Assist (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"assist" |"assisted" |"assisting" |"assists"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 1.26-27 -- London, July 21, 1973:

Very good example, that we are being carried away by the waves of māyā. Sometimes we are gathering together. So many straws and vegetables, they gather together. And sometimes the same vegetables and straws are thrown asunder. One is there, one is here. So here also, we assemble here as society, friendship and love exactly like that. In the waves of māyā. Then nobody is your father, nobody is your mother, nobody is your sister, nobody. It is simply māyic, illusory combination. Illusory combination, temporary combination. And we are so much attached to this combination that we are refusing to go back to home, back to Godhead. This is our position.

Therefore we have to meet them in the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, and if required, we have to kill them and execute the order of Kṛṣṇa. This is our position. If we are thinking that "In this material existence I shall be safe, assisted by my society, friendship, love, country, and politics and sociology," "No, no, sir, it is not possible." It is not possible. You have to take care of yourself. Your so-called society, friendship, love, country, nation, and this, never will be able to help you. Because you are under the clutches of māyā. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14).

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

Vīrabhadra: In the āśrama, and before that when you said that a brāhmaṇa is... Do you mean, when you say brāhmaṇa, do you mean... I mean are they... the devotees who are not pure but...

Prabhupāda: Yes, they're also pure devotees because they're following my instruction. Just like a technician, he is expert, but somebody is assisting him. So the assistants, because they are following the instruction of the expert, therefore their work is also complete. So it is not necessarily that one has to become pure devotee immediately. Just like we are also following the instruction of our spiritual master. I don't claim that I am pure devotee or perfect, but my only qualification is that I am trying to follow the instruction of the perfect. Similarly... This is called disciplic succession.

Lecture on BG 2.14 -- London, August 20, 1973:

Actually the body in touch with the consciousness feeling pains and pleasure. Otherwise body, what is this body? It is a lump of matter. It is a lump of matter, earth, water, fire, air, material combination of matter. Just like you make one doll, combination of matter, earth, water, fire... Or no fire. Yes, still there is fire. Because you dry it in the sunshine, therefore there is fire. Earth, water, fire, and there is air, there is sky—but there is no soul. That is the difference. You can prepare a doll with earth, water, air, fire, all these things, material elements. But you cannot give the soul. That is not possible. That is possible only by Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ garbhaṁ dadāmy aham.(?) Just like man and woman. Actually the woman is giving the ingredients of developing body of the child. But when it is possible? When the man gives the seed. Otherwise a woman could produce a child without the aid of a man. No, that is not possible. When the seed, with the seed the soul comes. And when the soul is situated in the womb of the woman, the woman can assist by supplying the ingredients to develop the body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapattaye (SB 3.31.1). So by nature's process, when one gives up this material body, the subtle body is there, mind, intelligence and ego.

Lecture on BG 2.19 -- London, August 25, 1973:

So this knowledge, Bhagavad-gītā knowledge, is so perfect for the human society. And Kṛṣṇa wants that this knowledge should be spread because everybody, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ... (BG 14.4). He's the seed-giving father. Father is naturally well-wisher that: "These rascals, they are suffering, prakṛti-sthāni. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). Simply by, guided by mental speculation, manaḥ, and assisted by the senses, they are struggling so hard. And if they come back to Me they can live so nicely, as My friend, as My lover, as My father, as My mother, Vṛndāvana. So claim again, call them."

Lecture on BG 2.46-47 -- New York, March 28, 1966:

A brāhmaṇa means who knows the position of the soul, or the constitution of the soul. He is brāhmaṇa. Just like a person who is conversant with medical science. He is called medical man or a doctor. It doesn't matter whether he is born in India or born in America or whether he is black or white. It doesn't matter. One must have the qualification of a medical man, and he is called a doctor. Similarly, Bhagavad-gītā also accepts the brahminical culture, the brahminical culture. Brahminical culture means the social position in which everyone is assisted to elevate himself to the highest position of understanding the position and the constitution of the soul. That should be the aim of human society.

Lecture on BG 3.21-25 -- New York, May 30, 1966:

So He says that "Pārtha, My dear Arjuna, I have nothing to give. Don't think that I am here in the battlefield to assist you just for some remuneration or for some gain because I can have anything and everything at My will only." Na me pārthāsti kartavyam: "Therefore I have no fixed duty." In the Upaniṣad you will find the definition of Brahman. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate: "The Supreme Brahman has nothing to do." That is the distinction.

Lecture on BG 4.6-8 -- New York, July 20, 1966:

A child also, he'll try to serve the father, his mother. He'll try to assist mother. Mother is cooking. He'll try to assist the mother. So this is the position, that our natural position is to render service. Now, where to render service and how the service is being misused. That we have to understand. That's all. Because we are now in a condition which is not natural condition. So we have to put ourself in the natural condition and the service attitude will go on. This is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on BG 4.15 -- Bombay, April 4, 1974:

That is advised here. Evaṁ jñātvā kṛtaṁ karma pūrvair api mumukṣubhiḥ. Evaṁ jñātvā. First of all it is the business of brāhmaṇa to understand. So if you cannot understand, then you do the business of kṣatriya. If you cannot do that, then do the business of a vaiśya. And if you cannot do that, then remain as a worker. Assist others. Assist the brāhmaṇa, the kṣatriya. So everyone will be engaged. And it is the duty of the government to see that nobody is unemployed.

Lecture on BG 9.29-32 -- New York, December 20, 1966:

Kṛṣṇa, when He joined Arjuna, He promised from His own side that "Because the fight is between your brothers, so it is not My duty... Because both of you are My relatives, so it is not My duty to join one party and not to join another. But because I have divided Myself—Myself, one side, and other side, My soldiers—but Duryodhana has decided to take My soldiers, not Me, so I shall join you. But I shall not fight. I shall not fight. I may take some work which may assist you." So Arjuna offered, "Whatever work You like, You can take." So He said, "All right. I shall drive your chariot." So Kṛṣṇa's promise was that He will not fight.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 17, 1971:

So that is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, that these laws, these material laws of nature, they are very strong. They are enacted by the Supreme Lord, as we understand from the Bhagavad-gītā, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Mayādhyakṣeṇa, "Under My superintendence." The laws... Just like laws are there; at the same time, the government has got a department which is called law and order department. The laws are going on nicely, the law and order department examines. So that examiner, departmental, may be, but the original examiner is the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mayā adhyakṣeṇa: "Under My superintendence." Just like in our institution, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, although I am the head, still, I have got so many assistants, the GBC members. They are assisting me, departmental. Somebody is here, somebody is there.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Mauritius, October 5, 1975:

The Lord says that "These living entities, they are part and parcel of Me." Mamaiva aṁśa. Aṁśa means part and parcel. Just like this finger is the part and parcel of my body, so the finger's business is to carry out or to see the comforts of the body. I want to itch my nostril; immediately the finger is engaged. And if the fingers cannot help me, then it is diseased. Similarly, we are part and parcel of God. If we cannot help God, if we cannot assist God, if we cannot serve God, that is our diseased condition. That is our diseased condition.

So we are, at the present moment, we are not helping God, we are not assisting God, we are not serving God, so this is our diseased condition. So we have to get out of this diseased condition. That is called mukti. The mukti is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ sva-rūpeṇa avasthiti. Mukti means when we give up our false engagements and we are engaged properly in our original constitutional position.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Mauritius, October 5, 1975:

So we are part and parcel of God. We are not parabrahman, the Supreme Brahman, but we are Brahman. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi, this realization, "I am not this body," that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ. So brahma-bhūtaḥ, when you realize this, this is called knowledge, brahma-jñāna, that "I am not this body but I am spirit soul, part and parcel of God. My duty is to assist God, to serve God." That is called brahma-bhūtaḥ. Otherwise, being jīva-bhūtaḥ, we are engaged in this material world, struggling with the material energy. That is called jīva-bhūtaḥ. And brahma-bhūtaḥ means to realize that "Why I am unnecessarily struggling with this material world? I do not belong to this material world. I am spirit soul. My business is spiritual." That is brahma-bhūtaḥ.

Lecture on SB 1.7.34-35 -- Vrndavana, September 28, 1976:

Karma, guṇa and karma. Here Aśvatthāmā, although he's born of a brāhmaṇa father, he did not possess the quality of a brāhmaṇa, neither the work of a brāhmaṇa. He degraded himself. First of all, he was engaged as a soldier to assist, to flatter Duryodhana. He wanted to please Duryodhana by killing the Pāṇḍavas. But he was such a fool, instead of killing the Pāṇḍavas, he killed the five sleeping sons of the Pāṇḍavas. How much abominable he is, just imagine.

Lecture on SB 1.15.22-23 -- Los Angeles, December 2, 1973:

The story is that Yadu-vaṁśa, the dynasty of Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa had 16,108 wives, and each wife had ten sons, and each son had another ten sons. In this way the whole family was composed of hundreds and thousands of men, Yadu dynasty. And when Kṛṣṇa came, so to assist Him, all these demigods, they came to help Him, līlā. Just like if you play something dramatic, you require so many assistants, so when Kṛṣṇa comes, those who are devotees of Kṛṣṇa, they also come to assist Him. Somebody becomes His father, somebody His mother, somebody His friend, somebody His wife, somebody His son, some grandson, like that. So when Kṛṣṇa wanted to depart from this planet, He wanted to take away all others also along with Him. So these are simply material, external causes. Actual fact is Kṛṣṇa, as He went away, He wanted to take all the associates under different pleas.

Lecture on SB 1.15.34 -- Los Angeles, December 12, 1973:

So this Yadu dynasty, Kṛṣṇa thought that "In My absence they are powerful... Because they, to assist Me..." "To assist Me" means... He had two missions: paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). They have killed so many demons. Everywhere they came out victorious because Kṛṣṇa was there. Now, in the absence of Kṛṣṇa, they would be puffed up. Therefore they would be turned again into demons: "Oh, I belong to Kṛṣṇa's family." Just like in our country, Nityānanda-vaṁśa: "I belong to the Nityānanda Prabhu," exploiting people. The Muhammadans also: "I belong to the family of Muhammad, Hazrat Muhammad." Christ has no family; he did not marry. Otherwise some would have been very much puffed up, "I am family of Christ." So this material nature is such thing that as soon as you get little power, you become puffed up. That is demonic nature. That is demonic nature. So Kṛṣṇa wanted to take them with Him, because they came to help Kṛṣṇa, and after His departure, these demigods would turn into demons. That He did not like to see.

Lecture on SB 3.26.20 -- Bombay, December 29, 1974:

Everything, whatever we are thinking, doing, imagining, making plan, etcetera, the heart is so nice, it keeps a stock, photographic stock. Sometimes we have got experience: all of a sudden a thought comes which has no connection with my present activities. Still, all of a sudden comes. So in the heart there are so many stocks of different lives because I am passing through different lives. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). So stock is there. It comes like bubble. Just like we will find in some reservoir of water, big, all of a sudden some bubble comes. Similarly, the heart is the stock of so many dirty things. Dirty things means this experience of this material world. That is called dirty things. Because we are covered. We are spirit soul; we are now covered by these material dirty things. So it can be removed. Sva-tejasā. There is such potency of the spirit soul that it can come out. Simply the attempt should be made, assisted by or guided by a superior person. That is called spiritual master. He can guide, and we can come out of this slumber, sleeping in ignorance.

Lecture on SB 3.26.29 -- Bombay, January 6, 1975:

This living entity, although part and parcel of the Supreme Being, Kṛṣṇa, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, so why, instead of ānanda, we have got anxieties? Instead of ānanda... Actually, we should have been in ānanda. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Just like Kṛṣṇa is before us. He is ānanda, He is enjoying, He is playing on His flute, and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is serving Him, and all the gopīs serving Him. And those who are devotees, they are also trying to assist Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs to give Kṛṣṇa pleasure. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ. All the expansion, Kṛṣṇa—Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs—they are expansion of ānanda-cinmaya-rasa; they are not material. They are all ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). They are also Kṛṣṇa's. Everything is Kṛṣṇa, separated and personal. So these are personal expansion. We are also Kṛṣṇa's. We are separated now in this material... Therefore we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:

So this is the way to go to the darkest region of hellish condition of life. Sense gratification. So one has to avoid this. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes, and the tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam. Not only you directly make all these thing then you are condemned to go to the hellish condition; if you associate with such person, then also you'll be liable. If you associate. Just like some rascals they say, "Yes, we are eating meat, but we are not directly killing. We purchase." They think that "Let me enjoy meat-eating. Those who are killing in the slaughterhouse, they will be responsible. I am free." No. Because you are associating with such persons, according to Manu-saṁhitā when an animal is killed, eight persons become condemned with murdering charges. Eight persons. One who kills, one who orders, one who purchases, one who cooks, one who eats—so many. That is the law. Just like one man is murdered. That murdering is committed by one man, but if has got many associates who has induced him, who has supplied him the weapon, or giving, so many assisted—all of them are arrested. This is the law. As we have got law here, here we can escape man-made laws, but you cannot escape God-made laws. That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 6.1.7 -- Honolulu, June 15, 1975, Sunday Feast Lecture:

And kṛṣṇa-varṇam, "He is Kṛṣṇa," or "always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa." Kṛṣṇa-varṇam tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ saṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam. And His associates, just like Nityānanda Prabhu and Advaita Prabhu and Gadādhara and Śrīvāsa and many others... So He is always in association of His assistants, who are assisting Him in propagating the saṅkīrtana movement. Gaurāṅgera saṅgi-gaṇe, nitya-siddha bhoi māne. Anyone who is preaching the saṅkīrtana movement is associate of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Saṅgopāṅgāstra... Just like Advaita Prabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu helped, similarly, anyone, even up to date, who is trying to help the propagation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission, preach this saṅkīrtana movement all over the world, he is also associate of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

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

Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat. And other's property and money is just like garbage in the... Not very many years, say, about hundred years ago... You have heard the name, the Kashmir state. The Kashmir state was so strict, if somebody had stolen others' property and it is proved, the thief's hands will be cut off. Still, I think, in Arabia there is. This is a strict law. So if some golden ornament is lying on the street, out of this fear—and people were simple at the time—they will not touch. Exactly like garbage they will not touch. It was lying on the street. The law was that nobody should touch. If some golden ornament is there, the actual proprietor, he will come and pick it up. You do not require to assist him also, taking, "I shall..." No, you cannot touch. If you touch, your hands will be cut off. So if one learns this habit, that others' property, others' money is just like garbage, nobody touches... Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat, ātmavat sarva-bhūteṣu.

Lecture on SB 6.3.18 -- Gorakhpur, February 11, 1971:

Prabhupāda: Yes. But Gandhi was very regular in his eating. He would take simply a cup of goat's milk and few peanuts and some day one or two cāpāṭis. Otherwise he will not take anything. And some oranges.

Devotee (2): I heard he used to take raw...

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Devotee (2): A root. A particular root which has a...

Prabhupāda: That is for blood pressure medicine. Blood pressure medicine. That is different thing. But he was eating very little. His secretaries, his grandson and granddaughter-in-law and some other girls, they were assisting. So he would, even in the jail... Government, when imprisoned him, he will take his goat. A great politician—he would not accept government supplied food. Goat must be milked before him, and the milk is made hot and given to him. He would not allow any other food. Then he will starve. He will fast. So government was obliged to give him whatever he wanted as his food.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Vrndavana, December 4, 1975:

So there is a story of the prostitute, Lakṣahīra. There was a prostitute whose charges was one lakh of pieces of diamond. It doesn't matter, a big diamond or small diamond. That was her charges. So one man was suffering from leprosy and he was being assisted, he was being assisted by his wife, very faithful wife. So still, he was morose. The wife asked the husband, "Why you are morose? I am giving you so much service. You are leper, you cannot move. I can take you... I take you on a basket and carry you. Still, you feel unhappy?" So he admitted, "Yes." "Oh, what is the cause?" "Now, I want to go to the prostitute, Lakṣahīra." Just see. He is leper, a poor man, and he is aspiring to go to a prostitute who charges 100,000 of pieces of diamond. So anyway, she was a faithful wife. She wanted to satisfy her husband. Some way or other, she arranged.

Lecture on SB Lecture -- Melbourne, May 19, 1975:

There must division according to cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma... (BG 4.13), not by birth, but by quality. So anyone can be trained up first class, second class, as he likes. That is called civilization. Some men should be trained up as first-class men, some men should be trained up as second-class men, and some men should be trained up as third-class men, and balance, who cannot be trained up, they can assist the other three higher class. That is called śūdra.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.16 -- Mayapur, April 9, 1975:

These six Gosvāmīs, rūpa sanātana bhaṭṭa raghunātha śrī jīva gopāla bhaṭṭa dāsa raghunātha, they were all very, very big men, not ordinary men—ministers, zamindars, learned scholars. They were not ordinary men. And they gave up everything. Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucchavat. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, he was, they were ministers in the government of Hussain Shah. Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was the only son of his father and uncle, very, very big zamindar, landholder. Twelve lakhs of rupees' income. Five hundred years twelve lakhs—twelve crores now. He was so rich man. Similarly, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, they were very, very learned. Jīva Gosvāmī was the nephew of Rūpa Gosvāmī, very learned scholar. So either scholar, rich men, big politician—all of them gave up their occupational, material occupational duty and joined Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His saṅkīrtana movement. So they were always absorbed in the gopīs' activities, always thinking. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was always thinking of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī's activities, and the Gosvāmīs, they were also thinking of the gopīs' activities. Gopīs' activities means to assist Śrīmad-Rādhārāṇī how to serve Kṛṣṇa. Preṣṭālībhiḥ sevyamānau. They are always ready.

Festival Lectures

Govardhana Puja Lecture -- New York, November 4, 1966:

He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He knew everything what they were doing and what was the purpose. Because He is present in everyone's heart, so He knows everything. But because He was playing just like a boy, cowherd boy, so as if He did not know anything, He asked, inquired from His father, and the elderly persons who were assisting His father for preparing the sacrifice.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Appearance Day, Lecture -- Mayapur, February 21, 1976:

So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in the beginning wanted to develop this place very gloriously, befitting the holy name of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So he started this movement of developing Māyāpur. He could not finish it, so it was handed down to Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. So under his effort, assisted by his disciples, this place has gradually developed, and our attempt is also to develop this place. Therefore we have named this temple Māyāpur Chandrodaya. We have got great ambition to develop this place nicely and gloriously, and fortunately we are now connected with foreign countries, especially with the Americans. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's great desire was that the Americans would come here and develop this place and they would chant and dance along with the Indians.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Lecture -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971:

We see you chanting the mahā-mantra. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu predicted that in every village, town, country on the surface of the globe this saṅkīrtana movement will be spreading. So we are very much obliged to you that in this remote place, which is thousands and thousands miles away from Lord Caitanya's birthplace, Navadvīpa, and you are carrying out, to fulfill His desire, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu—the picture is there—assisted by four others, Pañca-tattva. Kṛṣṇa appeared in five principles. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa Himself, and Nityānanda Prabhu is His immediate expansion, and Advaita Prabhu is incarnation. Gadādhara Prabhu is internal potency, and śrīvāsādi, Śrīvāsa is heading the list of His devotees. Śrīvāsa represents the marginal potency of Kṛṣṇa.

General Lectures

Speech to Maharaja and Maharani and Conversations Before and After -- Indore, December 11, 1970:

When your Highnesses may visit London or New York or Los Angeles—most probably you visit London occasionally—I invite you to our temple at 7 Bury Place near the British Museum. It is very prominent place. And this girl in front of you, Śrīmatī Yamunā devī, she and her husband Gurudāsa is in charge of the temple. But because I have come to India, they are assisting me. She has seen the Prime Minister also, Indira Gandhi. She is very much impressed with the saṅkīrtana movement. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness and patronization by the royal family is very old relationship.

Lecture Excerpt -- Tokyo, April 28, 1972:

So this is the problem. Nobody is self-independent. Everyone is dependent on Kṛṣṇa. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Everything. Aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2), in Bhagavad-gītā: "I am the origin of all the demigods." The Brahmā is also demigod. Brahmā is born out of the lotus stem which is grown from the abdomen of Viṣṇu. So he has to find out the source of his birth. That is stated here. "Could not trace out the source of his lotus seat. And while thinking of creating the material..." Now, he was to create. He was born, he was given birth, just to assist Viṣṇu to create. Then he could not understand the proper direction how to create. These are the actual problems. Everyone is trying to create. The creative energy is there in every living entity because he is part and parcel of the original creator. But he cannot create independently.

Lecture at World Health Organization -- Geneva, June 6, 1974:

The most intellectual class of men, they should be engaged in studying the Vedas and acquire the knowledge and spread it to the human society so that they may be guided and do the needful for peaceful situation of the society. That is the guidance. The kṣatriyas, they're meant for protecting the society, military power, or martial-spirited. When there is danger, attack, they'll give us protection. Similarly, there must be a class of men for producing food grain, and giving protection to the cows. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). And the rest of the people, who cannot work as intellectuals or as martial-spirited persons or cannot take to production of foodstuffs, they should assist all these three classes of men. And they are called śūdras. This is the social division.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Auguste Comte:

Prabhupāda: But God is different either from man or from the woman. Both of them are living entities, both of them meant for worshiping God. Just like sometimes in the Vedic conception the wife is considered as dharma-patnī, religious wife. Means wife helps the husband in the matter of his religious life. That is found in, still in Hindu family: the man is worshiping the Deity and the woman is helping about the paraphernalia Deity worship, helping the husband so that he can immediately come into the Deity room and begin worshiping comfortably. So woman should always be engaged to assist the man in every respect in his religious life, in his social life, in his family life. That is real benefit of conjugal life. But if the woman does not agree with the man, and the man treats the woman as his servant, that is not good. The man should give the woman all protection and the woman should give all service to the man. That is ideal life, family life, conceived in the Vedic way of life.

Purports to Songs

Purport to Parama Koruna -- Atlanta, February 28, 1975:

So similarly, the brāhmaṇa means one must know that who is the driver of this body, brahma-jñāna. So at the present moment nobody knows who is driving this body. So therefore all śūdras, fourth-class men. There is no first-class man. But in the human society there must be four classes of men: first class, second class, third class... Fourth class also required for assisting the higher, third class.