Bare necessities of life

Expressions researched:
"Bare Necessities"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 4.21, Translation and Purport:

Such a man of understanding acts with mind and intelligence perfectly controlled, gives up all sense of proprietorship over his possessions, and acts only for the bare necessities of life. Thus working, he is not affected by sinful reactions.

A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not expect good or bad results in his activities. His mind and intelligence are fully controlled. He knows that because he is part and parcel of the Supreme, the part played by him, as a part and parcel of the whole, is not his own activity but is only being done through him by the Supreme.

BG 6.20-23, Purport:

As long as the material body exists, one has to meet the demands of the body, namely eating, sleeping, defending and mating. But a person who is in pure bhakti-yoga, or in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, does not arouse the senses while meeting the demands of the body. Rather, he accepts the bare necessities of life, making the best use of a bad bargain, and enjoys transcendental happiness in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He is callous toward incidental occurrences—such as accidents, disease, scarcity and even the death of a most dear relative—but he is always alert to execute his duties in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or bhakti-yoga. Accidents never deviate him from his duty. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (BG 2.14), āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. He endures all such incidental occurrences because he knows that they come and go and do not affect his duties. In this way he achieves the highest perfection in yoga practice.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.2.27, Purport:

There is no need to worship demigods of whatsoever category if one is serious about going back to Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā (7.20 - 23) it is clearly said that those who are mad after material enjoyment approach the different demigods for temporary benefits, which are meant for men with a poor fund of knowledge. We should never desire to increase the depth of material enjoyment. Material enjoyment should be accepted only up to the point of the bare necessities of life and not more or less than that. To accept more material enjoyment means to bind oneself more and more to the miseries of material existence.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.2.3, Purport:

Human life is never meant for sense gratification, but for self-realization. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam instructs us solely on this subject from the very beginning to the end. Human life is simply meant for self-realization. The civilization which aims at this utmost perfection never indulges in creating unwanted things, and such a perfect civilization prepares men only to accept the bare necessities of life or to follow the principle of the best use of a bad bargain.

SB 2.2.3, Purport:

Our material bodies and our lives in that connection are bad bargains because the living entity is actually spirit, and spiritual advancement of the living entity is absolutely necessary. Human life is intended for the realization of this important factor, and one should act accordingly, accepting only the bare necessities of life and depending more on God's gift without diversion of human energy for any other purpose, such as being mad for material enjoyment.

SB 2.2.12, Purport:

We have previously discussed that the transcendentalist is required to be self-sufficient and should not beg from the rich blind persons to fulfill the bare necessities of life. Śukadeva Gosvāmī has suggested some alternatives for the bare necessities of life, namely the problem of eating, sleeping and shelter, but he has not suggested any alternative for sex satisfaction. One who has the sex desire still with him should not at all try to accept the renounced order of life. For one who has not attained to this stage, there is no question of a renounced order of life. So by the gradual process of devotional service under the guidance of a proper spiritual master, and following the principles of the Bhāgavatam, one must be able at least to control the gross sex desire before one accepts the renounced order of life factually.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.14.18, Purport:

The man who lives with a wife has a great responsibility in maintaining the members of the other social orders—the brahmacārīs, vānaprasthas and sannyāsīs. Except for the gṛhasthas, or the householders, everyone is supposed to engage in the spiritual advancement of life, and therefore the brahmacārī, the vānaprastha and the sannyāsī have very little time to earn a livelihood. They therefore collect alms from the gṛhasthas, and thus they secure the bare necessities of life and cultivate spiritual understanding. By helping the other three sections of society cultivate spiritual values, the householder also makes advancement in spiritual life. Ultimately every member of society automatically becomes spiritually advanced and easily crosses the ocean of nescience.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.28.44, Purport:

The wife especially should remain austere, not desiring luxurious dresses and living standards. She should accept only the bare necessities of life and minimize her eating and sleeping. There should be no question of mating. Simply by engaging in the service of her exalted husband, who must be a pure devotee, the wife will never be agitated by sex impulses. The vānaprastha stage is exactly like this.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.14.12, Purport:

Material wealth and opulence attained through previous pious activities can be fully utilized for one's benefit in this life and the next if one is Kṛṣṇa conscious. One should not try to possess more than he needs for the bare necessities. If one gets more than is needed, the surplus should be fully engaged in the Lord's service. That will make the conditioned soul, the world and Kṛṣṇa happy, and this is the aim of life.

SB 5.14.36, Purport:

It is said that necessity knows no law. When the conditioned soul needs money to acquire life's bare necessities, he adopts any means. He begs, borrows or steals. Instead of receiving these things, he is insulted and chastised. Unless one is very well organized, one cannot accumulate riches by unfair means. Even if one acquires riches by unfair means, he cannot avoid punishment and insult from the government or the general populace. There are many instances of important people's embezzling money, getting caught and being put in prison. One may be able to avoid the punishment of prison, but one cannot avoid the punishment of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who works through the agency of material nature.

SB 5.18.10, Translation:

My dear Lord, we pray that we may never feel attraction for the prison of family life, consisting of home, wife, children, friends, bank balance, relatives and so on. If we do have some attachment, let it be for devotees, whose only dear friend is Kṛṣṇa. A person who is actually self-realized and who has controlled his mind is perfectly satisfied with the bare necessities of life. He does not try to gratify his senses. Such a person quickly advances in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereas others, who are too attached to material things, find advancement very difficult.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.15.21, Purport:

If one is poverty-stricken, all his good qualities become null and void. Similarly, if one becomes too greedy, his good qualifications are lost. Therefore the adjustment is that one should not be poverty-stricken, but one must try to be fully satisfied with the bare necessities of life and not be greedy. For a devotee to be satisfied with the bare necessities is therefore the best advice for spiritual advancement.

SB 7.15.30, Translation:

One who desires to conquer the mind must leave the company of his family and live in a solitary place, free from contaminated association. To maintain the body and soul together, he should beg as much as he needs for the bare necessities of life.

SB Canto 8

SB 8.19.21, Purport:

The aim of the varṇāśrama divisions—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa—is to train one to control the senses and be content with the bare necessities.

SB Canto 9

SB 9.18.2, Purport:

Kṣatriyas are generally endowed with material qualities conducive to gaining material wealth and enjoying sense gratification, but those who are spiritually advanced are not interested in material opulence. Indeed, they accept only the bare necessities for a life of spiritual advancement in self-realization.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 11.18.9, Translation:

The saintly vānaprastha, practicing severe penances and accepting only the bare necessities of life, becomes so emaciated that he appears to be mere skin and bones. Thus worshiping Me through severe penances, he goes to the Maharloka planet and then directly achieves Me.

SB 11.23.29, Translation:

If there is any time remaining in my life, I will perform austerities and force my body to subsist on the bare necessities. Without further confusion I shall pursue that which constitutes my entire self-interest in life, and I shall remain satisfied within the self.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 3.91, Purport:

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for devas, or devotees. Demons cannot take part in Kṛṣṇa conscious activities, nor can devotees in Kṛṣṇa consciousness take part in demoniac activities or work like cats and dogs simply for sense gratification. Such activity does not appeal to those in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Devotees accept only the bare necessities of life to keep themselves fit to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The balance of their energy is used for developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, through which one can be transferred to the abode of Kṛṣṇa by always thinking of Him, even at the point of death.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 16.238, Purport:

"The bare necessities of life must be accepted, but one should not superfluously increase his necessities. Nor should they be unnecessarily decreased. One should simply accept what is necessary to help one advance spiritually."

In his Durgama-saṅgamanī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī comments that the word sva-nirvāhaḥ actually means sva-sva-bhakti-nirvāhaḥ. The experienced devotee will accept only those material things that will help him render service to the Lord.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 1:

In Kṛṣṇa consciousness there is no scope for worshiping any demigod or any other form of Kṛṣṇa, nor is there room for indulgence in speculative empiric philosophy, nor indulgence in fruitive activities. One should be free from all these contaminations. A devotee should accept only those things that are favorable to keep his body and soul together and should reject those things that increase the demands of the body. Only the bare necessities for bodily maintenance should be accepted. By minimizing bodily necessities, one can primarily devote his time to the cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness through the chanting of the holy names of God.

Nectar of Instruction

Nectar of Instruction 2, Purport:

Unfortunately people accept religion for material prosperity because of atyāhāra, or an excessive desire for such prosperity. True religion, however, instructs people to be satisfied with the bare necessities of life while cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Even though we require economic development, true religion allows it only for supplying the bare necessities of material existence. Jīvasya tattva jijñāsā: the real purpose of life is to inquire about the Absolute Truth. If our endeavor (prayāsa) is not to inquire about the Absolute Truth, we will simply increase our endeavor to satisfy our artificial needs. A spiritual aspirant should avoid mundane endeavor.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 80:

You are a householder; therefore without money you are in distress. But as soon as He understands your position, He will certainly give you sufficient riches so that you can live very comfortably. Lord Kṛṣṇa is now the King of the Bhoja, Vṛṣṇi and Andhaka dynasties, and I have heard that He never leaves His capital city, Dvārakā. He is living there without outside engagements. He is so kind and liberal that He immediately gives everything, even His personal self, to any person who surrenders unto Him. Since He is prepared to give Himself personally to His devotee, there is nothing wonderful in giving some material riches. Of course, He does not give much material wealth to His devotee if the devotee is not very much fixed, but I think that in your case He knows perfectly well how much you are fixed in devotional service. Therefore He will not hesitate to award you some material benefit for the bare necessities of life.

Message of Godhead

Message of Godhead 2:

The material scientists—the modern quasi priests who invoke such material activities—invent many objects to gratify the material senses such as the eye, ear, nose, and tongue and ultimately the mind, and there results a field of unnecessary competition for enhancement of such material happiness, which leads the whole world into the whirlpool of uncalled—for clashes. The net result is scarcity all over the world, so much so that even the bare necessities of life, namely food and clothing, become objects of contention and control. And so arise all sorts of obstacles to the traditional, God-given life of plain living and high thinking.

Light of the Bhagavata

Light of the Bhagavata 32, Purport:

The householder is duty-bound to maintain the members of all three of the other āśramas, namely the brahmacārīs, the vānaprasthas, and sannyāsīs. In this way, every member of society was given a chance to retire for a higher order of spiritual culture, and the householders neglected no one. The brahmacārīs, vānaprasthas, and sannyāsīs all curtailed their necessities to the minimum, and therefore no one would begrudge maintaining them in the bare necessities of life.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 4.14 -- Vrndavana, August 6, 1974:

The brahmacārī, the sannyāsī go to beg alms from door to door. "Mother, give me some bhikṣā, alms." And it is the duty of the gṛhastha to treat brahmacārī and sannyāsī as their son. As they maintain their children with food, shelter, cloth, similarly the brahmacārīs and sannyāsīs, they are dependent on the society. They should be treated as the sons of the society. And they must supply their necessities, bare necessities. A sannyāsī, brahmacārī, does not want more than what they need. They should not collect more than what they need. Bhikṣā nirvāhana. Not collect more and enjoy at others' cost. No. That is not the business of sannyāsī.

Lecture on BG 7.11-13 -- Bombay, April 5, 1971:

We eat, we require to eat, eating, and we require to sleep also, eating, sleeping. And sex life, that is also required for keeping the body fit. In Kali-yuga these four things, bare necessities of life, eating, sleeping, mating, and defending... Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca. These are bare necessities of the body. That will be also in disorder in this age. People will have no sufficient food, no place to sleep, no mate to have sense enjoyment, and it will be defenseless. Just like we are seeing at the present moment innocent people of East Pakistan are being killed.

Lecture on BG 7.11-13 -- Bombay, April 5, 1971:

Simply for political reasons, some innocent people, lakhs of innocent people, are being killed. These are the symptoms of Kali-yuga. The bare necessities of life will not be available. There is no protection.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

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

How far you have understood God?" That is practically nil. But the formulas and dogmas and this and that they're full of. Sumanda-matayo. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā (SB 1.1.10). And almost everyone is unfortunate. They haven't got even means to accommodate the bare necessities of life—eating, sleeping, mating. They're also deficient. mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ. And above all these there is always disturbance. Sometimes war, sometimes famine, sometimes earthquake, sometimes this, overflood.

Lecture on SB 2.1.2-5 -- Montreal, October 23, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Vyāsadeva? Vyāsadeva was a gṛhastha. He was a householder man. He was brāhmaṇa.

Himavatī: But he had no luxuries.

Prabhupāda: No. Those who will depend on the charities and alms of the society, they are not allowed to make any luxury at the cost of others. They can simply ask help for the bare necessities of life.

Lecture on SB 2.1.2-5 -- Montreal, October 23, 1968:

Gṛhastha means to live with wife. This is the meaning of gṛhastha. And a gṛhastha is supposed to support others who are not gṛhasthas just like brahmacārī. Brahmacārī means student life. So gṛhasthas support them. (break) ...sannyāsīs, other three classes. Because they are engaged in a different subject matter, they have no time to earn their livelihood, and therefore, those who are gṛhasthas, they take charge of him. This is the Vedic system. But they should live also on the bare necessities of life. They should not be luxurious. A brahmacārī cannot be luxurious. A sannyāsī cannot be luxurious. A vānaprastha cannot be luxurious. Luxury is allowed only to the householder because they are earning their own money. Others are dependent. So one cannot be luxurious at the expense of others. That is not allowed.

Lecture on SB 2.9.9 -- Tokyo, April 25, 1972, Informal Class in Room:

The more you go to the higher planetary system, their standard of living is still higher, higher-duration of life, standard of living, beauty, other facilities. Why they are called higher planetary system? Here in this planet even you don't get the sunshine sufficiently. The bare necessities. Now you can experience that when you go above the cloud by airplane you see there is no more cloudy. The sunshine is free. You can imagine how in the higher planetary system the sunshine is so free.

Lecture on SB 6.1.48 -- Detroit, June 14, 1976:

In other ages, they voluntarily used to take up how to make life perfect, but in this Kali-yuga, everyone is manda. Manda means very, very slow. They do not care that there is next life, and we have to take care of it and make our next life spiritual or go back to home, back to Godhead. These things we do not... Perhaps this message is being distributed by this movement only. Otherwise, people are in darkness, very slow, and most of them very bad, mandāḥ sumanda-matayo (SB 1.1.10). And if one is a little interested, then he's captured by some party. Sumanda-matayo. Mata means cult. So many cults there are. They'll mislead. So people are attracted by such cults. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyāḥ. And everyone is unfortunate. They have no fixed, I mean to say, arrangement, even for the bare necessities of life.

Lecture on SB 7.6.10 -- New Vrindaban, June 26, 1976:

Poor people, they do not know what is their self-interest, what is the aim of life. Therefore Vyāsadeva he is called vidvāṁs. Vidvāṁs means very learned. He has compiled the śāstra. Anartha, unnecessarily want. Wants we have increased. Now we, instead of wasting our time for increasing our unnecessary needs of life, we shall be satisfied with the bare necessities of life. Eating, sleeping, mating, we can minimize it. But don't, we don't say that you starve, you keep your body uncomfortably, and then fall sick, and then your Kṛṣṇa conscious business is hampered. No. Yavad-artha prayojana. Anāsaktasya viṣayān. Don't be attached to sense gratification. Satisfy senses as little as possible, which is essential, needed. It is not stopped. Nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa, anāsaktasya viṣayān yathārham upayuñjataḥ. Don't be attached to the sense gratification.

General Lectures

Lecture -- London, September 16, 1969:

We should be satisfied with the bare necessities of life, and the time should be saved to cultivate self-realization. That is the basic principle of Vedic civilization.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Prabhupāda: When we minimize our necessities, that is saintly life—the bare necessities of life. We are not after very luxurious way of life. We are satisfied only with the bare necessities of life. So it is not an attempt for material progress. It is simply an attempt to make spiritual progress, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Purports to Songs

Purport to Bhajahu Re Mana -- New York, March 30, 1966:

Don't increase your bodily necessities. That was the standard of Indian civilization. They did not, the sages and saints, they did not advise to increase the necessities of the body. They, I mean to say, planned the social system in such a way that people should be satisfied only for, by the bare necessities of life.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: In other governments the people are starving. They have no food. That is the worst government. First necessity of life, that one must eat, one must have shelter, but other governments cannot even do that. But in your country, you have got enough food, enough shelter, everything is there. That consideration, your government is very nice government. Bare necessities of life must be supplied.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Devotee: Now there is no place where Mahārāja Parīkṣit can go to find out a spiritual atmosphere.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Some of our men, at least one, left our association. He thought that "This is denying the primary necessities of life." Rāyarāma, Rāyarāma. He left for this reason, that we do not allow the bare necessities of life. Illicit sex, intoxication... He was first-class criminal on this account, but he could not give it up. Therefore he left.

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Amsterdam is a place simply for prostitutes.

Devotee: It is the center.

Prabhupāda: This is very prominent in the western country, which we are asking, that no meat-eating, no intoxication, no illicit sex. These things are only thing enjoyable.

Satsvarūpa: They think if you eliminate those, there is nothing left to live for.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is Rāyarāma's statement. Yes. I am denying the bare necessities of life. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Who will try for becoming perfect in this way? Very disappointing. But still, Kṛṣṇa is so kind that helping so many. They are doing actually.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with the GBC -- March 27, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: No, the Spiritual Sky was contemplated that our gṛhastha bhaktas may be employed...

Haṁsadūta: Yeah, but they're not employed anymore.

Jayatīrtha: That's not true.

Prabhupāda: And the bare necessities should be paid.

Room Conversation -- October 5, 1975, Mauritius:

Prabhupāda: Go on chanting, offering prasādam. You have got your food grains. Don't be dependent on anyone else. Become self-independent. And don't be after money. Simply produce your bare necessities of life. Keep yourself fit, strong. And chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, read book. Then you'll grow strong. Is there any difficulty?

Morning Walk -- October 16, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: As soon as people will be devotee, they will not require unnecessary things. They will be satisfied, simply bare necessities of life. That is peaceful condition. You create unnecessary needs of life, and then there is competition, there is hellish life, the factory, and then the factory man requires wine to forget his hard labor, so on, so on. Then he become thieves. He become rogues. This is your society. How you can expect peace?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 23, 1976, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: We have kept two chairs for the visitors. (laughter) We don't require. We can lie down on the floor. We can use only one or two cloths, that's all, throughout the whole year. We have no demands, only bare necessities. We don't smoke, don't drink. There is no expenditure. Don't go to cinema, don't read newspaper or ordinary magazines, nothing. We have got reading matter. Practically we are noncooperating.

Room Conversation -- April 27, 1976, Auckland, New Zealand:

Prabhupāda: There can be very peaceful condition of the whole world. Simply mismanaged by the rascal leaders. Otherwise, people can live very peacefully, eat sumptuously, save time, and there is no necessity of stopping the bare necessities of life. There is arrangement for eating, sleeping, sex life also. But not like fools and rascals. Like sane man.

Room Conversation -- May 7, 1976, Honolulu:

Guru-kṛpā: You cannot just decide to move to Moscow. You cannot do that. You must take permission from the government to live in Moscow.

Prabhupāda: Everything..., and we could not get nice food. There was no nice rice, wheat, fruit, flour, nothing. Fruit means the strawberries. I don't remember we could get any other fruit.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Perhaps you went at a bad season.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Everything is controlled. Whatever government will give you, they have to accept. And all the stores, it is just like, what is called? The old?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Grocery store?

Prabhupāda: Antique, antique, antique shop. That means no purchaser. People have no p..., no bank. People have no money, simply bare necessities of life their government supplies. And bus transport, buses standing in one place, best time, and people are running after. Women, men, mostly they walk.

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

Prabhupāda: Some section of the people, they should be very intellectuals, brain, just like to maintain this body we require first of all the brain. If the brain is not order, then other parts, they may be there, but they are also useless. So similarly, in the society, some intellectuals should be maintained. They are called brāhmaṇas, and some of the brāhmaṇas, they are sannyāsīs. They are simply meant for giving good instruction. They should personally become very good and intellectual, and they should give instruction to other people what is the value of life, how to live. This is one section. They should be free from the anxiety of maintaining themselves. The society should treat them as children and give them all necessities, bare necessities, not they are meant for living very luxuriously. No. Simple living.

Room Conversation -- August 20, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: All the boys and girls are very happy. Sit down. So that I want, that I live happily and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. We don't want unnecessary luxury. Anartha. Anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. Anartha should be reduced, nil, bare necessities. Anartha... Just like this material thing we require for preaching. That is not anartha. But when it is used for sense gratification, that is anartha. Anything for sense gratification, that is unwanted, anartha. And anything for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is spiritual.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 7, 1976, Hyderabad:

Devotee (4): The devotees staying here, living here, they may make some pottery, set of potter's wheel, make clay pots.

Prabhupāda: What? What you'll use, pots? Here pottery is very cheap. We are not for arts. We are simply bare necessities of life and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Hayagriva -- Montreal 14 June, 1968:

The difficulty is that the people in this country, they want to continue their practice of sense gratification, and at the same time they want to become transcendentally advanced. This is quite contradictory. One can advance in transcendental life by process of negativating the general practice of materialistic life. The exact adjustment is in Vaisnava philosophy, which is called Yukta Vairagya, means that we should simply accept the bare necessities of our material part of life, and try to save time for spiritual advancement.

Letter to Hayagriva -- Montreal 17 August, 1968:

The life should be simplified without being hampered by laboring day and night for economic development, without any spiritual understanding. The New Vrindaban idea is that persons who live there will accept the bare necessities of life to maintain the body and soul together and the major part of time should be engaged in development of Krishna Consciousness.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Rupanuga -- Hawaii 14 March, 1969:

So the Western type of civilization, industrialism and capitalism, is no material advancement. It is material exploitation. When one gets the bare necessities of life, namely peaceful home, sumptuous eating, necessary sex life, and feeling of security, then it is called material advancement. In the absence of such four preliminary necessities of life, it is not at all material advancement—just try to understand. According to Vedic civilization, a man is supposed to be rich when he has got sufficient grains and cows. Here we have neither sufficient grains or cows, but you have got sufficient quantity of papers only—falsely thinking that it is money. When there is some catastrophe, this bunch of papers will neither supply milk or grain. They will be seen only and the man will starve.

Letter to Jayasri -- London 13 November, 1969:

Regarding the things that Krishna is giving you, everything belongs to Krishna and He is giving everything, even to the nondevotees, even to the animals who have no consciousness of Krishna; and what to speak of His devotees. Just like the father maintains all his children without any grudge, but the child who is very faithful to the orders of the father is given specific care by the father. Similarly, Krishna being the Father of all living entities, he is supplying the bare necessities of their life; but for His devotees He has got special attention. So depend on Krishna, chant regularly Hare Krishna and you will find that He is talking with you face to face, what to speak of supplying your necessities.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Balmukundji Parikh -- Los Angeles 11 February, 1970:

At the present moment the London Temple has got some status and if you kindly induce especially the Indian community to give them some monthly subscriptions for the bare necessities of the temple management, the inmates of the temple will completely stop taking collections from the street sankirtana.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Acyutananda -- London 14 August, 1971:

My Guru Maharaja's policy was to give nice facility to devotees so that they may chant Hare Krishna Mantra peacefully and make advancement. But we cannot be luxurious. As far as possible minimize the needs of our life but we shall not curtail the bare necessities.

Letter to Tamala Krsna -- London 1 September, 1971:

The accounts are not being kept very scientifically and if there is extravagant spending that should be changed. We should simply accept the bare necessities of life. The balance money and energy should be employed for pushing forward Krishna's mission.

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Revatinandana -- Los Angeles 9 January, 1974:

Sannyasi means he is in renounced order and lives by begging alms for the bare necessities of life. It is not good to make trade to get money for personal expenditure. If the royalty is given to the BBT, we will keep a separate account from this royalty and necessary expenditures for your preaching may be supplied from the BBT.

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Kirtiraja -- Bombay 12 January, 1975:

Any householder devotee who is working full-time (with his wife) as a sankirtana book distributer, of temple managerial duties, artist, cook, etc. shall be provided food, shelter, and other bare minimum necessities by the temple itself. They should not cook their own meals separate from the temple meals. If they have children, then some minimal allowance may be given according to the number of children. If they want anything extra or over and above what the temple president sees as absolute necessity, then they should work outside—the temple cannot pay for anything beyond the bare necessities.

Letter to Giriraja -- Detroit 4 August, 1975:

The idea is that local inhabitants will be satisfied with their bare necessities of life and their attention will be diverted towards spiritual development of life. That is the aim of human birth.