seen our French Bhāgavatam? Our new French Bhāgavatam?
Prabhupāda: So we generally speak that Arjuna was military commander. So before understanding Bhagavad-gītā, he was commander, and after understanding, he remained a commander, but he became Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Prabhupāda: You have to act, become active.
Mr. Sharma: So one who has surrendered, what is his thinking and acting, how he lives in the world?
Prabhupāda: He's active only on Kṛṣṇa's business. That's all. He has no other business.
Mr. Sharma: So he does no other work. He does only what Kṛṣṇa has said.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Mr. Sharma: Preaching and this and that.
Prabhupāda: Yes, just like we are doing. Kṛṣṇa said, "Surrender unto Me." And what we are preaching? We are preaching, "Sir, you surrender to Kṛṣṇa." So what is the difficulty? Is there any difficulty? Kṛṣṇa said "Surrender unto Me." And if I go to you "Mr. Sharma, you surrender to Kṛṣṇa." So what is my difficulty?
Mr. Sharma: Suppose I want to surrender to God, to Kṛṣṇa. How I will do it?
Prabhupāda: No, no, first of all my position, because I am working on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa says, "You surrender unto Me." So if I say that "Sir, you surrender to Kṛṣṇa," so where is my difficulty?
Prabhupāda: And this time, New York, the government, the police, they appreciated that this kind of dancing, it is not artificial. So here is life. They appreciated. What the American boys have got to dance for Kṛṣṇa unless it is from the heart? They are not dancing dogs that I have trained them and they are dancing. So there are so many things to be done in India but I am, without getting any cooperation, I am getting opposition.
Krishna Modi: Quite. Now let us, we must be active. We must be active.
Prabhupāda: It will be good for the country, for the whole nation.
Krishna Modi: And we will come Vṛndāvana also.
Prabhupāda: Please come. I am there for three weeks.
Prabhupāda: I am everything at that time. There were some students, but they were not any active. I was doing everything. That League of Devotees means I am everything. I wanted to organize with this Prabhākāra Miśra and others. But they were not interested to be...
Hari-śauri: Not to become Vaiṣṇavas.
Prabhupāda: No, to devote whole time. They were... Just like Prabhākāra comes still. But if you ask him to do full time work, that he'll not do. Therefore I did not initiate others. He was initiated, Haridāsa. But they were all learned scholars, Sanskrit.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Well they could never stop it, I mean... they could just...
Prabhupāda: No. It is in the hands of the young men. It is not possible for them to stop it. If, had it been a sentiment of some retired, just like other thing, that Vivekananda's, all these old fools and rascals, they assemble and meditate. It is not that. They are active. It is not so-called meditation, and snoring, (makes snoring sound) meditating! It is not that. I have seen, all these rascals go, yogis, they prescribe meditation, and meditation means sleeping and snoring, that's all. It is not that movement. We are sending in (indistinct), "Come, sell books." It is no question of meditation. Cheating himself and cheating others. What he will meditate and he requires so many primary rules and regulations before meditating, not that... In the Bhagavad-gītā before meditation it is clearly stated one should not close the eyes. As soon as you close the eyes and meditate, you will sleep. Immediately.
Prabhupāda: But you do not do here. Huh? That means Rāvaṇa. (laughter) (break) ...to become less intelligent, less active, and therefore I say, yāya sei laṅkā sei haya rāvaṇa,(?) "Anyone who comes to Laṅkā, he becomes Rāvaṇa."
Guest (1): Their promotion in local language would be very helpful.
Prabhupāda: No, in India will purchase English magazine, he knows English.
Guest (1): Yes he knows, but the popularity will be much more in the Hindi and Gujarati and Marathi speaking people, Bengali speaking.
Prabhupāda: That is not possible. That is for you, Indians. But you have no time. You are busy with your daughter's marriage, and you simply advise.
Indian man: You have six o'clock in the morning same thing, six o'clock in the evening same thing. No change. In the morning I was also there. No change. I've brought this gentleman and this lady they want to come here and stay and work for the institution. He's 74 years old and she's also very active and she knows very good cooking.
Prabhupāda: Hm, very good.
Indian man: They cannot speak in English. That's the whole difficulty, they are speaking Hindi and Gujarati. They are very, feeling very shy. And he's very great expert in growing this wheat grass which has become very popular. Everybody likes very much. Your devotees are also liking. He's an expert in this. He's a very good music teacher, he has a very good tape recordist. Puppeteer, also he's making these puppet for last twenty years. He's expert in making puppets. We can make kṛṣṇa-kathā puppets also for our theater. And he can train our young boys for the same thing. Video tape and everything, he knows about this audio-visual communication...
Prabhupāda: Everyone has got some talent. So svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya. That is wanted. Whatever talent you have got you can utilize for Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: That is negative side. First of all... Just like mauna... (break) Why maunam? There is no need of maunam. You have to chant. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā. So there is negative side and positive side. One who has no information of the positive side, they simply take the negative side. Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Jagan mithyā is all right, but where is that brahma satyam? That brahma satyam is here, when you are fully engaged in serving. Brahma satyam does not mean I simply make negative this, and there is no engagement. That brahma satyam will not endure. You'll fall down, because you are active. If you have no engagement, then you fall down again. Just like a child, he is engaged in playing always, but engage him in studying. If he gets little interest, then automatically he gives up playing. But if you simply stop playing, then he will become mad, because activity is there. These Māyāvādī philosophers, they do not know this. They simply take the negative thing—this material engagement, zero, Buddha philosophy, nirvāṇa. And that nirvāṇa is another word, nirviśeṣa. That will not help us. There must be varieties and there must be positive life, and that is bhakti.
Prabhupāda: American Nobel prize?
Dr. Patel: (indistinct) ...he was an active friend of mine, Dr. Khoranna who has got (indistinct), a very intelligent fellow, extremely intelligent.
Prabhupāda: No, no, I mean to say, Nobel prize is given from...
Dr. Patel: He migrated to America. He married a (indistinct) girl, and he made a original discovery in genetic code, and then he got a Nobel prize. These people did not (indistinct).
Indian Lady: (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) ...we don't say like that. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu...
Dr. Patel: He's very kind man.
Prabhupāda: Kind man, so we are not also bad man.
Prabhupāda: Strong.
Rāmeśvara: ...then America will more and more be considering active stopping of Communism. It'll be logical.
Prabhupāda: Everything will be stopped, all bogus social, political or religious systems. They will be all stopped.
Rāmeśvara: Then this will be a natural development of the growth of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. Two things: paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). As the duṣkṛtā—na māṁ duṣkṛtā mūḍhāḥ—will be reduced, the sādhu will increase. Or the sādhu will increase, the duṣkṛta will decrease.
Rāmeśvara: This conflict will be global. It will affect the whole world.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. That doesn't matter.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very big man. He is very active. He's organizing everything, he and that Dean Kelly. What is his position?
Satsvarūpa: He's National Council of Churches.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. He's the head of the National Council of Churches, this Dean Kelly, and he is a very big proponent of our movement also.
Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa is sending so many men.
Prabhupāda: We have already become more than, more important than.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Tīrtha Mahārāja's brother is active now?
Prabhupāda: What...? Rejected. I think of them, dead. They may think themselves that they very full of life, but I think they are dead. What is the use of fighting with the dead body? Dead horse and what is the use of whipping? A dead horse will rise up by whipping?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, "Beating the dead horse." There's a saying.
Prabhupāda: I think all of them are dead.
Hari-śauri: Yes, they're not doing anything. They've retired. They built their own little place, and now they're retired.
Prabhupāda: There is no activity throughout the whole world, er, whole year. Only they come during the festival.
Prabhupāda: There is difference, and therefore you have no brain.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The body itself is active, not that there is something in the body making it active. The blood, the brains—this is part of the body.
Prabhupāda: Then what is the position of this body? Active... Just like this table is not active.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. It has no brain. No mind.
Prabhupāda: So then we have to accept that the body has got mind in the body. So that is material or something else?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Material.
Prabhupāda: Material. Then why don't you replace it? Replace it. Material things can be replaced. Just like motor stops, so you go to the gas house and repair. You cannot do it?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We are duplicating. We're duplicating the situation.
Prabhupāda: What is that duplication?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In the test tube. We are beginning to make life.
Prabhupāda: That is nonsense. Therefore you have no brain. "In test tube..." Kick aside your test tube. This man is now not working; it is stopped. So bring your test tube and waste test tube. Get him alive, exactly like the motorcar. When there is no petrol, you replace petrol; it starts. So where is that material? Therefore you are comparing something which is not analogous. Therefore you have no brain.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Purchased title. These deprogrammers are doing very active campaign work by getting entry into the schools, the public schools, to speak to the children in the age groups of twelve, between twelve and fifteen, junior high school, high school age. And they're making presentations to them about these different groups like ours, to beware of our groups. To beware of our groups. In other words, it's actually very bad because these children are innocent, and from a very young age now they're being told, "Watch out for the Hare Kṛṣṇas. They will brainwash you." Of course, that makes us even more appealing.
Prabhupāda: That is our advertisement.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Because when a young man, when a child is told by his... When a child is told by his parents, "Don't do something..."
Prabhupāda: They'll do it.
Ādi-keśava: Plus, as the teachers begin to see all the big scholars are supporting us, then the teachers will not react so favorably to these deprogrammers.
Indian man (3): Like, like that (Bengali).
Prabhupāda: (Bengali) Where is Satsvarūpa? You can give him that, yes, that monama.(?) (end)
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Jayatīrtha: In the north they're very active there, and they're very anxious for some interest by us for them. Anyway, at least we could have three smaller Ratha-yātrās this year in different places.
Prabhupāda: Simply by Ratha-yātrā, you can attract many people. So still we are going to that Trafalgar Square?
Jayatīrtha: Yes. It's hard, though.
Prabhupāda: The crowd is the same? No. Diminished.
Satsvarūpa: Resolved: Tuṣṭa Kṛṣṇa's group in New Zealand and Siddha-svarūpānanda Swami in Hawaii should pay the same price for BBT books as the temples in the ISKCON, not less, as they are paying now. It is well known that these groups preach actively against ISKCON. In response, although we should point out their philosophic defects, we should not directly confront them but remain aloof from...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: In other words, no fighting with them.
Prabhupāda: This is to give them chance. They are chanting. Some way or other, keep them alive.
Prabhupāda: What is his age?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: He's seventy-three years old. He's very old, but still, he's very active, in good health. And he expressed that he's missing something. So we told that it is ripe time for to be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And he comes to a point that he wanted to come and stay in the temple for a week just to learn more and try to get away from all the...
Prabhupāda: So this is very nice. Bring him and give him a nice accommodation.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yeah, he's a biologist. He was one of the leading men who proposed this theory. He's getting old, but still, he's active. We wanted to send him all the things that we have written when it's finished.
Dr. Sharma: They may work on life and the gerontology. And they have published many papers on that. (indistinct) (pause) You have got anybody coming this evening?
Prabhupāda: I don't think so. (end)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Previous centuries. The Spanish also, Spanish and Portugal, Portuguese. And Dutch. They were also active. But British was the topmost. France, not so much, I think. Spanish did quite well.
Prabhupāda: India was discovered by the Portugal, Portuguese, Vasco de Gama. Pondicherry is Portuguese colony. Goa. Goa.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Pondicherry?
Prabhupāda: Goa.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Goa. Pondicherry is in Goa?
Prabhupāda: No, near Goa.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The whole thing was conceived by this Aurobindo.
Prabhupāda: He wanted to leave British possessions. No, Pondicherry was French.
Indian man: This, I think, they will be very active to know, I think.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Where is nonviolence in Bhagavad-gītā, in politics?
Kārttikeya: Nowhere.
Prabhupāda: No. Even that incidence I told you, the, Duryodhana said, "You have come to, for kingdom? Yes, you can take." So he said, "No, no, no. That we shall decide in the battlefield." This is kṣatriya. "Oh, Duryodhana, you are so gentleman. Let us settle up. No, no, no." "No! That will be settled in the battlefield." This is Bhagavad-gītā. (Hindi) "No, we have come to the battlefield. We must decide by fighting." This is kṣatriya. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). Yuddhe cāpy apalāyanam. (Hindi) This is teaching of Bhagavad-gītā. Yuddhe cāpy apalāyanam. Then where this is nonviolence come in the Bhagavad-gītā? Apalāyanam. (Hindi) "Come on. Fight. You have no weapon? Take from me." This is kṣatriya. What is the definition?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Kṣatriya?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: It is there already. But you are blind. You are cheater. You see things, one thing, and you speak another thing. You are cheating. Now, in the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā, when Arjuna surrendered to Kṛṣṇa as a student-śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam: (BG 2.7) "Kṛṣṇa, there will be no utility by arguing. I know that I am not doing my duty. I am kṣatriya. I am in the active field, and I am declining to fight. This is not good for me." Kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ: "So I can understand that I am puzzled that how I can kill such enemies who are my family members? This is my problem." (aside:) Here is a monkey. (Hindi)
Indian man (3): There are two.
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) (laughter) And we want to be happy. Tri-tāpa-yantana,(?) three types of miseries, are always there. So Kṛṣṇa, when took charge of teaching him, the first lesson was that "Arjuna, you have talked like a very learned man, but you are not learned."
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Jaya. In Tehran the royalty, the court, is very interested in your teachings and philosophy. There is a prince and princess, very high and very rich, and they are regularly hearing, and they are now recently visiting our Bombay temple. They have come to Bombay, and they are really seeking for a teacher. And there is many intelligent people who are very interested. We are actively preaching and giving them Śrīla Prabhupāda's books.
Prabhupāda: It is plain fact. God is one. Why God should be Muhammadan, Christian, Hindu? That is not God. God is God. Gold is gold. This example I give always. Because a piece of gold is coming from some Muhammadan gentleman, does it mean it is Muhammadan gold? It is gold. It may come from any source, but one must know that it is gold, not imitation. That is wanted. If it is imitation, then it is Muhammadan gold, Hindu gold. And if it is real gold, it is neither Muhammadan nor Hindu.
Prabhupāda: Yes, Kṛṣṇa's blessings are there upon you. He is dictating the organizing capacity. Do it very nicely.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "Pālikā, being the manager, is very active and happy and busily engaged in keeping all the files properly."
Prabhupāda: Now she has got right appointment. She's very intelligent girl. And give her proper assistance. She can do very nice work.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "So far, I have credits of over three lakhs of rupees with BBT in our first year of distribution." He's given over three lakhs business.
Prabhupāda: Now print books and have enough stock.
Prabhupāda: ...because there is psychological difference.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: See, one thing is that... Of course, when one has no energy, when one has no strength, then it's hard to be active. But then the other thing is true, that when one is active, he gets appetite automatically.
Prabhupāda: Therefore those who are physically active, they can eat more.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, it's true.
Prabhupāda: But those who are not physically active, they cannot eat.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. That's the difference between the Bengalis and the Punjabis. Punjabis work very hard.
Prabhupāda: No, they eat also.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And they eat very nicely.
Prabhupāda: They are healthy men.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Report is coming. In the telegram that we received? Yeah, it said, "Report follows." I think some activity is good. Somehow I get the idea that you need to be more active. I know that you don't have any strength, but still, it seems to me unless you are active, you won't get your strength.
Prabhupāda: Hm. That's a fact.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You're not... By nature you've never been inactive. We can begin the activity by airplane travel and then a little car journey to the temple, and then we can carry you around in certain places. Like at the New York farm. Oh, we can give you wonderful ride in the palanquin. That's very appealing. If you go on the palanquin in the fresh air. No? That'll be, I think...
Prabhupāda: No, activity will give appetite.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, it has to. Change of atmosphere gives appetite also.
Prabhupāda: So let us artificial activity. I think this is a nice arrangement.
Prabhupāda: Why not bring them?
Abhirāma: Yes. On Sunday we have arranged. They will come for a visit of Vṛndāvana, and they will come to see you, to see if they can relieve you of some difficulty. As far as we could find in Delhi, these are the most reputed men, and they are actively practicing and teaching. They are recognized.
Prabhupāda: Make that arrangement. Yes. On Sunday?
Abhirāma: Yes, on Sunday, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Today is Thursday. So these were the major points, Śrīla Prabhupāda. For six months there's trouble, especially in first week of September. And if you can pass through '78, then he sees four or five years ahead clear.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That means divine intervention, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: The chart is given. The calculation there is finished. That doesn't matter. Rather, if I am finished now, it will be glorious.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. He retired a few years ago. But he's still very active in the science academy, and he writes articles. And he sent me an article just a few days ago called "The Mind and the Body Relationship in Modern Science." Sometimes in the West they think that mind is the soul. So he sent me an article and he asked me what do I think about his article.
Prabhupāda: According to our śāstra, mind is meant for speculation. It does not give us any definite knowledge. My mind is working in one way; your mind is working another way. There is no conclu... Manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ (SB 5.18.12). This is the result of mental speculation. And Gītā also says that manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). This spiritual spark, being bound up by the mind and the senses, is struggling hard on the material nature. And he's simply struggling. No fixed up condition. Everyone will say, "I think this is right." What is right, he does not know. That is struggle. Is it not?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So you have to consider that, although he should take sufficient liquid. So you have to augment... (break) ...Śatadhanya, when we called Calcutta, and then I could not fall asleep properly because I was very... My mind was active last night. For three hours I was not sleeping.
Prabhupāda: On the back side.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hm. Little scratching, should I do? (break)
Prabhupāda: ...krama on the palanquin, practically it is very pleasant.
| Page Title: | Active (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Mayapur, MadhuGopaldas |
| Created: | 30 of Jun, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=86, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 86 |