Bite (Conv. & Letters)

Expressions researched:
"bite" |"bites" |"biting" |"bitten"

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Press Interview -- December 30, 1968, Los Angeles:

Journalist: Now, I want to understand this thoroughly. In other words, it's nothing that you feel that you're giving up.

Hayagrīva: No, it's that when you see something better...

Journalist: That's what I'm... That's what I mean. That's...

Prabhupāda: Yes. You are accepting something better.

Journalist: Better. That's, yes. Not by just biting your tongue or your lip saying, "I won't touch it, I won't touch it." There is a substitute.

Hayagrīva: You have a capacity for enjoyment, and you're not going to give up something... It's very human not to give up something unless you have something better. So the case is that you have to get something better than what you want to give up...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Journalist: How long have you been here, sir?

Prabhupāda: I came here in September 1965, and then I was little indisposed in May 1967, I think. Then I went back to India. Then again I came back in December 1967, just one year past.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg -- May 11, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Allen Ginsberg: In Harvard many years ago. And then he went to India and found a teacher, and is now a disciple of Hanumānji or a devotee of Hanumān. And he said that, we were talking about māyā and the present condition of America...

Prabhupāda: Have some fruits?

Allen Ginsberg: In a while. Well, we can talk as...

Prabhupāda: Accha.

Allen Ginsberg: Bite your food. I have that question I wanted to asked. Are you tired?

Prabhupāda: No, no. I can talk with you whole night. (laughter)

Allen Ginsberg: So he said that his teacher in India told him that LSD was a Christ of the Kali-yuga for Westerners.

Prabhupāda: Christ?

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What are some of the things that He did when He was a little boy? Some tricks or things?

Prabhupāda: Sometimes He would play with snakes. One day, when He was crawling in the courtyard... Indian house... As, just like here is compound outside. In Indian house there is courtyard inside. So He was crawling in the yard, and a snake came, a snake. And He began to play with the snake. The snake will do like this and crawling, and He would see it, He would strike. In this way the snake was playing and the mother became so much afraid. They cannot touch. If the snake bites... So they simply saw that the child is playing with the snake, and after some time the snake went away. And they took up the child, "Oh, God has saved this child, otherwise He would have been killed. Such a venomous, big snake."

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

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So His mother was feeling...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to East Bengal for teaching, and actually, the girl felt too much separation, and she died. And figuratively it is used that the separation took the form of a serpent and bitten her and she died. And when He came back His mother requested that "You should marry for the second time," and He agreed. And so next marriage was with Viṣṇupriyā. In the first marriage, Lakṣmīpriyā, He used to see her when she was bathing in the Ganges ghāṭa, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu desired that "I shall marry this girl." So His father sent one matchmaker. So when the matchmaker came to His mother that "Such and such brāhmaṇa..." I forget his name, but the name is there in the Caitanya-Bhāgavata.

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:

Haṁsadūta: That never happened.

Prabhupāda: The same thing. The parliamentary members... Just like nowadays, party. India is suffering in party politics. And they did not like to give importance to monarchy. They wanted to rule according to their whims, and therefore the whole scheme failed. The so-called democracy under party politics is nonsense. Monarchy... I have said. That day I was in remarking that "This democracy is the government of the asses," because the population are asses and they vote another ass to be head of the government. So what you can do? Sayuddhe kriyate rājan sa kim asnu pahanam. These are instructions in Sanskrit. "If you make a dog a king, don't you think that he will still lap the shoes?" You cannot change his habits. Sva... Yasya bhāvasya na sa sudurate kramaḥ. Anyone's habits, even if you give good position, you cannot change it. The example is just like if you make a dog the king, he will immediately come from the throne and bite the shoes. You see? So materially you cannot change. Only by spiritual understanding one can be...

Haṁsadūta: Canakya Pandit... I have see that book, and he says in his book that if a crow sits on a high (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Yes. If you make a crow... The crow generally sits on the roof of the house, but that does not mean he has become a great man. "How great I am, a very beautiful bird."

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- June 14, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Well vegetarians are not animals. (laughter) In India, you'll still you'll find ninety-percent of the population, they're vegetarians, strictly. Always vegetarians. They're quite healthy, they're working. Therefore vegetarians are human beings. Vegetables, that food is meant for human beings. That is natural. For a human being to become nonvegetarian is unnatural. And to become vegetarian, that is natural. Just like our teeth, it is meant for cutting vegetables, fruit, not meat. You will find cutting by these teeth, meat, it will be difficult. But you take any vegetable, any fruit, you can immediately cut. Our medical laws says that anything eatable which you cannot cut with the teeth and smash it properly, it will not be digested. So fruits and vegetables you can properly cut even raw, not to speak of cooked. Raw vegetables and raw fruits, you can cut with these teeth and smash it and you swallow, it will be nicely digested. You get all food value. But you cannot do in that way, raw meat. It is not possible. You cannot take raw meat or bite one animal and take some flesh out of it. You cannot. But animal can do that. They are made for that purpose. But that is natural. If you take your natural food, if you live naturally, if you fulfill your natural desires, then it is natural. And as soon as you go against these things, that is unnatural.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 15, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So how you can see? It is... The measurement is given, 1/10,000th part of the tip of the hair. So where is your seeing power?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Still they want to sense it by some...

Prabhupāda: Sense, that is... Any rascal can sense that here is living energy. That is spirit soul. Just like if you inject one grain of poison and immediately he dies, does it require how he dies? That one, not one grain. Even one hundredth part of one grain, venomous poison, how it acts? So even nobody can see it, when the snake bites, nobody can see where is that... How he dies?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They will explain that by..., it blocks some of the metabolic paths...

Prabhupāda: That's all right, but it is acting. That is my point. You can explain in your nonsense way, this, so many things. But I see that because that very little portion of poison is there, immediately he dies. Why don't you see the action?

Room Conversation with Father Tanner and other guests -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Suppose just like I tell you that a dog is your servant. It is standing on the door. Some thief is coming. If the dog becomes angry, "Baw! Gaw! Gow!" so that, to become angry is not bad for the dog...

Father Tanner: No.

Prabhupāda: ...because he's serving the master. So similarly, if you are fixed-up in your business as servant of the Lord, so even if you become angry for Lord's service, that is not bad.

Father Tanner: But you..., the dog might bite his master.

Prabhupāda: No.

Father Tanner: Yes, he can.

Prabhupāda: I don't think a... Anyway, that is dog. I... That's a crude example. But a spirit soul, when he's fixed-up in the service of the Lord, he does not bite his master. (laughter) He does not... He only serves. So we must know, if I actually love myself, first of all I know what I am. If I know, then I can properly love myself. If I do not know what I am if I think that "I am this body," oh, this conception the dog has also. He's also thinking, "I am this body." To keep this body in fitness, to eat nicely, to sleep nicely, this consciousness is there in cats and dogs. So therefore, as spirit soul, as human being, first of all you know that "Whether I am this body or something else?"

Room Conversation with Two Buddhist Monks -- July 12, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: I am coming, yes. (break) ...dehaṁ punar janma naiti. Such person, those who are fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, such person, after giving up this body, does not accept any more material body. He goes back to Kṛṣṇa. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). "He comes to Me." So you cannot go to Kṛṣṇa unless you have your spiritual body. Because the spiritual world and Kṛṣṇa, they are all spiritual. So you cannot enter into fire unless you are fire. So you have to revive your spiritual body, spiritual consciousness. Then, after giving up this body, you enter the spiritual world. So Lord Buddha did not speak anything about the spiritual world, but his philosophy said that "Dismantle this material existence." Nirvāṇa. Nobody has preached that "You become happy here," either Lord Buddha or Lord Christ or Kṛṣṇa or anybody, Śaṅkara. Nobody. But modern materialistic people, they are thinking that "We can become happy by adjustment of our material condition." That is not possible.

Buddhist Monk (1): They want to have the cake and eat it.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Buddhist Monk (1): They want to have the cake and eat it. They want to have two paradises, one here and one there also.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Buddhist Monk (1): And they want to bite.

Prabhupāda: No, they have no idea any other paradise than this paradise. They have no idea.

Buddhist Monk (1): Which to us is the fools' paradise.

Prabhupāda: That... Again I am quoting that Professor Kotofsky. He said, "Swamiji, after this body there is no life." That is their conviction. This is the primary teaching of spiritual life, that we have got next life. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Dehāntaram. After giving up this body, you have to accept another body. This is the first lesson of spiritual education. But they do not understand the first lesson even. What is their spiritual understanding?

dehino 'smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

(BG 2.13)

So dehāntara-prāptiḥ they do not understand. And it is very easy, that "I am, dehāntaram, I am changing my body. I was a baby, I was a child, I was a boy, I was a young man. So I have changed so many bodies. But I remember, I was a child. I remember. I was a boy. I remember. Therefore I am existing. My body has changed." Simple truth. Similarly, when this body will be changed, I will exist. Where is the difficulty to understand? But this plain thing they cannot understand. And they are passing as educated, philosopher, scientist. This plain truth, they cannot understand. The brain is so dull. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). "As I have changed so many bodies..." I exist. I remember, I had this body. So I may forget. Suppose in my babyhood, what was the feature of my body, I do not know. But there was. My mother knows. He can, she can explain, "My dear child, you were like this, you were like this." So forgetfulness is also not that I did not exist. I may not remember my last birth. That does not mean I did not exist. So forgetfulness is my nature. I cannot remember even what I was doing exactly this time yesterday. If somebody asks me. I can generally speak, that "I was sitting." But actually, what I was doing, I'll have to remember. So the forgetfulness is our nature. Because I have forgotten... Death means forgetting. Just like in dream. At night, when we get another body and dream and hover, we go somewhere and talk with somebody, we forget about this body. And again, when I come to this body, I awaken, I forget the dreaming body. So I..., every day I am forgetting. At night I am forgetting this body, and daytime I am forgetting my night body. So forgetfulness is not the basic principle of knowledge. The things as they are we have to study. That body we change, but we are, as living entities, we are existing. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This is confirmed by authorities. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). After destruction of this body, the soul is not destroyed. The soul continues. He accepts another body. Now, what sort of body we have to accept—that is responsibility.

Room Conversation with Lord Brockway -- July 23, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: We are spirit soul, we are eternal. So our, this constant change of body, birth and death, that is also punishment. Because nobody wants to die. Because he is eternal. How he'll like to die? He wants to keep his eternal position, but he, because he's criminal... Just like one man is condemned to die, murderer. So he has to die. But he wants to protect himself, placing himself in the court, "How to save? How to save?" So that is our natural tendency, that we do not want to die. Why? Because we are eternal. We have got the prerogative. So if... Anyone does not want to die. Anyone does not want to take birth even. Now we have forgotten. Otherwise, in the womb of the mother, everyone knows that we are kept in such a way, in a packed, compact water bag, without any facility to move, not only for one day, two day, but ten months. Medical science knows, everyone knows. And at that time there are worms in the womb of the mother. They're taking the advantage, delicate skin. They also bite. And he cannot make any protest. He moves sometimes. The child moves. These are the sufferings. But we do not take care. If I have to take birth again, then I have to go, again enter into the womb of the mother, and, to develop my body and in such precarious condition, the body will develop. So there is suffering. There is suffering of birth, and at the time of death there is suffering. And between birth and death, there is duration of life, there is disease, there is old age, and what to speak of other sufferings. That we may not mention. But at least these four sufferings are there. Therefore the best service is to save him from this suffering. That is the service.

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Then... (break) ...We have not very many followers because we disagree with all rascals. We are not rascal. (break) Mūrkhāyopadeśo hi prakopāya na sāntāya (?). Mūrkha upadeśa... (Hindi) If you give some lessons to the rascal, he becomes angry. Payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujaṅgānāṁ kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam. If you ask a serpent, "Sir, you don't bite anyone, you take your here, milk, (indistinct)," the result will be he'll increase his venomous poison, and one day—"Phansss." (Sound imitating biting) You know the story? The kuta..., (?) the wood-cutter and the snake. He found a snake... Snake, if it is not killed, then if you simply beat and becomes dead, again he revives life. You know that?

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So you are member?

Guest (1): Yes.

Prabhupāda: Then... (break) ...We have not very many followers because we disagree with all rascals. We are not rascal. (break) Mūrkhāyopadeśo hi prakopāya na sāntāya (?). Mūrkha upadeśa... (Hindi) If you give some lessons to the rascal, he becomes angry. Payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujaṅgānāṁ kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam. If you ask a serpent, "Sir, you don't bite anyone, you take your here, milk, (indistinct)," the result will be he'll increase his venomous poison, and one day—"Phansss." (Sound imitating biting) You know the story? The kuta..., (?) the wood-cutter and the snake. He found a snake... Snake, if it is not killed, then if you simply beat and becomes dead, again he revives life. You know that?

Morning Walk -- December 12, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: That is the defect, that the government itself is imperfect. How they can check?

Umāpati: Well, they're so foolish. There was an article in the paper the other day about this shot going to Jupiter and the scientists were described, the scientists that everybody is supposed to depend upon, they were described as biting their fingernails in the hopes that everything would come out all right.

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Yaśomatīnandana: They said that they were simply taking chances that it might come out all right. They were not sure themselves.

Prabhupāda: That everyone is taking chance. A poor man is taking chance to become rich man. So what is the difference between the poor man taking chance and the scientist? (break)

Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Simply if you are passing by... Just like dog. Without any fault, bark, "Wowf! Wowf! Wowf! Worf!" This is the animal nature. Without any fault, I am passing, I am not entering his gate. Still, the dog will bark. Similarly, the snake... You simply pass through. He will feel pleasure, biting you. That is snake's business. Therefore nobody is merciful upon snake.

Karandhara: Because of his poison.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) There was a snake. He was living under my bed. So you know katiya? (?) The rope, katiya? So I saw something is hanging like snake tail. So I called my servant, "There must be some snake. Some tail is hanging." So the servant, they called all their friends. They came with stick, about a dozen. And as soon as the mattress was taken, there was snake. So I told them, "Don't kill it. No, no." "Nei saheb, yei nei hatya." (?) Ah, immediately killed.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Once there was a big cobra, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in home in Manipura, in our kitchen. He was just coiling and just sitting there, but he was very mild, because he was about to skin his skin. By that time, he doesn't bite anything, very tame.

Prabhupāda: No, sometimes the serpents are tamed.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 10, 1974, Los Angeles:

Śrīla Prabhupāda, yesterday in the paper I saw a picture. Nixon had his sixty-first birthday, and he had a big cake made, and he offered the first bite, the first lick to his dog.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is good. That is stated in the Bhagavad... ārto 'rthārthī. He is in great distress. Now he is taking shelter of God. Ārto 'rthārthī. Then he is good at least. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna. Ārtaḥ. Ārtaḥ means very much distressed. He is very much distressed than all the Americans.

Gurukṛpā: He had a cake for his sixty-first birthday. He gave the first bite to his dog, d-o-g.

Prabhupāda: Oh, not God?

Morning Walk -- January 10, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Jawaharlal Nehru did not want to give up his Prime Ministership unless he was collapsed. So why he did not live if he is so intelligent? And Kṛṣṇa says, if you have to believe Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). "He has to accept another body." So why you should disbelieve that he has accepted a dog's body? Because the acceptance of body is not your business. It is the business of higher nature. Daiva-netreṇa. So if the daiva likes that "You must take this dog's body," how can you refuse it? You cannot refuse.

Devotee: Śrīla Prabhupāda, yesterday in the paper I saw a picture. Nixon had his sixty-first birthday, and he had a big cake made, and he offered the first bite, the first lick to his dog.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is good. That is stated in the Bhagavad... ārto 'rthārthī. He is in great distress. Now he is taking shelter of God. Ārto 'rthārthī. Then he is good at least. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna. Ārtaḥ. Ārtaḥ means very much distressed. He is very much distressed than all the Americans.

Gurukṛpā: He had a cake for his sixty-first birthday. He gave the first bite to his dog, d-o-g.

Prabhupāda: Oh, not God?

Devotees: No, no, dog. (everyone laughing)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Dog has become his God then.

Prabhupāda: Then why he should not become dog? Become yaṁ yaṁ vāpi... He has great love for dog, and it is said that yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajati (BG 8.6), at the time of death, he will think of dog and he will become dog. This is...

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: That's right. So the mosquitos also have no body.

Prabhupāda: They tolerate. Actually, they tolerate because they factually think that "I am not this body. Let the mosquito bite my body."

Dr. Patel: (laughs) So mosquitos also have no body.

Prabhupāda: Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, deha smṛti nāhi yāra saṁsāra bandhana kaha tāra (?). One who is beyond the conception of bodies, he has no obligation of these material things. Just like there are many sādhus, they simply remain naked body. Even in severe cold. They are practiced.

Dr. Patel: They have reached that avadhūta-veṣa.

Prabhupāda: So this is also avadhūta-veṣa.

Dr. Patel: But that stage you must reach.

Prabhupāda: No, somehow or other, they have gone to some extent. Never mind the mosquito. Let bite. I am not this body."

Dr. Patel: (laughs) You have hypnotized them.

Prabhupāda: No, actually they are doing. Although we see that from bodily point of view they have become weak, but they don't care for it. They... You see. If they had been weak how they are chanting and dancing saṅkīrtana? They are not weak at all. (Hindi) (break) "Now let me dance." Then I shall jump over your head." (Patel laughs) This is philosophy. "Now I am dāsa, then I become your master."

Morning Walk -- March 24, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: ...I am not this body.

Dr. Patel: That's right. So the mosquitos also have no body.

Prabhupāda: They tolerate. Actually, they tolerate because they factually think that "I am not this body. Let the mosquito bite my body."

Dr. Patel: (laughs) So mosquitos also have no body.

Prabhupāda: Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, deha smṛti nāhi yāra saṁsāra bandhana kaha tāra (?). One who is beyond the conception of bodies, he has no obligation of these material things. Just like there are many sādhus, they simply remain naked body. Even in severe cold. They are practiced.

Dr. Patel: They have reached that avadhūta-veṣa.

Prabhupāda: So this is also avadhūta-veṣa.

Dr. Patel: But that stage you must reach.

Prabhupāda: No, somehow or other, they have gone to some extent. Never mind the mosquito. Let bite. I am not this body."

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: Just like when Kṛṣṇa is fighting. Kṛṣṇa is fighting, killing the demons. So that is also devotion, if you help Kṛṣṇa by killing demons, not that simply by chanting, you supply... Just like Bhismadeva. He even injured Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa took it very pleasant. Instead of throwing flowers, he pierced His body with arrow. So everything for the service. If Kṛṣṇa is pleased being pierced by the arrow the devotee will do that. His only business is how to please Kṛṣṇa. Just like, the example is given by Viśvanātha Cakravartī that when a man kisses a woman and bites her, she becomes pleased. Is it not? Is not a fact that that biting is pleasing? Is it pleasing? But sometimes it is pleasing. So one has to learn where to bite and when to... (chuckles) But if a rascal thinks that "Biting is pleasing. I shall bite always," then he is a rascal. (laughter) (break) ...lying down on the Yamunā beach, on the sand with His friends. And if we think, "No, there is no need of bedding of Kṛṣṇa. He was lying down on the Yamunā beach, so He will lie down on the floor." So is... That conclusion is very nice?

Morning Walk Excerpts -- May 1, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Go on. Parīkṣit Mahārāja said, when he was sitting on the bank of the Ganges, prepared for meeting death within seven days, all the great personalities, sages, saints, kings, they came to see him. So he said that "My dear brāhmaṇas, here is Ganges and you are also present here. So take me as your surrendered soul. I am surrendered to you. So at the present moment let that takṣaka, the snake-bird, or anything may come and bite. I don't care for it. Please go on with the Kṛṣṇa-kathā. Go on with your Kṛṣṇa-kathā." Yes.

Morning Walk -- June 6, 1974, Geneva:

Yogeśvara: I guess the blood becomes purified like that. (break)

Prabhupāda: I said that "You scientists, you are simply wasting time." Did I not say that, last night?

Yogeśvara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Childish. Just imitating barking of the dog. That's all. And he wants to take credit by imitating barking the dog. And the real dog is barking—no attention. Actually, that is the position.

Guru-gaurāṅga: They say that if a dog bites a man, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that's nothing special, but if a man bites a dog, that's news.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughs) Yes. Just like the men ate some human flesh. That became news.

Yogeśvara: That airplane crash.

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is their business. (break) ...is when the dog barks, that is not science. When the man barks like a dog, that is science. Is that not? The man, how scientifically he has learned how to bark like a dog. This is their aim, how to imitate dog-barking. This is scientific.

Room Conversations -- September 10, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So this natural tendency, as soon as one gets power, he will try to utilize it. This psychology you cannot stop in the material world. That is not possible. That sacrificing spirit, that "My life is dedicated to Kṛṣṇa," then it is possible. Otherwise, as soon as one will get some position and power, he will try to utilize it for his personal benefit. How you can stop it? It is like if you try to make the lion nonviolent. Is it possible? Why lion? Even an ant is violent. Even an ant it is violent. As soon as it gets opportunity, it will bite you. So this tendency of artificial supremacy means material life. That is material life.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 23, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: But they are so sinful that they are unable to carry out. Upadeśo hi mūrkhāṇāṁ prakopāya na śāntaye. If there is a serpent, if you advise him, "Please do not kill; be gentleman," will be become? Snake. Snake will kill, unnecessarily bite and kill. Sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ: "There are two envious living entities. One is the serpent and other is the envious man. So the envious man is more dangerous than the serpent." Why? Now, the serpent can be charmed by drugs and by mantra, but this man cannot be charmed. So this advice will not act. They are so dangerous than the serpent.

Morning Walk -- July 21, 1975, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: That is foolishness. You must be experienced, that "There are counterfeit coins. I shall be very clever, intelligent, to see before accepting any genuine coin." That should be your conclusion. Not that I have met one or two counterfeit coins, therefore I conclude there is no genuine coin.

Bahulāśva: Just like in the old days when they would get a gold coin, they would bite it with their teeth to see if it was real gold, make a test. (break)

Baradrāj: ...false, they must also conclude that there's something true. Because that is relative. (break)

Paramahaṁsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the basis for scientific rejection of religious dogma is that in the Medieval era in...

Prabhupāda: Religious..., not dogma. Just like in Christian religion it is said that "God created this." So this is a fact, but it is not properly explained. And neither the followers understood how to explain, third-class men. So therefore they should accept, that's all. They should accept. Just like one thing, sweetmeat. A child is tasting. So if the child wants how it is made, so he has no power to understand. Therefore he should be simply ordered, "You simply eat. That's all." So in the Bible it is like that. And therefore it is strictly ordered that "You should follow." The things are there but they are not explained because they were third-class men. Otherwise why the commandment was, "Thou shalt not kill," and they killed first of all Jesus Christ? So what class of men they were? All third-class, fourth-class men. How they will understand? Now people have become, by education, advanced..

Room Conversations -- July 26, 1975, Laguna Beach:

Prabhupāda: Identification. So that identification is there in the animal life also. The animal, dog, also tries to protect his cub. So that sense is not sufficient to be human being. That sense is visible amongst the lower animals. In Kanpur I was sitting within the room, and one monkey came outside the window, and she had her child. So somehow or other, playing, that child entered into my room through the railings, and the mother remained outside. The mother became mad how to get the child. Then I pushed the child out of the room and she immediately embraced, and... The affection is there. You will find everywhere. In the birds, beasts, animals, lower animals, big animals, the same affection is there. If you strike one crow, then thousands of crow will gather: "Caw. Caw. Caw." You have seen? In India it is very... (chuckles) And they will bite you. If you have done any harm to any crow, all the crows will come.

Mr. Surface: Were some of the animals destined to survive through the destruction of other animals?

Room Conversation -- December 14, 1975, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Yes. They follow, some gentleman. And because at that time it is good living, somebody takes charge, "Alright let me take this pup." And the children also like, so he gets some shelter. So similarly, according to different body the activities begins. Therefore body is the field of activities. A snake, because he has got the field of activity of a snake's body, from the very beginning he is very, very envious. The same, trying to bite others. In this way our activities begin according to the body. And this change of bodies take place in the lower animal life automatically, by nature's law.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Garden Conversation -- June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is, means they are rascal. When there is argument between you and me, if one becomes angry, that means he's a rascal. That is the proof. He cannot reply anymore. He has become angry. That is his defeat. Upadeśo hi mūrkhāṇāṁ prakopāya na śāntaye. Mūrkha, a rascal is given good instruction, he'll be angry. So that is the proof that he's rascal. That is the proof. The example is given, payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujaṅgānāṁ kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam. Just like if you give milk, very nourishing food, to a human being, he'll get strength, but if you give to a snake, it will increase poison. So that is the proof that here is a snake. So payaḥ-pānaṁ bhujaṅgānāṁ kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam. If you give milk to a human child he'll grow healthy, and the same milk you give to a serpent child, it will grow poison. One day he'll: "Ohnn!" He'll ready to bite you. You have given milk, it has increased poison, and it will show his fangs, hood. That is asura. So therefore they become snakes, scorpion, so low-grade life. Snake life is so degraded that at once you see a snake, immediately every one of us will be ready to kill it. Everyone, without any mercy. Nobody will say, "No, no, let this go." So he is put into that life that he cannot come in the light. As soon as he comes in the vision of somebody, everyone is ready to kill. And nobody is sorry. Nobody is sorry.

Interview with Newsweek -- July 14, 1976, New York:

Prabhupāda: But the mosquito is mosquito, and the king is king, although they are sitting on the same place.

Bali-mardana: Both sitting on the throne.

Rāmeśvara: Everyone is here on this planet. Some people are affected by the material conditions...,

Prabhupāda: He's mosquito.

Rāmeśvara: He's the bug.

Prabhupāda: This is the best example. On the throne, both of them are sitting, but king's consciousness and mosquito's consciousness are different. It is not because they are on the same throne, therefore of the same conscious. Mosquito's business is to bite, and king's business is to rule over.

Room Conversation with U.N. Doctor -- September 29, 1976, Vrndavana:

Doctor: But if that realization does not dawn... Till that realization...

Prabhupāda: Then you go on barking. That is another thing.

Doctor: (laughs) It's better to bark than to bite.

Prabhupāda: Then that is your satisfaction. You can do that peacefully.

Room Conversation with U.N. Doctor -- September 29, 1976, Vrndavana:

Doctor: But if that realization does not dawn... Till that realization...

Prabhupāda: Then you go on barking. That is another thing.

Doctor: (laughs) It's better to bark than to bite.

Prabhupāda: Then that is your satisfaction. You can do that peacefully.

Doctor: One day after barking they will come to a conclusion.

Prabhupāda: No that is... Let it be known, fact, that that will never come. If you do not know what is the aim. That is stated, durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ. This is, means, a bad hope, that by this external exhibition of manipulation of energy, they will come to peace. It is not possible. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ adānta-gobhir... (SB 7.5.31). Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ. This kind of leading is made by the blind leaders. If the leaders are blind and the followers are blind, what result will be there?

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dr. Patel: Africa they have hunted down all the lions on safari.

Prabhupāda: Killing business.

Dr. Patel: They have killed them at random. There is a disease called sleeping sickness. This sleeping sickness is common in the wild game and wild animals and antelopes in Africa. That we found out. And from there a type of fly called tsetse fly, he bites them. Just like the flies bite those animals, then when you go in the jungle they bite you. When they bite you they transfer the germ from animal to you, and you get the sleeping sickness. Now the latest sleeping sickness medicine is dependable, I mean nobody can die. But to arrest this disease in Central Africa, they'll kill all the game. Still they have not been able to arrest this sleeping sickness.

Morning Walk -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: What is this?

Hari-śauri: This is a (indistinct).

Dr. Patel: I'm not covered (indistinct) my legs. There's a lot of mosquitoes in here.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Dr. Patel: If there's biting, (laughs) here you don't get malaria but you get elephantitis.

Prabhupāda: Maybe elephantitis.

Morning Walk -- January 2, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Killing business.

Dr. Patel: They have killed them at random. There is a disease called sleeping sickness. This sleeping sickness is common in the wild game and wild animals and antelopes in Africa. That we found out. And from there a type of fly called tsetse fly, he bites them. Just like the flies bite those animals, then when you go in the jungle they bite you. When they bite you they transfer the germ from animal to you, and you get the sleeping sickness. Now the latest sleeping sickness medicine is dependable, I mean nobody can die. But to arrest this disease in Central Africa, they'll kill all the game. Still they have not been able to arrest this sleeping sickness.

Prabhupāda: This is only theory; therefore I don't believe that. Simply theory.

Morning Walk -- January 4, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Is the hell for them. What is this nonsense? Who will understand this? Huh? Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. And heaven, tridaśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate. Heavenly planets, they are will of the wisp. Phantasmagoria. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tridaśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī. Karmī, jñānī... Jñānī wants kaivalya and karmī wants heavenly happiness. And the yogi, yogi wants to control the senses. So he says that "Yes, we know the senses are very powerful." Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī. Indriya, it is just like snake. If you play with a snake you do not know at any moment death is there by biting. So although these indriyas are like snakes, kāla-sarpa, venomous serpent, but protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. We have... What is called? Extricated?

Roof Conversation -- January 5, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: As long as Muratdev... (?)

Dr. Patel: (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: No, I'm not going to stay...

Dr. Patel: It is very cold, huh? There will be extreme cold this season. And to take bath in confluence in this biting cold of this cold water.

Prabhupāda: Sometimes I was taking.

Dr. Patel: You should take warm water bath.

Prabhupāda: In 1925 I was taking. I was touching the water, and it was cutting.

Morning Walk -- January 9, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: There is a Bengali proverb (Bengali). In a village, if a saintly person comes from outside, he is invited. And if a saintly person there is in the village, nobody cares for him.

Trivikrama: Yes. The Bible says the same.

Prabhupāda: (laughs, repeats saying)

Dr. Patel: This will create some difficulty for your movement?

Prabhupāda: We don't care for it. We will go on. Caravan will pass. Let the dogs bark.

Dr. Patel: The dogs may bite.

Prabhupāda: No. Barking dog never bites. (laughter) They simply make their show. Neither they can bite. We shall go now? (end)

Room Conversation -- February 18, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: I have said in the Bhāgavata verse in the BTG that "You can make 747, but you cannot make a mosquito."

Hari-śauri: And they can't supply the pilot either.

Prabhupāda: Yes. With pilot the body is there. And he knows the art, how to bite you instantly. He immediately injects his, that little fiber within the hole of the hair. Immediately

Pradyumna: Oh, that's how they do it. When there's a hair hole? They put it there.

Prabhupāda: Immediately. And the warning: "I have come." (makes sound like flying mosquito) "Hnn nn nn." Where is that brain? The mosquito has so nice brain that he gives you warning that "I have come to bite you. If you like, you can save yourself." And he goes and immediately bites, and immediately the business is finished. A mosquito has such a nice brain. Who has made this brain?

Conversation: Animals' Expertise -- April 28, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: This is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. And who, nonsense, understands this? Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). This teaching... This is a teaching of Bhagavad-gītā. And they are taking Bhagavad-gītā for solving these problems. That's all. Ants' struggle. Violence, nonviolence and... So such big, big rascals are guiding us. What benefit they have given? And they are praised. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ... (SB 2.3.19). He's an animal, and he's praised by some small animals. That's all. This is their position. They are not actual leader. They are animals, but because we are small animals, we are praising. So it is very difficult to understand our philosophy, but still, we have to preach. That is our mission. A little drop, maybe like a film or less than that... Still, they are... And again, when you cleanse this, you kill them—you become implicated. You have killed. You have to suffer. They are disturbing; still, you cannot kill them. This is your position. But people are with Flit (a bug killer) killing thousands of mosquitoes and flies, becoming implicated.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We shouldn't kill them. What about if they're biting you, right in the process of biting you?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Supposing a mosquito is biting you and sucking the blood.

Prabhupāda: Yes, when they bite, you can kill, according to laws of nature. But on the whole, you cannot kill.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You cannot invent means...

Prabhupāda: Therefore mosquito curtain.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prevention.

Prabhupāda: Prevention is better than cure. They are meant for that purpose. God has made. So instead of killing them, you protect your... But if you are in the service of the Lord, you are not responsible.

Short Dissertations -- May 24-25, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Naturally so much good reception... So organize. These people will not give.

Jayapatākā: Who?

Prabhupāda: These rascals, Gauḍīya Maṭha.

Jayapatākā: No. But they don't have any... They don't have any sādhu to go there.

Prabhupāda: They have nothing. Still, they have got... That is called in Bengali, bisnai kulavane cakra(?). There is no poison, but the hood is: "Arrhh." (laughs) That is their... Even this bite, there is no poison. But they are showing kulavana cakra(?). Still, it is bhayaṅkara. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, maṇinā bhūṣitaḥ sarpaḥ kim asau na bhayaṅkaraḥ: "A snake..." Sometimes snake has got some jewel on the hood. So he can go in the darkness by the light of the hood. If somebody thinks, "Oh, here is a snake with jewel. Let me embrace him," no, no, no, it is very ferocious. Even it is jewel there, it is ferocious. Similarly, these people are envious. Although they have become so-called Vaiṣṇava, they are ferocious. They have not acquired the qualification of Vaiṣṇava. Simply vesopidin(?), by dress. So what is there? They could not do for the last fifty-sixty years. Still... They wanted to exchange. I stopped it, the Mohini Babu. Mohini... Bali hatti zamindar(?). So if we do not get that place, we can get other place?

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- Los Angeles 8 February, 1968:

I have seen the Life Magazine article; the pictures have come very sublime, and imperceptibly they have admitted our superexcellence of chanting Hare Krishna. You have marked it that they have said: "The chanting of Hare Krishna continues to vibrate the brain for several days." We want to inject this transcendental poison into the heart of the Maya-serpent bitten people in general. Krishna Consciousness by the sound of Hare Krishna, it continues for a moment in the brain of the rascals, then certainly it will act in future to help them to become Krishna Consciousness. In the Bhagavad-gita (2.40) it is said: "Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat." Bhayat means fearfulness. Even a slight injection of this transcendental vibration can save one from the greatest danger.

Letter to Rupanuga -- Montreal 3 July, 1968:

Yes, try to let James hear patiently this Hare Krishna Mahamantra, and he will be tamed without delay. If somebody simply hears very patiently, he will be altogether converted. In India, if a man is bitten by a serpent, it used to be, and still is in some places, that an expert man would chant a mantra, and apply some herbs, and the serpent-bitten man would be saved from death. Similarly, we are bitten by the maya-serpent, and the mantra to save us is Hare Krishna. It in Lord Caitanya's mantra.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Carl Lange -- Los Angeles 12 July, 1969:

Except for the Krishna Consciousness Movement, any other attempt for spiritual realization, such as drugs, voidness, impersonalism, bodily exercises of Hatha Yoga, etc.—they are all something like unconsciousness under some super-intoxicant. Srila Rupa Goswami has given a very nice example in this connection. He says that a conditioned soul remains in the slumber of unconsciousness just like a patient bitten by a poisonous snake. In India there is a class of snake-charmers and physicians who treat snake-bitten persons with a particular type of jungle herbs. This treatment is to bring the herb near the nostrils of the patient for being smelled, and then the patient comes back to consciousness and finds relief from the snake bite effect. In our conditioned life we are bitten by so many types of Maya snakes, and more and more we are put into unconsciousness of mind without any hope of eternal life. Krishna Consciousness is the only herb for such Maya snake-bite condition. So our duty is very responsible. We have to awaken so many snake-bitten patients under the spell of Maya. A sincere soul like you will be a great help in this movement of Krishna Consciousness. I am glad that you are reading our Bhagavad-gita As It Is and Teachings of Lord Caitanya. You will get much enlightenment from them. Also you should read Back To Godhead and Srimad-Bhagavatam, and surely your life will be sublime. In the future we expect you to be a great preacher of this movement to the world.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Satadhanya -- Calcutta 20 February, 1972:

So far personal association with the Guru is concerned, I was only with my Guru Maharaja four or five times, but I have never left his association, not even for a moment. Because I am following his instructions, I have never felt any separation. There are some of my Godbrothers here in India who had constant personal association with Guru Maharaja, but who are neglecting his orders. This is just like the bug who is sitting on the lap of the king. He may be very puffed-up by his position, but all he can succeed in doing is biting the king. Personal association is not so important as association through service.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Karandhara -- Bombay 19 October, 1973:

There is the story of the bed bug. In the winter season the bed bug appears to be only skin, but in summer season as soon as it gets the opportunity of biting and sucking blood, it becomes fatty. Sometimes we may artificially renounce the world, but as soon as the opportunity of sucking blood is there, we turn again into a bed bug. Therefore it is said in the Bhagavad gita:

daivi hy esa gunamayi

mama maya duratyaya

mam eva ye prapadyante

mayam etam taranti te

(BG 7.14)

"This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But, those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it."

Unless everyone of us sticks to the regulative principles of chanting, there is no other alternative than fall-down. That is a fact. I repeatedly say this, so if people do not follow, what can I do?

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Tikandas J. Batra -- New Delhi 30 November, 1975:

Regarding your question about Vaikuntha; the example is The King and the bed bug, both of them are sitting on the same throne, but the business of the King is to rule and the bed bug's business is to bite. The place is the same, but the consciousness is different. It is said the Lord is situated in everyone's heart, so that means Krishna is also in the heart of a hog, and he is also in the heart of a demigod, but that does not mean that God has become a hog, or a demigod, God is always in Vaikuntha. Similarly, those who are God conscious, Pure devotees of the Lord, they are always in Vaikuntha, there is nothing like material for them.

1977 Correspondence

Letter to Artists -- Unknown Place Unknown Date:

Regarding the picture for B.G. 2/62, now that I am seeing it, the snake is all right. Another name for the snake is kal. So the snake is kala, or time. Time is also death. As soon as the snake bites, everything is finished.