Before death

Expressions researched:
"Before meeting death" |"Before the next death" |"before another death" |"before her death" |"before his death" |"before my death" |"before one's next death" |"before our next death" |"before that death" |"before the King's death" |"before the death" |"before you meet death" |"before your death" |"before your next death"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 2.72, Purport:

One can attain Kṛṣṇa consciousness or divine life at once, within a second—or one may not attain such a state of life even after millions of births. It is only a matter of understanding and accepting the fact. Khaṭvāṅga Mahārāja attained this state of life just a few minutes before his death, by surrendering unto Kṛṣṇa. Nirvāṇa means ending the process of materialistic life. According to Buddhist philosophy, there is only void after the completion of this material life, but Bhagavad-gītā teaches differently. Actual life begins after the completion of this material life. For the gross materialist it is sufficient to know that one has to end this materialistic way of life, but for persons who are spiritually advanced, there is another life after this materialistic life. Before ending this life, if one fortunately becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, he at once attains the stage of brahma-nirvāṇa. There is no difference between the kingdom of God and the devotional service of the Lord. Since both of them are on the absolute plane, to be engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord is to have attained the spiritual kingdom. In the material world there are activities of sense gratification, whereas in the spiritual world there are activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Attainment of Kṛṣṇa consciousness even during this life is immediate attainment of Brahman, and one who is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has certainly already entered into the kingdom of God.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.1.3, Purport:

In this śloka, it is definitely stated that spiritual rasa, which is relished even in the liberated stage, can be experienced in the literature of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam due to its being the ripened fruit of all Vedic knowledge. By submissively hearing this transcendental literature, one can attain the full pleasure of his heart's desire. But one must be very careful to hear the message from the right source. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is exactly received from the right source. It was brought by Nārada Muni from the spiritual world and given to his disciple Śrī Vyāsadeva. The latter in turn delivered the message to his son Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī delivered the message to Mahārāja Parīkṣit during the seven days before the King's death. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī was a liberated soul from his very birth. He was liberated even in the womb of his mother, and he did not undergo any sort of spiritual training after his birth. At birth no one is qualified, neither in the mundane nor in the spiritual sense. But Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, due to his being a perfectly liberated soul, did not have to undergo an evolutionary process for spiritual realization. Yet despite his being a completely liberated person situated in the transcendental position above the three material modes, he was attracted to this transcendental rasa of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is adored by liberated souls who sing Vedic hymns. The Supreme Lord's pastimes are more attractive to liberated souls than to mundane people. He is of necessity not impersonal because it is only possible to carry on transcendental rasa with a person.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.30.15, Purport:

Before meeting death one is sure to become a diseased invalid, and when he is neglected by his family members, his life becomes less than a dog's because he is put into so many miserable conditions. Vedic literatures enjoin, therefore, that before the arrival of such miserable conditions, one should leave home and die without the knowledge of his family members. If a man leaves home and dies without his family's knowing, that is considered to be a glorious death. But an attached family man wants his family members to carry him in a great procession even after his death, and although he will not be able to see how the procession goes, he still desires that his body be taken gorgeously in procession. Thus he is happy without even knowing where he has to go when he leaves his body for the next life.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.9.24, Purport:

The most important factor in this verse is the Lord's instructions regarding how to remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead at the end of life. Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ: (SB 2.1.6) the result of whatever we do in executing spiritual activities is successful if we can remember Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This program of constant remembrance can be disturbed by many things, but Dhruva Mahārāja's life would be so pure, as assured by the Lord Himself, that Dhruva would never forget Him. Thus at the time of his death he would remember the Supreme Lord, and before his death he would enjoy this material world, not by sense gratification, but by performing great sacrifices. As stated in the Vedas, when one performs great sacrifices he must give charity, not only to the brāhmaṇas, but also to the kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras. It is assured here that Dhruva Mahārāja would be able to perform such activities. In this age of Kali, however, the great sacrifice is the performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is designed to teach people (and to learn ourselves) the exact instruction of the Personality of Godhead. In this way we shall continuously perform the saṅkīrtana-yajña and continuously chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Then at the end of our lives we shall certainly be able to remember Kṛṣṇa, and our program of life will be successful. In this age, distribution of prasāda has replaced distribution of money. No one has sufficient money to distribute, but if we distribute kṛṣṇa-prasāda as far as possible, this is more valuable than the distribution of money.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.26.18, Translation:

A person is considered no better than a crow if after receiving some food, he does not divide it among guests, old men and children, but simply eats it himself, or if he eats it without performing the five kinds of sacrifice. After death he is put into the most abominable hell, known as Kṛmibhojana. In that hell is a lake 100,000 yojanas (800,000 miles) wide and filled with worms. He becomes a worm in that lake and feeds on the other worms there, who also feed on him. Unless he atones for his actions before his death, such a sinful man remains in the hellish lake of Kṛmibhojana for as many years as there are yojanas in the width of the lake.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.1.7, Translation:

Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied: My dear King, if before one's next death whatever impious acts one has performed in this life with his mind, words and body are not counteracted through proper atonement according to the description of the Manu-saṁhitā and other dharma-śāstras, one will certainly enter the hellish planets after death and undergo terrible suffering, as I have previously described to you.

SB 6.1.8, Translation:

Therefore, before one's next death comes, as long as one's body is strong enough, one should quickly adopt the process of atonement according to śāstra; otherwise one's time will be lost, and the reactions of his sins will increase. As an expert physician diagnoses and treats a disease according to its gravity, one should undergo atonement according to the severity of one's sins.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 2:

Rūpa Gosvāmī defines the first part of devotional practice, or vaidhi-bhakti, as follows: "When there is no attachment or no spontaneous loving service to the Lord, and one is engaged in the service of the Lord simply out of obedience to the order of the spiritual master or in pursuance of the scriptures, such obligatory service is called vaidhi-bhakti."

These principles of vaidhi-bhakti are also described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto, First Chapter, verse 5, where Śukadeva Gosvāmī instructs the dying Mahārāja Parīkṣit as to his course of action. Mahārāja Parīkṣit met Śukadeva Gosvāmī just a week before his death, and the King was perplexed as to what should be done before he was to pass on. Many other sages also arrived there, but no one could give him the proper direction. Śukadeva Gosvāmī, however, gave this direction to him as follows: "My dear King, if you want to be fearless in meeting your death next week (for actually everyone is afraid at the point of death), then you must immediately begin the process of hearing and chanting and remembering God." If one can chant and hear Hare Kṛṣṇa and always remember Lord Kṛṣṇa, then he is sure to become fearless of death, which may come at any moment.

In the statements of Śukadeva Gosvāmī it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Śukadeva recommends that one should always hear about Kṛṣṇa. He does not recommend that one hear and chant about the demigods. The Māyāvādīs (impersonalists) say that one may chant any name, either that of Kṛṣṇa or those of the demigods, and the result will be the same. But actually this is not a fact. According to the authorized version of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one has to hear and chant about Lord Viṣṇu (Kṛṣṇa) only.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 1.37-39 -- London, July 27, 1973:

These are the subtle laws. People do not know. Neither they are eager to know. But these are the information we get from Vedic literature. Putra has got a duty, to save the forefathers. Therefore one has to, it is his duty to keep a putra. At least one son he must leave. But people are not very much anxious to have putra. Rather to kill putra. They are so sinful. Kāma-lobha-hata-cetasaḥ. Simply sense enjoyment. That's all. Why bhāryā? Why one should marry? Putrārthe kriyate bhāryā. Bhāryā means wife. One accepts a wife. Why? For a putra. For a son. Why son is required? Putraḥ piṇḍaṁ prayojanam. Offering oblations by the putra to deliver the forefathers. That is prayojanam, that is absolutely necessary. Each and every one should leave a putra before his death. He has got so many duties. This is Vedic civilization. But nobody now cares for that. Neither it is possible. Therefore the only remedy is to surrender. Śaraṇyam.

devarṣi-bhūtāptā-nṛṇāṁ pitṟṇāṁ

nāyam ṛṇī na kiṅkara(ś ca) rājan

sarvātmanā ye śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ

gato mukundaṁ parihṛtya kartum

(SB 11.5.41)

The one excuse is that every one of us, we are indebted to devarṣi, devatā, the demigods. The demigods. Just like Indra. He supplies us water. Just like we are obliged to pay tax to the water department, to the fire department, to the education department, so many departments government. Or once we pay our income tax, that is distributed to so many departments. So actually why we pay? Because we are indebted. Now, the sunshine, we are getting advantage of sunshine. So we are indebted to the sun-god. Similarly, we are indebted to the moon-god.

Lecture on BG 2.16 -- Mexico City, February 16, 1975:

Hṛdayānanda: (break) (translating) After taking birth again, how does one continue his spiritual progress? They have two questions. And also when one is feeling very weak, fallen, how can he get going spiritually?

Prabhupāda: First of all, the next body may not be for cultivating knowledge in spiritual life because we are already fallen, and if we do not elevate, we may accept another body, still fallen. Therefore the intelligent person in this human form of life should take to spiritual cultivation of knowledge immediately. Immediately means before another death takes place. Because death will take place—that is certain—so our duty is immediately take to cultivation of spiritual knowledge so that we may get next life either liberation or another opportunity for cultivating spiritual knowledge. So anyone who begins cultivation of spiritual knowledge, he is on the path of perfection, but even if he falls down immaturely, he is guaranteed to get next life a human body so that he can again begin his cultivation of spiritual knowledge and make his life perfect. Therefore the conclusion is that without delay, we should immediately take to spiritual life and try to make our life perfect. Because there is no certainty when our death is coming. That is real intelligence.

Hṛdayānanda: (break) (translating) How many births do we have?

Prabhupāda: Births? There is no counting. Because unless you come to spiritual knowledge, the birth and death will continue. Yes?

Hṛdayānanda: (translating) Do we have to liberate ourselves from karma in order to achieve Kṛṣṇa?

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

The dog does not know how to utilize his body, but we are given instruction in so many books of knowledge, how to utilize this body. So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that sannimitte varaṁ tyāga. You have to give up this body. Why don't you give it up for the highest cause? Highest cause. This is the highest cause, spiritual realization. Somebody's offering his body for country's cause. Somebody's offering body for the society's cause. Or somebody's offering body for theft case or some murdering case. We have, everyone has to offer his body at the end. But the man who sacrifices this body for the purpose of self-realization, he's the most intelligent man. Sannimitte varaṁ tyāga vināśe niyate sati. You'll have to meet death, undoubtedly, but before meeting death... (break)

...as fully spiritualized. This is the instruction given. Buddhau śaraṇam anviccha kṛpaṇāḥ: "Don't be miser. Don't misuse this great opportunity."

Lecture on BG 2.62-72 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Several times there were questions that "How long it will take to become Kṛṣṇa conscious?" I have also answered, that in a second it can be done. The same thing is being explained. Go on.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "It is only a matter of understanding and accepting the fact. Khaṭvāṅga Mahārāja attained this state of life just a few minutes before his death by surrendering unto Kṛṣṇa. Nirvāṇa means ending the process of materialistic life. According to Buddha's philosophy, there is only void after this material life. But the Bhagavad-gītā teaches differently. Actual life begins after the completion of this material life. For the gross materialist, it is sufficient to know that one has to end his materialistic way of life. But for persons who are spiritually advanced, there is another life after this materialistic one. Therefore, before ending this life, if one fortunately becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, certainly he at once attains the stage of brahma-nirvāṇa. There is no difference between the kingdom of God and the devotional service of the Lord. Since both of them are on the absolute plane, to be engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord is to have attained the spiritual kingdom. In the material world there are activities of sense gratification, whereas in the spiritual world there are activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore attainment of Kṛṣṇa consciousness even during this life is immediate attainment of Brahman, and one who is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has certainly already entered into the kingdom of God. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has summarized the Second Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā as being the contents for the whole text. In the Bhagavad-gītā, the subject matters are karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga..."

Lecture on BG 18.45 -- Durban, October 11, 1975:

This is the version of Prahlāda Mahārāja. He was preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness among his school friends. Because he was born in a demon father's family, Hiraṇyakaśipu, he was stopped even uttering Kṛṣṇa. He could not get any opportunity in the palace, so when he was coming to school, at the tiffin hour he would call his small friends, five years old, and he would preach this Bhāgavata-dharma. And the friends would says, "My dear Prahlāda, we are now children. Oh, what is the use of this Bhāgavata-dharma? Let us play." "No," he said, "no." Kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma: (SB 7.6.1) "My dear friends, don't say that you'll keep it aside for cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness in old age. No, no." Durlabham. "We do not know when we shall die. Before the next death we must complete this Kṛṣṇa consciousness education."

That is the aim of human life. Otherwise we are losing the opportunity. So, everyone wants to live forever, but nature will not allow that. That's a fact. We may think very independent, but we are not independent. We are under the stringent laws of nature. A young man, you cannot say that "I will not become old man." No. You must become. That is the law of nature. And if you say, "I'll not die," no, you must die. So this is law of nature. So we, we are therefore mūḍhas. We do not know practically what is the law of nature.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.3 -- London, August 20, 1971:

Prabhupāda: Don't close your eyes.

Pradyumna: "...just seven days before the King's death. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī was a liberated soul from his very birth. He was liberated even in the womb of his mother, and he did not undergo any sort of spiritual training after his birth. At birth no one is qualified, neither in the mundane nor in the spiritual sense. But Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, due to his being a perfectly liberated soul, did not have to undergo an evolutionary process for spiritual realization. Yet despite his being a completely liberated person situated in the transcendental position above the three material modes, he was attracted to this transcendental rasa of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is adored by liberated souls who sing Vedic hymns. The Supreme Lord's pastimes are more attractive to liberated souls than to mundane people. He is of necessity not impersonal, because it is only possible to carry on transcendental rasa with a person. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the transcendental pastimes of the Lord are narrated, and the narration is systematically depicted by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Thus the subject matter is appealing to all classes of persons, including those who seek liberation and those who seek to become one with the Supreme Whole. In Sanskrit the parrot is also known as śuka. When a ripened fruit is cut by the red beaks of such birds, its sweet flavor is enhanced. The Vedic fruit which is mature and ripe in knowledge is spoken through the lips of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who is compared to the parrot not for his ability to recite the Bhāgavatam exactly as he heard it from his learned father, but for his ability to present the work in a manner that would appeal to all classes of men.

Lecture on SB 1.4.25 -- Montreal, June 20, 1968:

He was so powerful, but he accepted: "All right. I am cursed. I shall give up my life within seven days." That means he took it as an opportunity that "I am going to death within seven days. That is certain. And I must prepare myself fully so that my next life I can approach Kṛṣṇa." So this is a good opportunity, that "I have got seven days' time." We haven't got seven seconds' time. We do not know. Nobody has served me notice. We find by practical experience that we are walking on the street—all of a sudden there is some accident, and we die. There is possibility. So the important point is that Mahārāja Parīkṣit was fortunate enough to get seven days' time before his death. But we do not know how much time is there for our death. So how much serious we shall be. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that "If you want to make spiritual advancement, then you should always think that "Death is next moment. Death is next moment." Because there is no guarantee when death is coming. If I think that death is next moment, that is not any utopian. The next moment may be my death. And Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, "But if you want to be materially happy, you should always think that 'I shall never die,' " although it is false idea. Everyone will die. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was preparing. How he was preparing? He did not take seven days even a drop of water. He sat down tight on the bank of the Ganges, and the Śukadeva Gosvāmī narrated this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and he heard, and at the end of seven days, at the particular time, he was bitten by a snake and he left this world.

Lecture on SB 1.9.1 -- Los Angeles, May 15, 1973:

He was thinking like that. Prajā-drohāt. As you, if you rebel against the king, it is also a great fault, similarly, if you rebel, revolt against the prajās, that is also great fault. Therefore he is afraid. Bhītaḥ prajā-drohāt. "Now what to do?" Sarva-dharma-vivitsayā. This is the position to approach a guru, when you are bewildered. When things are not in order, brain is puzzled... Just like Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa as guru when he could not ascertain whether he shall fight or not, bewilderment, so similarly, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja also became bewildered, that "I have killed so many prajās. What is my position? I have become so much sinful. How can I rule over the empire?"

So when all these questions puzzled him, he decided to go to Bhīṣmadeva, who was lying on the arrows' bed before his death. As I told you that Bhīṣmadeva could not be dead without..., so long he does not wish. That was the benediction given by his father, that "My dear boy, you have taken such a strong vow. So I give you one benediction." Formerly everyone was so powerful. Of course, father's benediction always there, but they were actual benedictions. Everyone was so powerful. For example, the brāhmaṇa's son who cursed Parīkṣit Mahārāja, he was only twelve years old, a boy, and because he cursed Parīkṣit Mahārāja, that "Within seven days he will have to die," so he had to die. Just a small brāhmaṇa boy, how he was powerful. And it could not be changed. Although Parīkṣit Mahārāja was competent to change it, but he did not change. He showed honor to the brahminical curse. That is discussed by his father. So those who were powerful, actually they could benedict. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. As we read in the Gurvaṣṭaka, "By the benediction of the spiritual master, one becomes benedicted by the Supreme Lord."

Lecture on SB 5.5.25 -- Vrndavana, November 12, 1976:

So bhakti-bhājām. So we have to learn what is bhakti. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). If actually we advance in devotional service, then naturally viraktir anyatra syāt. That is niṣkiñcana, no more taste with the material world. Niṣkiñcanasya bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya pāraṁ paraṁ jigamiṣor bhava-sāgarasya. We must know why we shall take to devotional service, pāraṁ paraṁ jigamiṣor, not to remain within this material world. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām (SB 10.14.58). Here in the material world, padaṁ padaṁ vipadām. Every step there is vipada; there is danger. So don't think that "She is dying" or "He is dying, and I shall not die." Everyone will have to die. Every step, there is danger of dying. It is not that The bhute pare gobar hasi(?). Everyone has to die. So before that death we must become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious so that ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). The end will come today or tomorrow or day after tomorrow. Nobody will live here. But the success is if we can remember Nārāyaṇa at the end of life. That is success. Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ. We should practice that. Don't bother about that "I shall die tomorrow. You are dying today, so I am better than you." Nobody will live here. Everyone will die, and we must be prepared for death. And the devotee has no fear for dying because if he is completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, then he is going back to him. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). Simply by surrendering to Kṛṣṇa.

And what is that surrendering? Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru, mām evaiṣyasi asaṁśayaḥ (BG 18.68). Without any doubt. He is giving assurance. Four things only. Always think of Kṛṣṇa. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī mām. Anyone can do it. Everyone can offer Kṛṣṇa patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ (BG 9.26).

Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Nellore, January 5, 1976:

This is very precarious condition of the modern civilization. So as there are comfortable life, we can see there are discomfortable life also. So there is understanding of pāpa and puṇya. Especially in the human form of life one should know what is pāpa and what is puṇya. The human life is responsible life.

You have got practical experience that if you violate the law of the state you become criminal and punished. But if the cats and dogs or animals, they violate the law, they are not punishable. Therefore human life must be very responsible. Yes. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, "My dear king, if before one's next death whatever impious acts one has performed in this life with his mind, words, and body are not counteracted through proper atonement according to the description of the Manu-saṁhitā and other dharma-śāstras, one will certainly enter into the hellish planets after death and undergo terrible sufferings as I have previously described." So just like in our ordinary life if we commit some sinful activity and if we plead in the court, "My dear judge, I did not know the law," so this kind of pleading will not help him. Ignorance is no excuse. Therefore human life is distinct from animal life. If we live in human life without caring for the supreme laws, then we are destined to suffer.

Lecture on SB 6.1.6 -- Nellore, January 5, 1976:

Means anyone who has taken birth in this holy land of Bhāratavarṣa must make his life successful by going through the śāstras and distribute the knowledge throughout the whole world. Therefore I am appealing to my Indian brothers to take up this missionary work as ordered by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, especially my appeal is to the people of South India. Because all our ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Śaṅkarācārya, they came out from South India, so I especially request gentlemen present here to take up this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement very seriously and join with us. (break) ...says that before our next death comes... Death will come. We say generally, "As sure as death." For our next life. Śukadeva Gosvāmī advises according to our Vedic principle, before death there is a ceremony which is called prāyaścitta or atonement. He advises that when a diseased man goes to a physician, the physician, after diagnosing the disease, he gives the suitable medicine. If the disease is very serious, sometimes very expensive medicine is recommended. There is some example in the Caitanya Mahāprabhu's time. One gentleman, he was a big zamindar, landholder. He was converted into a Muslim. In those days, five hundred years ago, it was not very difficult to convert a person into Muslim religion. If a Muslim would take some water from his water pot and sprinkle on the body of a Hindu, he would become Muslim. In this way, so many people were converted into Muslims. So I am quoting these instances in this respect because when in those days people would go to the brāhmaṇa to take advice for atonement they would give so severe type of atonement that it was impossible to perform.

Lecture on SB 6.1.6-15 -- San Francisco, September 12, 1968:

Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he said that "I have already described the different kinds of hellish conditions. So unless one atones his sinful life, one has to suffer such hellish conditional life." Tasmāt puraivāśv iha pāpa-niṣkṛtau yateta mṛtyor avipadyatātmanā (SB 6.1.8). Therefore it is everyone's duty that before you meet death, you atone your sinful activities. And what is that example he's giving? Doṣasya dṛṣṭvā guru-lāghavaṁ yathā bhiṣak cikitseta rujāṁ nidānavit (SB 6.1.8). Just like when one is diseased, if he does not make proper treatment immediately, that disease may increase and cause fatal. Everyone knows that, that when he's diseased... So diseased condition means sinful condition. Diseased condition means suffering, and suffering means sinful, reaction of sinful activities. So the prescription is that as one goes to the physician, similarly, for treatment of his disease—otherwise it may prove fatal—similarly, one should atone the sinful activities as they are prescribed in different scriptures. That is the prescription.

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

If you argue that "What is the harm if I kill one animal, because it is said, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre: (BG 2.20) 'The living entity, soul, is never killed even after the annihilation of this body'?" that is all right. But you cannot force him. Just like if you get one person, by force, get out from his apartment—he is not dying, of course, but still, it is criminal because you are forcing to go out of the apartment. So that is the law of nature. You cannot force anyone to get out of the body. Then you are punishable.

So the punishments are different. So therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī is informing, na ced ihaivāpacitiṁ yathāṁhasaḥ. You have done something, sinful activity, and if you do not atone for it before your next death, kṛtasya kuryān mana-ukta-pāṇibhiḥ, the sinful activities which you have done with your body, with your mind, with your senses, that you have to atone for it. "Otherwise," dhruvaṁ sa vai pretya narakān upaiti, dhruvam, "surely he will get the different types of hellish condition of life," ye kīrtitā me, "as I have already described," bhavatas tigma-yātanāḥ, "before you how they are suffering." This is karma-kāṇḍa vicāra, means for one sinful activities, another pious activity, counteraction. But this will be discussed in the next verse, that prāyaścittam. Prāyaścitta means atonement.

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

So degree, the most sinful activity, according to Vedic information—to kill a child, to kill a woman, to kill a brāhmaṇa, and to kill a cow. This is very abominable punishment. Child, brāhmaṇa, cow, and woman, they are to be given protection by the laws of Vedic instruction. They have to be protected. So this should be very carefully done. Strī-śūdra-dvija-bandhūnām (SB 1.4.25). Strī, they are considered either as innocent as the child or as innocent as the animal. So they should be given always protection. So here it is said that tasmāt puraiva āśu iha pāpa-niṣkṛtau. Very busy. We do not know when is, when we shall die. But we must know, we have committed so many sinful activities; therefore before the next death, yateta mṛtyor avipadyatātmanā. Mṛtyu: we have to die. Before death, we have to make the atonement. "Otherwise," Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, "as I have already described the different position of hellish condition of life, one has to suffer." And how it will be done? Doṣasya dṛṣṭvā lāghu..., guru-lāghavaṁ yathā. There are degrees. The first degree sinful activity I have already said. There are different degrees. So as the physician The example is given that bhiṣak cikitseta rujāṁ nidānavit. Bhiṣak means physician. You have got some pain, disease, ailments. He gives you Suppose you are suffering, so he sees that this suffering is not very serious. "All right, you take this tablet." What is called? Anacin? "And you will be relived." But if he has got a big boil, and it has got pus and bad (break)

Lecture on SB 6.1.7 -- Honolulu, May 8, 1976:

So Śukadeva Gosvāmī said, "My dear King, if before one's next death whatever impious acts one has performed in this life with the mind, words and body are not counteracted through the proper atonement according to the description of the Manu-saṁhitā and other dharma-śāstras, one will certainly enter the hellish planets after death and undergo terrible suffering, as I have previously described to you."

So atonement is prescribed in every scripture. Even in Christian Bible there is atonement. So in other scriptures also there is atonement. Just like a man who has committed murder, he must die. "Life for life." This is atonement. When the government punishes a murderer with capital punishment, death, that is a mercy upon him. That punishment is accepted practically all over the world from time immemorial. So there must be atonement. So if a person who has committed murder, killed somebody else, then if he is punished by death, then the sinful activities which he has committed, that is counteracted. Otherwise he will have to suffer next life very severely, four times. So people do not believe even in the next life, and what to speak of atonement and punishment. They are kept in darkness. Otherwise they would have been... If they would have followed actually the injunction of the śāstras... First of all one should not be killing anyone. In the Bible also it is said, "Thou shall not kill." Why it is forbidden? Because if he kills, he'll have to suffer. But they do not care for it. Therefore they suffer.

Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- New York, July 22, 1971:

Just like you go to a physician, and according to the gravity of the disease, the physician prescribes a medicine which may be very costly or may not be costly. That depends on the gravity of the disease. If the disease is very dangerous, then sometimes you have to accept some medicine which is very costly. Similarly, our contamination with sinful activities will require proportionate atonement. That is the prescription of the scriptures. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that "Before your death, if you accept some atonement, then next life you'll not suffer. Otherwise you'll carry with you the resultant action of your sinful activities and you'll have to suffer next life." Just like in the state laws, if you kill some man, murder, then the state law says that you shall be also hanged. "Life for life."

So this is is not very new. The, in the Manu-saṁhitā... Manu-saṁhitā means Lord Manu, he's the giver of law to the mankind. From Manu, the word man has come. The exact Sanskrit word "manuṣya." Manuṣya means man. So there is some link with Manu, M-a-n-u, and "man." So this Latin word comes from the Sanskrit word, manu. So Manu is supposed to be the law-giver to the humankind. So in the Manu-saṁhitā it is stated there that when the king kills one man, or hangs one man who is a murderer, that is benefit to him. Otherwise, if he's not killed, then he will carry the reaction of his murdering action, and he'll have to suffer in so many ways. The laws of nature are very subtle. They are very diligently administered. People do not know it. So on the whole, the Manu-saṁhitā, life for life is sanctioned. And that is practically observed all over the world. But similarly, there are other laws, that you cannot kill even an ant. Then you are responsible. You have no right to kill. And in the Bible also, we see, Lord Jesus Christ says, "Thou shalt not kill." So killing is not allowed in any religious principle. Anyone who is killing, he's not considered in the human society.

Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- Los Angeles, June 21, 1975:

He says, "All right, never mind. I shall go to the court and pay some fine. That's all." So this is karma-kāṇḍīya-vicāra. And nowadays, even karma-kāṇḍīya vicāra, they are also not accepted. People have become so foolish. This karma-kāṇḍīya vicāra, means action and reaction of the fruitive activities, they also do not believe that. This is the lowest grade. So here it is answered that "If you want to be saved from the sinful reaction of your life and put into the hellish condition, then you have to do like this." Tasmāt purā eva āśu iha pāpa-niṣkṛtau. Tasmāt: "Therefore, in order to become freed from the reaction of your sinful activities," pāpa-niṣkṛtau, puraiva, purā eva āśu, "before your death, as soon as possible, you should atone. You should counteract. Otherwise you will suffer very much." Just like a disease. A little disease, if you treat immediately, it may not increase to be a very problem, big problem disease. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has instructed that three things we should be very careful: disease, fire, and debts. If there is disease, if you think, "Oh, this is little ailment. There is no need of going to the doctor," no, you must immediately take steps. It may increase to be a very big problem. Disease increases. Similarly fire. If there is fire, you have extinguished everything and little fire there is, if you think that "Oh, little fire, it will automatically...," no, that also you must extinguish. Otherwise it may take into big fire again. Similarly debts. If you don't clear your debts, if you think, "All right, there is some debts. It will...," no, interest, compound interest So similarly, the disease. We are already in the material disease. This birth, death, old age, and disease. This is our material miserable condition. And again, if we act sinfully, then it will increase. Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī is advising that "Before your death, you should atone for the sinful activities, what you have done." Just like in the Manu-saṁhitā, if a man has committed some murder, it is advised that King should order him to be hanged. Otherwise next life he will have to suffer so much. So this order of hanging a murderer is a kind of kindness to the criminal.

Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- Honolulu, May 9, 1976:

That is not sufficient. Now they want to fly. You see. Another discovery. This is going on. Manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). Actually they are manufacturing different ways of suffering. And there is no happiness. Simply the business is going on, manufacturing different ways of suffering. So therefore that is disease. This is our material disease, and it is recommended here that before the next death, if we come to the right conclusion how we shall become happy, then this process of continuously dying and again taking birth and again disease and again old age, then it is not very good.

But they are so fools and rascals, they do not know how the life is going on, how nature is working upon us. Everything is in darkness. Therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the only hope for human society. Only hope. It is not story; it is fact. So those who have come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I request that take it very seriously and read the books and make progress and simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa. Then everything, all problems, will be solved.

Lecture on SB 6.1.9 -- Honolulu, May 10, 1976:

So here you have seen, Parīkṣit Mahārāja, although the emperor of the world, he is taking lesson from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Śukadeva Gosvāmī is seated on the throne and he is seated on the ground, submissive. So does it mean that "I shall become submissive, and whatever my guru will say, I will have to accept?" No. Paripraśnena. Tad viddhi. Here is the paripraśna. Śrī-rāja uvāca. Ask him. That is intelligent. Intelligently serve. First of all we must... It is not that he is checking the guru, "How my guru is learned?" No. The submission is there. But when the guru says something, he may not understand. That concession is given, paripraśna. You inquire.

So Śukadeva Gosvāmī said that "You have to atone for your sinful activities before your death; otherwise you will suffer in the next life." Rājovāca. Rājovāca, rāja, the king, he was little doubtful about this atonement. Atonement. So his inquiry...

dṛṣṭa-śrutābhyāṁ yat pāpaṁ

jānann apy ātmano 'hitam

karoti bhūyo vivaśaḥ

prāyaścittam atho katham

(SB 6.1.9)

"Sir, you have spoken about atonement, but they are doing atonement. Every moment they are suffering, but still, again he is committing the sinful activities. So what is the use of this atonement?" Just like in the Christian church they go to confess every weekly, "Sir, I have done it." "All right, give some fine." And again, next week, again, the same thing going on.

Lecture on SB 6.1.8-13 -- New York, July 24, 1971:

A man... Suppose a man... Of course, if..., if he commits murder, he's killed and gone. That's another thing. The, the Śukadeva Gosvāmī's proposal was that tasmāt puraiva āśu iha pāpa-niṣkṛtau yateta mṛtyor avipadyatātmanā. "Before your death, next death comes, you should perform atonement so that you may not carry the sinful activities to suffer next life." If I do not commit, perform atonement for the commit, for the sinful activities, then nature will not excuse me. You'll have to take the effect of it and suffer in the next life. The law... As I explained the other day, that a murderer should be killed, that is mercy upon him. The, when the king orders... It is very old law. It is not new law, "Life for life." So that, when the king awards, or the judge, high-court judge, that "This man must be hanged," the judge is not the enemy of that man, but, according to law, in order to save him from further trouble in the next life, this prescription of hanging is there. The..., exactly like that: according to the disease, the prescription of medicine is there. Similarly, according to the gravity of the sinful activity, the atonement is there. If one has killed a man, he should be should be hanged—according to the gravity of his sin. So that is showing mercy upon him. But, if he's not killed, then he'll be killed in so many ways. He'll be... Suppose something, some animal, and this man who has killed. He will take another birth and he will slaughter him. There are so many subtle laws. Māṁsa. The word māṁsa, Sanskrit. Mām means "me," and sa means "he." "As I am eating him just now, he will eat me next life." That is called māṁsa. Māṁsa khādati. This is the definition of māṁsa, or flesh. Māṁsa khādati. "As I am eating, enjoying now, palate, eating some animal, so he'll also eat me next life."

Lecture on SB 6.1.48 -- Dallas, July 30, 1975:

One can, one has... Just like in school some student has got very sharp memory. Once heard from the teacher, he never forgets it. So these different stages are due to the association of different modes of material nature.

So Yamaraja, when a person is brought before him, he can immediately understand that "He was sinful in this way." Manasa pure devaḥ. Or Yamarāja is sitting in his place, but he is seeing everyone, what he is doing through the sun, through the moon. We have already discussed, through fire, through evening, through morning—there are so many witnesses. And all those information goes to him, and because he is almost as powerful as Bhagavān, he can remember. This is special power. Manasaiva pure devaḥ pūrva-rūpam. Because after death, one is brought before Yamarāja, so before his death, what he was doing sinfully, that is all recorded in the mind of Yamarāja. Manasaiva pure devaḥ pūrva-rūpaṁ vipaśyati. Because they are so recorded, he can see vividly what this man was doing. Anumīmāṁsate apūrvam. Apūrvam means the next body. Pūrvam means the past body, and apūrvam the next body. So he immediately decides what kind of body this criminal, this sinful man, should be offered. Anumīmāṁsati apūrvaṁ manasā. That is also by his mind. He is so powerful. Therefore he has been addressed as Bhagavān. Anumīmāṁsati. Just like the judge. He is hearing the case. That is everyone. Anyone who is hearing something, so he makes a conclusion, "This should be done like that." The judgment...

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

So the conditioned soul, they want to cheat God. They want to deny God. They want to cheat God. That is not possible. In spite of all your insurance and cheating policy, you must have to die. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Mṛtyuḥ ahaṁ, sarva-haram: "You do not accept Me. That's all right. You are collecting things for your enjoyment. But I shall... When I shall come as death, not only you shall be killed, but I shall take away whatever you possess." So this is intelligence, that... They say, "There is no God," and God says, "Yes, you see Me at the time of death." But you cannot avoid death. So before meeting death... Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu. Prahlāda Mahārāja so many times requested, "My dear father, why you are becoming atheist? By His grace you have got so much power. Just submit to Him." "No. There is no God. I am God." So this is called demon. In spite of being punished in so many ways, they will deny the existence of God. So they are... Those who are not devotee, they will be agitated by the māyā, by Madana, by Cupid, by so many other illusory things. But if one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, then nothing can. Because Kṛṣṇa conscious person is not in want. He is not in want. So long we will be in want, our mind will be agitated. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja advised that, sadā samudvigna-dhiyām: "Those who are always agitated..." Everyone is agitated. Samudvigna. Tat sādhu manye asura-varya dehinām. Anyone who has accepted this material body must be always agitated in mind, sadā. Why? Asad-grahāt. Because he has accepted this temporary body, he must be full of anxiety. It cannot be avoided. Asad-grahāt. Asato mā sad gama. The Vedic injunction is "Don't keep yourself in this temporary world or temporary body. Must go to the spiritual world, back to home, back to..." This is Vedic injunction. Sad gama. Asato mā sad gama. Asad-grahāt. If you accept this temporary material world, means temporary body... Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanam... (BG 2.13). We are transmigratng from one body to another. This is asad-grahāt. Why I shall transmigrate if I am eternal? Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). I am eternal. So this is intelligence: "How I can get permanent body so that I may not have to change bodies one after another." This is intelligence.

Lecture on SB 6.2.5-6 -- Vrndavana, September 9, 1975:

We shall now play or we shall become Kṛṣṇa conscious? No, no, we shall play." So Prahlāda Mahārāja repeatedly said, "No, no, no. Even we are children, we should not play. We should become Kṛṣṇa conscious." Kaumāraṁ ācaret prājñaḥ. If you are intelligent... Kaumāraṁ. Kaumāram means from the childhood, from five years. Kaumāraṁ ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha. "Why? All right, if you say that I shall become Kṛṣṇa conscious, I shall become. Let us grow now." No. Durlabhaṁ mānuṣyaṁ janma tad api adhruvam arthadam (SB 7.6.1). "No, no, no. Don't spoil your life in that way. It is... Although we have got this body, human form, but it is also adhruvam. It will not stay."

So before your next death you finish your Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the real gain of life. Don't wait that "I shall become old, and when I shall become feeble—there is no more energy—then I shall become Kṛṣṇa conscious." Of course, Kṛṣṇa conscious, one can become in a moment perfect. But that is rarely done. Everyone should be taught Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the very childhood. This is human civilization.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Vrndavana, December 2, 1975:

Out of the twelve mahājanas, he is one of them. So he is advising, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). Why so early, kaumāra? Prahlāda Mahārāja says, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma: "This human form of life is very, very rarely obtained in the process of evolution, 8,400,000's of different species of life." After that, we have got this durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma. It should not be wasted, living like cats and dogs. Everyone should be trained up in this bhāgavata-dharma. Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. And "Yes, it is important, that's all right. But let me live for hundred years. Then we shall talk about Kṛṣṇa." And Prahlāda Mahārāja said, "No." Adhruvam: "You do not know when you will die. At any moment you can die." Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām (SB 10.14.58). Therefore, before your next death, you realize Kṛṣṇa. Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam. But arthadam. Arthadam means even if you live for a few years and if you take the chance of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, still, you are benefited. You are still benefited.

So this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is so important that you can think always that "Death is coming. Death is at my door. Let me finish my chanting. Let me finish my chanting." Always you should think like that, that "Death is already coming, so let me chant." So this is called bhāgavata-dharma, and Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means bhāgavata-dharma. So you read Prahlāda Mahārāja's instruction very nicely and utilize it in your life. Your life will be successful. Thank you very much.

Lecture on SB 7.6.4 -- Vrndavana, December 5, 1975:

Bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ. Not only in this life but in the next life, next life, because there is no... Mūḍhā nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. These rascals... This rascal civilization is so dangerous, mūḍhā, full of rascals.

So our little humble attempt is to give them relief from this rascaldom civilization. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to give little relief or little knowledge to the people in general, especially to the human being. Like Prahlāda Mahārāja is... Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. In the human life one can understand. We are speaking all these instruction from śāstra by Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's devotees. Why? Just to give a little relief. They may understand how to live. Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma. "Before the next death let me finish my Kṛṣṇa consciousness life." That is required. That is intelligence. Otherwise as soon as the life is finished, there is no guarantee that I am going to take again a human form of life. It is not possible. But there is little guarantee for the devotee. For the devotee, if he has rendered little service to Kṛṣṇa even for a moment, the life of human life next is guaranteed. Guaranteed in this way, that if he unknowingly commits some mistake, then it is guaranteed. And if he knowingly commits mistake, then he is going to be cats and dogs. This is the facility. Yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭaḥ sanjāyate (BG 6.41).

Lecture on SB 7.6.5 -- Vrndavana, December 7, 1975:

"Don't waste your time. Human life is very valuable." And Cāṇakya Paṇḍita also says, āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi na labhyaḥ svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ: "You cannot get back even one moment of your life by paying millions of dollars. So if you waste your time..." The Kṛṣṇa conscious people, they should not be lazy. They should always remember that death is already there. Let me finish my business properly so that after death I may not be a cat and dog. At least I may get... There is no... My Guru Mahārāja used to say that "Why should you wait for another life? Finish Kṛṣṇa consciousness business in this life." In this life. Why you should set aside the business for another life? No. Tūrṇaṁ yateta anumṛtya pateta yāvat. This is the instruction of... Before the next death you should prepare yourself for death. Death is inevitable. You cannot avoid death. But before the next death comes, if you become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, then your life is successful. Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). What is Kṛṣṇa? Try to understand Kṛṣṇa—Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa, why He appears, why He disappears, what is His nature, who is He. So many things are to be known. Kṛṣṇa is God. He is not an ordinary thing. He has got unlimited qualities, unlimited function. And if we simply understand that kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam... (SB 1.3.28). Without going into the details, if we accept simply this fact, that "Here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, and everything is the exhibition of His different energies," vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ (BG 7.19), if you simply understand, even if blindly, that everything, whatever we see, that is exhibition of Kṛṣṇa's energy... Just like in this material world the practical example is, whatever we see, the trees and the plants and buildings, the chemicals, the... Everything is generating from the sunlight, energy of the sun globe.

Lecture on SB 7.6.8 -- Vrndavana, December 10, 1975:

She went with him, and he took him to a person who was going to die. And the minister asked the emperor that "You kindly study the man who is going to die, on his face." So in the Akbar (indistinct), and his young daughter was entering, the dying man was seeing to the face of the young girl. So Akbar—after all, he was emperor; he could study-he, that "Yes, Birbal, what he said, that up to the last point of death this desire is there to see the face of a young girl."

This is called durāpūreṇa. It is never fulfilled. This attraction of man and women in family life continues. The other day one devotee came to me, and he was almost crying, that "My wife is suffering, and she may not live. So kindly give me some blessings." Before the death of his wife—because there was nothing serious—the wife has said, "My dear husband, I may not live very long with you," and he is so disturbed that he is thinking that "My wife may die at any moment." So this is the position. This is not very extraordinary thing. This attraction of man and women, this is material bondage. Therefore it is said, durāpūreṇa kāmena: (SB 7.6.8) this lusty desires is never fulfilled even up to the point of death. And what is this nature of this lusty desire? Moha, illusion. It is not fact. It has no substance, but it is there; that's a fact. The example is given just like in dream, somebody is cutting my head and I'm crying. Actually there is no man cutting my head—my head is there—still, I am suffering by such thoughts. This is called moha. Actually there is no fact, but on account of being entangled in three stages of pollution... The pollution is that intelligence. The intelligence is polluted in three ways: jāgriti, svapna, and suṣupti. Jāgriti means just like we are now awakened; we are not sleeping. This is one stage. And another stage, at night when you go to sleep, and you sleep with dream, that is another stage. And another stage is suṣupti, so deeply, just like when a man is intoxicated or chloroform during surgical operation, he does not understand that "Surgical instruments are being applied on my body." He remains silent. This is another stage. So these three stages are there for polluting our intelligence.

Lecture on SB 7.9.29 -- Mayapur, March 7, 1976:

So before Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed by His Lordship Nṛsiṁha-deva, Prahlāda Mahārāja never addressed his father as "father," pituḥ. Now, after his death, he is addressing, pituḥ, "my father." Because before his death he was demon. Everyone knows. But if a demon is killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he becomes liberated, either demon or anyone. Demons are generally killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They enter into the impersonal Brahman. Therefore there is a verse—I don't remember exactly now—that "The monist and the demons, they go to the same place, impersonal Brahman." And what to speak of devotees? Devotees never enter to that impersonal Brahman. Devotees enter directly in the Vaikuṇṭha planet. Mām eti. Mām eti. Kṛṣṇa said, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāmaṁ paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). If you enter the Vaikuṇṭha planets... There are innumerable Vaikuṇṭha planets, and above them there is the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, Kṛṣṇaloka. So in either of them, if you enter, then that is not impersonal. Personal. Impersonal Brahman is outside. Although impersonal Brahman is also spiritual existence, but it is outside the Vaikuṇṭha planets. So the demons and the impersonalists, they cannot enter into the Vaikuṇṭha planet. And because they cannot enter into the Vaikuṇṭha planet, they again fall down, again fall down in this material world. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yusmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Patanty adhaḥ. Adhaḥ means in this material world. Those who are impersonalists, they may enter into the Brahman effulgence, āruhya kṛcchreṇa, with severe execution of penance and austerities. The Māyāvādīs, they perform severe austerity.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Calcutta, January 25, 1973:

So the practice of devotional service, sādhana-bhakti, can be divided into two parts—namely, regulative and spontaneous. Rūpa Gosvāmī defines the first part of devotional practice, or vaidhi-bhakti, as follows: 'When there is no attachment or no spontaneous loving service to the Lord, and one is engaged in the service of the Lord simply out of obedience to the order of the spiritual master or in pursuance of the scriptures, such obligatory service is called vaidhi-bhakti.' These principles of vaidhi-bhakti are also described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto, First Chapter, verse 35, where Śukadeva Gosvāmī instructs the dying Mahārāja Parīkṣit as to his course of action. Mahārāja Parīkṣit met Śukadeva Gosvāmī just a week before his death, and the King was perplexed as to what should be done before he was to pass on. Many other sages also arrived there, but no one could give him the proper direction. Śukadeva Gosvāmī, however, gave this direction to him as follows: 'My dear King, if you want to be fearless in meeting your death next week (for actually everyone is afraid at the point of death), then you must immediately begin the process of hearing and chanting and remembering God.' If one can chant and hear Hare Kṛṣṇa and always remember Lord Kṛṣṇa, then he is sure to become fearless at death, which may come at any moment."

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1972:

Pradyumna: "The principles of vaidhi-bhakti are also described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto, First Chapter, verse 35, where Śukadeva Gosvāmī instructs the dying Mahārāja Parīkṣit as to his course of action. Mahārāja Parīkṣit met Śukadeva Gosvāmī just a week before his death, and the King was perplexed as to what should be done before he was to pass on. Many other sages also arrived there, but no one could give him the proper direction. Śukadeva Gosvāmī, however, gave this direction to him as follows: 'My dear King, if you want to be fearless in meeting your death next week (for actually everyone is afraid at the point of death), then you must immediately begin the process of hearing and chanting and remembering God.' If one can chant and hear Hare Kṛṣṇa and always remember Lord Kṛṣṇa, then he is sure to become fearless of death, which may come at any moment."

Prabhupāda: Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6). That is the success of life. Somehow or other, if one can remember Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, that is success of life. The... In Bengal there is a proverb: bhajana kara, pūjāna kara, mate janle haya. Your devotional service will be tested at the time of death. Because yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaram loke tyajaty ante kalevaram. At the time of death, if we can remember Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ, that is all success. The practice of devotional service means so that we may be so accustomed to chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra that at the time of death we may remember it. Otherwise... Not like parrot. The parrot also imitates chanting. But when the cat catches, he does not say, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." He says (imitates parrot sound), "kanh, kanh." So not that kind of... We should be accustomed to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa that whenever the death point is there, he would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then that is success. So practice means to remember. Sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ (BG 8.6). If we practice always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, naturally, at the time of danger, we shall chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Go on.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.15 -- Mayapur, April 8, 1975:

We think that "Spiritual cultivation is meant for old age. Now let us enjoy our life in this material world." That is our wrong conception of life. What do you mean by old age? Nearing death. So who can guarantee that he is not nearing death? Everyone is nearing death at every moment. Why should you wait for old age? That is manda-mater, bad intelligence. We should know that death may take place at any moment. Therefore every one of us are already old. (We) generally understand that old age means nearing death, but who can guarantee that there is no death immediately? At any moment. Therefore śāstra says tūrṇaṁ yateta anu-mṛtyu pateta yāvad, Before meeting your next death, you should endeavor so dexterously that you complete your Kṛṣṇa consciousness before your death comes. That is intelligence. Not that "I am now young man, let me enjoy. And in old age, after passing sixty years, when there will be no other engagement, at that time I shall chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra." No. Immediately, tūrṇaṁ yate.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad Invocation Lecture -- Los Angeles, April 28, 1970:

Actually it happens. When I was in India, Allahabad, one of our, an old friend, he was very rich man. So he was dying. So he was requesting the doctor, "Can you not give me at least four years to live? I have got some plan, you see. I could not finish it." You see. Āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāḥ. This is demonic. Everyone thinks that "Oh, I have to do this. I have to do this." No. The doctors or doctors' fathers or his father, no scientist can check. "Oh, no, sir. No four years. Not even four minutes. You have to go immediately." This is the law. So before that moment comes, one should be very dexterous to realize Kṛṣṇa conscious. Tūrṇam yateta. Tūrṇam means very swiftly, very quickly you should realize Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Anu... Next, before the death, next death comes, you must finish your business. That is intelligence. Otherwise defeat.

Festival Lectures

Sri Rama-Navami, Lord Ramacandra's Appearance Day -- Hawaii, March 27, 1969:

Not brāhmaṇa exactly. Somebody came to Rāmacandra. Because at that time there was no court like this, that you have to go to a court and apply with stamp fee. Then your judgment will be delivered after six years. It is not like that. Anyone who has got some complaint, he should... The king used to sit in the open audience, and the citizens were allowed to approach the king and place their complaints. Because there was no complaint practically. Everyone was happy. Very minor complaint. So somebody came to Rāmacandra, and he charged Rāmacandra, "My dear king, my son has died. How is that, in the presence of his father, son can die? There must be something wrong in Your government." Just see. The charge is "Why my son has died before my death? This is unnatural." So there was nothing unnatural. The king was responsible even for severe cold, severe heat. That we get from history of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That is stated. So the kings were so much responsible. They were always thinking of the happiness of the citizens, and the citizens were also so nice. One citizen approached Lord Rāmacandra and His next assistant, His brother, Lakṣmaṇa, informed Him that "He is a brāhmaṇa. You were absent on Your tour for, I think for a fortnight or a month, and this brāhmaṇa has not eaten even a drop of water during Your absence." Why? "Because he comes here to see You, darśana." Just like we come here in the temple to see the Deity. So Lord Rāmacandra was present personally. So he used to come. After seeing Rāmacandra, offering his obeisances, then he would go home and take something, his breakfast. That was his vow. And because he could not see for a fortnight or a month Lord Rāmacandra because He was out on political tour, he did not eat even. Just see.

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

Every action of this material world is being acted... Just like sāṅkhya philosophy is based on this philosophy, that a man and woman is attracted and they have sex life and the son is produced, and there is no other reason for population. Simply a man wants a woman and a woman wants a man. That natural tendency is there, and when they combine together there is a birth of a child. So this is a natural sequence. Sāṅkhya philosophy is based on this principle. They do not believe that above this, there is God. Nirīśa. Above this, there is God. There is God's control. Actually there is God. Sexual intercourse is not the cause of a child. According to Bhāgavata, a living entity, before his death he is, by superior judgement it is thought that "Where this living entity, where this particular man or dog or anything... He is dying. Where it will be placed?" So when that place is sanctioned, the place is selected, that "This particular man should go in such and such body," then he is at once transferred to the semina. That small particle, spiritual particle, is transferred to the semina of the father, and the father injects the semina into the mother's womb, and it gets a particular type of body according to his karma. That is Bhāgavata's version. But the Sāṅkhya philosophy, they say, because they have no idea that there is spiritual spark, they think simply that, simply the father and mother's or man and woman's sex life produces life.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Conversation -- Los Angeles, June 20, 1975:

Prabhupāda: They are coming also, Nitāi...?

Jayatīrtha: Nitāi and Jagannātha are going to be coming...

Rāmeśvara: In about three days.

Jayatīrtha: By the end of July they'll be... So it is going very fast now.

Prabhupāda: Very good. Tūrṇaṁ yateta. We should try very fast before the next death comes. And death will come. So we shall prepare in such a way that before the next death comes, our, we finish our Kṛṣṇa consciousness business and go back to home, back to Godhead. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). This is perfection. Because if we wait for another birth, maybe we may not get. Even Bhārata Mahārāja, he also slipped. He became a deer. So we should always be vigilant that "We have got this opportunity, human form of life. Let us utilize it to the fullest extent and be fit for going back to home, back to Godhead." That is intelligence. Not that "All right, I shall get again chance next birth." That is not very good policy. Tūrṇam. Tūrṇam means very hastily finish. Tūrṇaṁ yateta anumṛtyuṁ pated yāvat. (sound of men practicing karate outside has pervaded background of entire room conversation) These people are wasting time, as if they will live forever. (chuckles) What is the use of this kar...?

Jayatīrtha: Karate.

Prabhupāda: Karate. It is very popular in Mexico.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation Lecture -- San Francisco, March 10, 1968:

Then his disease will not be cured, or may take very, very long time. So we should not be irresponsible in that way because life is very short. We do not know when death is coming, especially in these days. We are moving in the street, we are moving by plane, we are moving... Every step, there is danger. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadām (SB 10.14.58). It is a place of danger. So our life... We should consider this human form of life, especially Kṛṣṇa conscious life, is very important life. We should not be inattentive. So we should be very careful. Kṛṣṇa will, of course, protect you, but at the same time, we have got consciousness. We should also take care that before the next death comes, we must be fully prepared for being transferred to Kṛṣṇaloka. And it is very simple thing. If you keep yourself constantly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that's the only thing. Then you are sure to be going, transferred next life. As I was explaining last night, simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa...

Kṛṣṇa is not like us. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. How He is Supreme Personality of Godhead? That He proved when, while He was present. The history is there. Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, Kṛṣṇa's activities, Kṛṣṇa's wisdom, lecture, Bhagavad-gītā—everything is there. They are the proofs. There is a very nice verse by Yamunācārya that there are authentic literatures, there are authentic personalities, and they accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Authentic literatures, they give proof that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And by His wonderful activities we can understand that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But still, the atheistic rascal will not accept. You see? There are sufficient proofs. Just like Arjuna says, "Kṛṣṇa, You are the paraṁ brahma. It is not because I am Your friend I am flattering You. You have been accepted by authorities like Vyāsadeva, Nārada, in all scriptures, and You are personally explaining Yourself." So there is no doubt about it, but the demons, in spite of all this—dog's obstinacy—they will not accept. So let them go to hell. So far we are concerned, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His body is eternal, full of bliss, and full of knowledge, end sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). If we simply remember that Kṛṣṇa is like that, and as soon as we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, we remember Kṛṣṇa, and we understand that He is the Supreme Personality.

Gayatri Mantra Initiation -- Boston, May 9, 1968:

"By My order, everyone become the spiritual master, and the only duty of spiritual master is to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness."

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So we are following the same principles and expecting these young boys may preach this Kṛṣṇa consciousness mission more, I mean to say, enthusiastically, because I am old man. I may die at any moment. Last year, practically, I was died, but Kṛṣṇa saved me. So tūrṇaṁ yateta. Let us try as quickly as possible before the next death comes. That is the perfectional stage of life. So we shall now begin our ceremony. If any question...? (pause) So we can begin. Any question?

General Lectures

Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 12, 1971:

It may be I am speaking now, immediately I can stop, because I am completely under the control of the material nature. You know perhaps that one big officer of Indian government, I think he was the Commander in Chief or something like that, he was eating in the feast in Japan, and on the table he died while eating. There was some trouble in the throat by eating fish, and some trouble was there, and he suffocated, died immediately.

So we cannot say whether we are going to live for seven days or seven minutes or seven hours. There is no guarantee. Immediately you can die. Therefore our duty is, before the next death comes, we must develop our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We must be very serious. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says,

kaumāra ācaret prājño

dharmān bhāgavatān iha

durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma

tad apy adhruvam arthadam

(SB 7.6.1)

We should take Kṛṣṇa consciousness so seriously, immediately, without waiting. And that is very simple also. If we simply understand the seriousness of the business, then we can immediately begin. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). We can do it immediately. Immediately, without waiting for a second, and then Kṛṣṇa takes charge. Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ.

Arrival -- Dallas, May 19, 1973:

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is directly connecting people with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and especially these children are required to learn this Kṛṣṇa consciousness from the very beginning of their life. Because this human form of life is the only chance to understand God. You cannot understand God in any other form, in the form of a dog, in the form of a cat, or even the form of a demigod. Demigods, they are very rich, opulent, so sometimes they forget. Out of very much being affluent, people forget Kṛṣṇa. Therefore the demigods also sometimes forget. And what to speak of the animals. So this human form of life is the only chance to understand God. Therefore if children are not given lesson about God... There is no guarantee that we will live one hundred years. There is no guarantee. Anyone, at any moment, can pass away. Therefore, before the next death comes, one must be fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is the highest achievement of life.

Lecture at the Hare Krsna Festival at La Salle Pleyel -- Paris, June 14, 1974:

There are 900,000 species of bodies in the water. There are two million different types of bodies in the vegetables kingdom, means the trees and plants. There are eleven hundred thousand species of life in the insect kingdom. There are one million types of bodies in the bird kingdom. And there are three million types of bodies in the beast life. And there are 400,000 species of body in the human society. Out of them, the civilized man is considered to be perfectly in bodily situation.

So this human form of body is given to us by nature to understand God. In other forms of life there is no chance of understanding God. Therefore it is our duty, everyone's duty, before the next death comes, we must understand what is God. If we simply misuse this body like cats and dogs, then we are missing the chance. We cannot say that we are free. That is not possible. We are completely under the control of the material nature. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

Purports to Songs

Purport to Bhajahu Re Mana -- Los Angeles, May 27, 1972:

"Few minutes' sex, that's all." Behind the sex, so many labor. Therefore Govinda dāsa says that "You are trying to enjoy wealth," ei-dhana, yauvana, putra, parijana. Material happiness means to acquire money, dhana;, and then jana, many adherents or dependents-wife, children, friends, society, so many things, country. So putra, parijana, ithe ki āche paratīti re. "You cannot have any transcendental bliss in this." kamala-dala-jala, jīvana ṭalamala. The life is tottering. You cannot say when the life will be finished. The example is given, kamala-jala-dala. Just like lotus leaf. If you put water on the leaf, it will not stay; it will be tiltering. At any moment it slips. Similarly, our life is like that, tiltering. At any moment—finished. Kamala-jala-dala, jivana..., bhajahu hari-pada nīti re. Therefore engage yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness as much as you can. Finish before the death comes. That is your mission. And what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Śravana, kīrtana, smarana, vandana, pāda-sevana, dāsya re, pūjana, sakhī-jana, ātma-nivedana, the nine kinds of devotional service, govinda-dāsa-abhilāṣa re.

So everyone should desire like Govinda dasa. Śravana kīrtana, these are the devotional processes: hearing; chanting; remembering; arcana, worshiping the Deity; vandana, offering prayer. There are nine kinds. So human life is meant for this purpose. By this process, gradually we ignite the fire of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or spiritual consciousness. Then, by that fire, as by blazing fire the wood itself becomes burnt into ashes, so our, all of our covering... The spirit soul is covered by matter, by ignorance. So this covering and ignorance will be burnt into ashes, and you'll become free and go back to home, back to Godhead. This is the purport of this song.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Prof. Kotovsky -- June 22, 1971, Moscow:

Prabhupāda: You cannot depend on the śūdras. Then there will be chaos. Neither you can depend only on brāhmaṇa. Just like to fulfill the necessities of your body there must be a portion called the brain, there must be a portion called the arms, there must be a portion called the stomach, or the belly, and there must be a portion which is called the leg. The leg is also required, the brain is also required, the arm is also required—for cooperation, to fulfill the mission of the whole body. So any, any society you conceive, unless there are these four divisions, there will be chaos. It will be, not be properly, I mean to say, going on, smoothly going on. There will be some disturbance. Brain must be there. So at the present moment there is scarcity of brain. I am not talking of your state or my state. I am taking the world as it is. The brain... Formerly the Indian administration was going on in monarchy. Just like this picture. This picture is a kṣatriya king. Before his death he renounced his, I mean to say, royal order and he came to the forest to hear about self-realization. So if you want to maintain the peace and prosperity of the whole worldly social order, you must create a class of men very intelligent, a class of men very expert in administration, a class of men very expert in production, and a class of men to work. That is required. You cannot avoid it. That is the Vedic conception. Mukha-bāhūru-padebhyaḥ. They say, mukha... Mukha means the face. Bahu means the arm. Uru means this, this, or waist. And pada. So anywhere, either you take this state or that state—doesn't matter—unless there is a smooth, systematic establishment of these four orders of life, the state or the society will not go very smoothly.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1972, Sydney:

Prabhupāda: "Rūpa Gosvāmī defines the first part of devotional practice, or vaidhī-bhakti, as follows: 'When there is no attachment or no spontaneous loving service to the Lord, and one is engaged in the service of the Lord simply out of obedience to the order of the spiritual master or in pursuance of the scriptures, such obligatory service is called vaidhī-bhakti.'

"These principles of vaidhī-bhakti are also described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto, First Chapter, verse 35, where Śukadeva Gosvāmī instructs the dying Mahārāja Parīkṣit as to his course of action. Mahārāja Parīkṣit met Śukadeva Gosvāmī just a week before his death, and the King was perplexed as to what should be done before he was to pass on. Many other sages also arrived there, but no one could give him the proper direction. Śukadeva Gosvāmī, however, gave this direction to him as follows: 'My dear King, if you want to be fearless in meeting your death next week (for actually everyone is afraid at the point of death), then you must immediately begin the process of hearing and chanting and remembering God.' So if one can chant and hear Hare Kṛṣṇa and always remember Lord Kṛṣṇa, then he is sure to become fearless of death, which may come at any moment.

"In the statements of Śukadeva Gosvāmī it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommends that one should always hear about Kṛṣṇa. He does not recommend that one hear and chant about the demigods. The Māyāvādīs, or impersonalists, say that you can chant any name, either that of Kṛṣṇa or those of the demigods, and the results will be the same. But actually this is not a fact. According to the authorized version of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one has to hear and chant about Lord Viṣṇu (Kṛṣṇa) only.

Conversation with Bajaj and Bhusan -- September 11, 1972, Arlington, Texas, At Their Home:

Prabhupāda: That is our mission. Yena tena prakāreṇa manaḥ kṛṣṇa niveśayet. Somehow or other, just attach your mind to Kṛṣṇa; your life is perfect. And what is the objection? Kṛṣṇa is most beautiful, Kṛṣṇa is most opulent, Kṛṣṇa is more powerful, Kṛṣṇa giving you assurance, "I give you protection," and still, if you don't take to Kṛṣṇa it is misfortune, simply misfortune. Unfortunate. So you remain. If you want to remain unfortunate, who can help you? So instead of arguing, you just surrender to Kṛṣṇa and make your life successful. That's it. That is wanted. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma... Now, these foreigners, they are practiced, always chanting Kṛṣṇa. You cannot do that? Why? Let me know why. You are all young boys; they are also young. They have got more facilities for sense enjoyment than yours. Why don't you take to it? So it is better late than never. Take to it. Take interest in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. You are all Indians. Make your life successful. Help others and be helped. (aside:) What is this? (Hindi—discussing prasāda to be served) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Tūrṇaṁ yateta. (Hindi) Life is very short. Any moment it can be finished. Tūrṇaṁ yateta na pated anu-mṛtyu yāvat. Before the next death comes... You give me in a plate. Where is restroom?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation With David Wynne -- July 9, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: ...recently I've heard that the people in the airport protested against Indira Gandhi, that "Give us rain." Yes. That is Vedic civilization ideal. Why there is rain then no rain? The king should be responsible. One brāhmaṇa lost his son. He immediately went to the king and asked him that "The son has died before the death of the father; why this irregularity? You are responsible." You see? The ideal is that the king is representative of God, because we are all sons of God. We have come here in this material world for our proper guidance. The king is responsible, the spiritual master is responsible, the father is responsible, the elderly persons are responsible. Because you told me that we have to work for other. That other is Kṛṣṇa. If we utilize our intelligence for serving Kṛṣṇa under the guidance of the king or the spiritual master or the father, then the society is perfect. That is ideal civilization. What is your opinion about this? How do you think this ideal...

David Wynne: I think it's... I... I... I wonder when it will come. Will it come on this level or what...?

Prabhupāda: Immediately, provided you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

David Wynne: Yes.

Room Conversation with French Nun -- August 13, 1973, Paris:

Yogeśvara: She, she asks you for an explanation of an event that happened to her sister. Her sister died at the age of five and a half years. And just before her death she apparently was able to explain some of her past lifetimes to her mother, that she had formerly been a princess or of noble birth and that now she was being called. Is there some explanation for that?

Prabhupāda: Yes, she remembers of her last birth. That is quite possible. Because we are changing body. So one who can remember about his past life, they are called jāta-smaraṇa.

Yogeśvara: Jāta-smaraṇa?

Prabhupāda: One who can remember about his past life. (break) ...means forgetting everything of the past life. (break) ...times a person remembers.

Yogeśvara: She asks for a definition of the word "occult." What is something that is occult, something occult or mystic? What is it?

Prabhupāda: Mystic?

Yogeśvara: Mystic. What is mysticism?

Prabhupāda: I do not say anything on mysticism. Mystic, something. It is called rahasya.

Yogeśvara: Rahasya?

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with three Trappist Monks, Psychologists from the University of Georgia, and Atlanta Lawyer, Michael Green -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: This is statement of Prahlāda Mahārāja. He was a five-years-old boy and a devotee. So he was trying to preach amongst his classfellows. The classfellows said, "Why you are bothering about spiritual consciousness, God consciousness, now? We are young men. Let us play." He said, "No. The spiritual life should begin kaumāra, just at the beginning of five years." Why? Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma: "This human form of life is very rarely obtained, and we do not know when we shall die. So before our next death we must be spiritually equipped. That is the business of human life." There is no guarantee when death will come. A child may also die tomorrow. There is no guarantee. Therefore spiritual education should begin as soon as a child can understand something. Because there is no guarantee that he will remain for many years. There is no guarantee. So the business of human life is to revive our lost relationship with God. So if we miss, then I may get another body, not even human body. Then I miss the opportunity. There are 8,400,000 types of forms. Just like the trees, they are all... (break) ...human form of life. And that may take millions of years. So if we miss this opportunity of human life, to revive our relationship with God, and next life I become something else, then how much great loss it is, just try to understand. This human form of body is obtained after many, many millions of years' struggle. So this is also temporary, as the cats' and dogs' body, they are also temporary. But although it is temporary, it is arthadam. You can achieve the real purpose of life. That is the privilege of this human form of... Therefore as soon as possible, the spiritual education should begin, immediately. If the child simply can understand, "God is great," that is immense profit for him. (break) ...means from five years to twenty-five years, brahmacārī, he has nothing to learn except God, brahmacārī. Brāhme carati iti brahmacārī. He is simply interested in Brahmān. That is called brahmacārī. He has no material interest.

Morning Walk -- (World War III) -- April 4, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: The whole material world is polluted. Who will live here? A little, say, twenty years before, dying. After all, you have to die, twenty years after or twenty years before. So it is already polluted. That is humbugism. They will die at the end, but still they are trying to live. (kīrtana in background growing progressively louder as Prabhupāda approaches temple)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Like they're creating their own...

Prabhupāda: This is the difference between man of knowledge and without knowledge. A man of knowledge will think, "After all, I have to die. So what is the difficulty, dying a few days more or before?" That is knowledge. And those who are not in knowledge, they are afraid of death. Best business is before the death comes let us finish our Kṛṣṇa consciousness perfectly. That is wanted. Death will come. You cannot avoid it.

Rāmeṣvara: They say that this radioactive fallout will pollute the air so that no crops can be grown.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. You shall die without food. Be(cause) after all, the death. In Bengal, it is called: more bhera ghalne (?): "The most misfortunate thing is death." That will come. Therefore the best intelligence is how to avoid death.

Rūpānuga: Become immortal.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is real intelligence, not to be bothered by these trifle temporary things that "I am dying twenty years before. If the situation was better, I would have lived more twenty years." What is this mentality?

Devotee: Back to Godhead.

Morning Walk -- June 10, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: What is this nonsense scientific? That is... We reject immediately. What is scientific? A tiny brain, what is their science? Phene bare dhake nate ute. A snake catcher... There is a kind of snake which has no poison. So he cannot catch even that non-poisonous snake, and he's trying to catch one cobra. So these scientists, what is their value? What they have done anything contribution to the world for the benefit of the human society? They could not give any relief from the disease, relief from old age, relief from death or birth. These are the real problems. So what is their contribution? They have given some horseless carriage. Again there is problem of power. What is actually benefit they have done, that this is the benefit from the scientists? Anything they have done, there is counter disadvantage. This is simply waste of time. Our... We consider our human life is very valuable, and before the next death we should prepare ourself go back to home, back to Godhead. This is our philosophy. We cannot waste a minute time before the next death comes. That is our philosophy. So why should we waste our time, "Where is the moon? Where is sun?" Just have it gist idea, that's all. (break) ...no profit. Suppose the position of the moon is correct according to Bhāgavata or according to the scientist, what benefit we shall get out of it? Whichever may be correct or wrong.

Siddha-svarūpa: Yes, right.

Prabhupāda: We are not getting any profit out of it. So why should we bother about it? Adhara vapare jaj akalara. We are dealing in ginger. Then what is the use of asking, "What is the hire, I mean to say, freight for a big ship?" If you are dealing with ginger, ginger is not sold by tons. When you go to purchase ginger, you take one or two pieces. So those who are dealing in ginger, what is the use of asking what is the fare of a freight ship? We are not going to...

Morning Walk -- December 19, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Dr. Patel: His mother. She was dying, and she said, "I don't want to see anybody; bring only Kṛṣṇa's photo before me." (Hindi to other man) No, no. His mother-Mr. Jani's. And then looking at the photograph of Kṛṣṇa, she breathed her last.

Prabhupāda: I saw in Delhi one old man, just a few minutes before his death he asked his son to bring Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa picture, and it was put before him, and he died.

Dr. Patel: And my father died saying oṁ tat sat śrī-kṛṣṇāya namaḥ, and then he stopped it, breathing, in the morning at six o'clock.

Man: Morning, that is very good.

Dr. Patel: Yes, six o'clock. And my wife was daily saying bhaja govindam, bhaja govindam before she died.

Prabhupāda: Hm. (to devotees) Just see: govindam.

Dr. Patel: Hm. That bhaja govindam she was very fond of. Śaṅkarācārya's bhaja govindaṁ, bhaja govindaṁ... When I used to talk about Sanskrit literature, she said "Why do I want to know grammar? Bhaja govindam is all right for me." She said. Hm? ...Stubhyāṁ bhagavate vāsudevaya I don't know how many thousands of times, for the whole day.

Prabhupāda: Hm. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31).

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Garden Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Barbians, ah, barbarians. In the jungle, the barbarians, they do not know how to produce food, how to utilize milk. They can kill animals. That is also not like this, by machine you kill thousands of cows. They did not know this. For their simple eating they might have killed some animals, not particularly cow. Perhaps they were not killing cows because they were getting milk. Other, nonimportant animals. But what is this civilization? I learned that in South Africa, before killing the cows, they take the last drop of milk, and then it is sent to the slaughterhouse. They are so expert that if there is still little milk, take it before her death. Is that civilization, that you are taking milk...? So Vedic civilization is as you are drinking milk from the cow, she's your mother. Actually she's mother. But what is this civilization, killing mother? Hm? Is that civilization? Take from mother whatever she can deliver up to the last drop of milk, and then kill her. Advanced civilization, scientific. Killing scientifically. This is not civilization.

Hari-śauri: And just to emphasize it, they deliberately moved the Indian community next to the slaughterhouse.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hari-śauri: Because they know they don't like cow killing.

Devotee: Where?

Hari-śauri: In South Africa.

Prabhupāda: The Indian quarters near their slaughterhouse, and the animals screaming like anything whole night, and they have to hear it. The real purpose is that the Indians may go out.

Conversation with George Harrison -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: You can wash here. The sink is there. Here is also water. You can put the bowls outside, here, so that there will be sufficient place. Our Indian system is like this. That's all right. Sit down, you also sit down.

George Harrison: I see you've done new books. You've been so busy, there's so many books.

Prabhupāda: Yes. There are already fifty-four, and another at least thirty books I have to finish before my death. (laughs) That I am.... Give him a puri. Where is Ravi Shankar?

George Harrison: He's in.... I think he's in New York. He'll be here the first of August, and then I think he's...

Prabhupāda: He has got his house there? In New York?

George Harrison: No, just a house in Benares. Benares. He doesn't have anything. He just stays in hotels.

Prabhupāda: I thought in Washington somebody told me that George Washing..., George Harrison has got his house here.

George Harrison: Yes, he had a little house here, but he...

Prabhupāda: No, you have got your house in Washington?

George Harrison: No.

Prabhupāda: No. Now we can begin.

George Harrison: Okay, Hare Kṛṣṇa.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Gargamuni -- Allston, Mass 5 May, 1968:

I am in due receipt of your very nice letter dated 4/27/68, and the sentiments expressed in that letter by you gives me more pleasure that you are appreciating the importance of our movement. I am sure that you must appreciate like that because I am always of opinion that both you and your elder brother are the result of a good mother. So I very much appreciate both yours and your brother's activities and it appears that both of you were in your previous birth advanced in this line of Krishna Consciousness, and here is another chance to complete it. So by the Grace of Krishna you have got good intelligence, you are born of a great nation, and good family; just utilize the opportunity to finish the business of Krishna Consciousness, without waiting for further incarnation. Srimad-Bhagavatam says that we should try for the highest achievement, and complete it before the next death comes. I think that your separation from Karunamayi is Krishna's desire. So don't be sorry for it. In this connection I may tell you my personal life experience. When I was married at the age of 21 with a wife who was only 11 years old, practically I did not like my wife. And as I was at that time very young man, and an educated college student, I wanted to marry again, in spite of my wife being present. Because amongst the Hindus one can accept more than one wife (of course the law is now changed). So, whenever everything was all ready for my marriage with another girl, my great father who was a great devotee of the Lord, called me and instructed me in the following words:

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Mr. Morris Lapidus -- Denver 1 July, 1975:

You should regard your main business as trying to become Krsna conscious through reading my books and associating with the devotees in the Sankirtana movement there in Brooklyn temple. You are an older man, 68 years old, so I appreciate it if you can help my disciples in New York in cooperation with the President, Gopijanavallabha.

At any rate we do not know how long we shall live. So we have to concentrate on reading, chanting, and distributing books, and in this way try to become Krsna conscious completely before the next death.

Letter to Madhudvisa -- Bombay 10 November, 1975:

"Out of compassion for them, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance." (BG 10.11)

As a child when I was going to the neighboring Mallik temple, I was thinking then when will I have such a nice Deity to worship and now Krsna is so kind that I am establishing so many nice temples all over the world. Now I want that there should be established 108 temples before my death, so you think how to do it. Make some program, train up devotees. All temples in Melbourne, London, Paris, Bombay, all are very nice. Everything is very bright and brilliant. The Deity is proof of the sincere service. It is the duty of the GBC now to maintain this. Their duty is how to enthuse them and maintain.

You mention about the wrist-watch given to the Deity. Was it made in Melbourne? Or somewhere else. Was it made in Japan?

The dresses are made very nicely. It appears from the photographs. Some of the dressmakers may come here to India, one or two of them. Krsna is supplying the ideas for you to take photos like this, so you will be recognized by Krsna. Sarvasya caham hrdi sannivistho/ mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca (BG 15.15).

Regarding the review, the professor has got the real picture. We do not want any compromise. Indological means you have to have the correct view.